Yesterday’s Hash was a fun time. In fact, it had me in stitches. Let’s go the photos:

Out of the truck at the trail head and ready to rumble, well, ramble anyway…

Climbing these steps proved to be rather, um, tire-ing…

It’s On-On the trail…

How the other half lives. My blessings are counted for this beautiful life I’m living.

As pretty as this path may be, it was leading me to peril… (that’s what we call foreshadowing)

A view from the top…

And the view at the bottom…

“Tractor? I don’t need no stinking tractor!” Old school farming via carabao…

Anyway, along the path I got tangled up in some rusty old razor wire. Why it was there on the ground I have no clue, and just how it wound up wrapped around my calf I can’t say. I do know that it ripped me a good one, that’s for sure.

Assessing the damage when we arrived “On-Home” at Treasure Island…

Speaking of Treasure Island, it’s the resort I stayed in when I first arrived. It’s also very convenient to my current apartment. The staff is friendly (and cute) so it is no surprise I’m a regular there. That paid off because without even asking, one of the waitresses offered me some first aid. Mark, the security guy, came over and thoroughly cleaned the wound with soap and water, then disinfected with hydrogen peroxide.

Then he did a nice job wrapping it all up neat and tidy. I offered to buy him dinner for his efforts but he declined. Later on though I slipped him a 500 peso note (around ten bucks) which he seemed to appreciate.

Got up this morning and did my regular beach walk then popped into Treasure Island (of course) for some breakfast. Afterwards I made my way over to the local hospital.

Our Lady of Lourdes International Medical Center, right here in Barrio Barretto. I’ve asked several folks for the assessment of the care here and they have all said exactly the same thing “it’s where people go to die.” Well, I just wanted someone to take a look at my wound, so I ventured into the emergency room.

And a friendly female doctor and her cute nurse assistant had me all stitched up in no time. They also gave me a tetanus booster shot. Total cost–4,650 pesos. That’s about $95. if you are keeping score.

Also got some prescriptions meds (antibiotics and something else I’m not sure of what it does, anti-inflammatory maybe).

On the walk back I home I popped into the money exchange shop to pick up my Remitly money transfer ($2000.). “Sorry sir, no funds available now. Try back after lunch.”

Then it was over to Western Union to pick up another wire transfer, also for two grand. “Sorry sir, no dollars available. I can pay you in pesos”. Fine. It’s going to be a problem apparently wiring large sums of money over here. I’ve got enough together to pay the advance rent/deposit on my house, but I’m not sure how I’m going to pull together the $10,000 I need to deposit to secure my retirement visa. Ah well, I’ll figure it out.

Speaking of the house, the landlord stood me up yesterday. Was supposed to meet today before lunch. Now I hear he is “on the way” with an ETA of around 2:00. Which precludes my planned playing in a dart tourney this afternoon. And it still does not appear ANY of the promised repairs have been completed. What a pain in the ass this has been.

(taking a deep breath, relaxing, and accepting the Filipino way).

Ah yes, that’s better.

Take the time to close your
Eyes and look around
Cause anyone who helped you out
Can let you down
And look out, look out, look out
The voice is now the choir
Can you feel it getting
Down to the wire?