Yesterday we headed to the city of Ormoc (still on Leyte). A son of Denis’ cousin met us at a hotel restaurant. He and his wife joined us for breakfast.
After breakfast, we dropped the wife off at the market for her job, and the husband, Mark, drove us around a little.
Up above the city of Ormoc, there is a lot of farm land. It used to be all sugarcane, but they are switching over to pineapples. They’re growing a variety that is small and sweet.
Mark then took us to a resort hotel in Ormoc. It was really beautiful – and so inexpensive to stay there! Maybe next time…
Soon we were on the ferry back to Cebu island. We stopped at Iday’s house to pick up some stuff we had left there, then went back to the Air B&B condo we stayed at before. We had left some unopened milk and water in the refrigerator, hoping maybe it would still be there when we got back. It was!
It was already evening by then, so we walked to the mall and had dinner. After dinner, Denis got a halo halo from a place he used to go to a lot when he lived here. He’s been on a search for the best halo halo here. This was his fifth place. It still wasn’t the magical ‘best’ yet.
‘Halo halo’ means ‘mix mix’. It is made of shaved ice, purple ube (sweet potato) ice cream, coconut milk, and various toppings, including jello, coconut, beans, corn flakes, and (in this particular case) corn? You mix it up into ice cream soup and then eat/drink it. It’s sweet, creamy, and delicious.
I got a more familiar dessert. They have Dunkin Donuts here! I haven’t had a Dunkin Donuts donut in ages. Mmm…
Corn?
Corn?
Your time there has been so magical, but the corn in a dessert? Well, who I am to judge. 🙂
I’m with Lauren… Corn?? I find myself looking at the pictures before reading and i told myself… that’s just something strange that looks like corn? Pretty purple yummy icecream and then corn? But, What a beautiful sugarcane turning into pineapple field!
So glad you finally explained what is in the halo halo – the purple color seemed artificial to me, but maybe those sweet potatoes really ARE that purple.
Thank you for taking us all on your Philippine vacation – I spent no money and felt as if I were there…and gained a few pounds just reading about the variety of foods consumed. Safe journey home, sir.
(P.S. Thought of you in chapel at Trinity this morning when we sang “Our God is an Awesome God” without the motions…so I did some anyway…because.)