Day 58 at Sea; March 4, 2011
The people welcomed the boat with a band and dancers. The works. I worked on the manuscript GP and around 10 took a break to go into town. Manila is not my favorite port. It's dirty and smelly and going into town was sad--real poverty here. There are many children on the street.
We caught a shuttle to one of the biggest shopping malls in the world. Maybe on par with Mall of America in Minnesota, but I think this one was bigger. Robinson's Plaza. Many restaurants. Lots of high end stores. Most geared for teenagers. Robinsons is by far the largest store I have ever seen in my life. The shoe department along was about the size of Texas—okay, maybe not quite as big.
We had Starbucks coffee and shopped a until my legs ached. I got lost three times. There must have been a couple hundred security guards in and around the mall itself. Also on the streets. We saw a lot of strange looking jeep busses called Jeepnys. Open air. Very warm and humid here. We have about 200 crew members who have families here—many got to bring their families on board so we had lots of smiles and joyful hearts.
Though the town itself was not impressive, the people are great. About 50 children from an orphanage came and performed for us. So adorable. We presented them with $6000. The mayor of Manila had grown up in the orphanage and spoke for a short time.
We had a sail away party at 5 and the band played again. What a goodbye. We took on a number of new crew members lost others. Many stayed and were thankful for the extra time here, but sad to have to say goodbye so soon.
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