Visitors…. revisited!

I have written before about various visitors that we get a lot of visitors who come and see us in Davao. For today’s column, I thought I’d write a quick review of several recent visits that we have enjoyed.

About 3 weeks ago, as I recall, we had a visitor from up north in the National Capital Region, I am talking about Dave Starr. Dave is a regular participant on this site. He regularly comments on columns here, and Dave has also written a Guest Column in the past, about The RAO (Retiree’s Area Office) system here in the Philippines. Dave has been a friend for over a year now, I think. I originally met him online through some various sites that we both frequent, and then we have gotten to know each other further through participating on each other’s sites to some extent. It was a real pleasure when Dave told me that he planned to make a visit to Davao City with his friend, Vincent. Dave and Vincent were in Davao for 3 days, and they got to see a few of the sites around the area. In the photo, you can see Dave and I standing next to a banca on a beach on Samal Island. I had a nice time showing Dave and Vincent around Samal, and around the City of Davao as well. I hope that Dave enjoyed his time (and Vincent too) in Davao. From what I have been told, they did have a good time! Nice to meet in person, Dave!

Another nice treat was when we were visited by Jim & Marilou Cunningham just this past week. Jim and Marilou are regular visitors to the Philippines, and regular readers of this site too! As a matter of fact, they regularly read many of my different sites, including my Mindanao Blog and others. Jim & Marilou are planning to retire by the end of this year and live full time in Talakag, Bukidnon, on the other side of Mindanao from where I am in Davao. Jim and Marilou visited with a whole group of family and friends, and we enjoyed their company very much. We had a wonderful dinner, courtesy of Jim and Marilou at De Bonte Ko Restaurant here in Davao. The food was great, and the company was even better. We talked a lot about our time in the Philippines, and our common interests including Bethany Children’s Home in Talakag, where Jim serves on the Board of Directors. Jim and Marilou are certainly special people, and we always love spending time with them. Thank you for a great dinner, Jim.

Just yesterday, we had another special treat when regular LiP reader Rick Bowden invited us over for swimming and a barbecue at he and his wife’s house here in Davao. Rick recently moved to Davao, and although we did get to meet one time previously, this was our first time to get our families together for some wonderful family fun. The kids had a great time swimming, and we all enjoyed the wonderful food prepared by Rick and Ann. The number of different foods was simply astounding! We enjoyed pork tenderloins (my favorite foods of the feast!), hamburgers, pork barbecue, casserole, potatoes, squash, and other foods that I can’t even remember! We also greatly enjoyed the company of Rick & Ann’s nephews and nieces who were there to enjoy the day too. Rick has a wonderful family, and we really enjoyed the good company and the good food. I am looking forward to reciprocating the favor and having the Bowden family come over to enjoy food and fun at the Martin household. In addition to the Martin and Bowden families, we were also joined by John Grant, the fellow LiP columnist for the great day. I have to say, I was a little embarrassed at Rick’s house, because my kids ate and drank like they owned the place, but Rick was very gracious, and made us feel at home! We really enjoyed the great hospitality! Thank you so much, Rick & Ann.

If you will be coming to Davao, and want to get together with Feyma and I, or with some of the other LiP columnists, let me know, and if possible, we would be most happy to meet you too!

[Note: Just to let everybody know, I put up a new Podcast yesterday, in the Podcast Section of the site. Sorry it took so long between Podcasts!]