Baguio

We have been hearing about Baguio since we started coming to the Philippines in 1999. It's in the mountains, famously cool, the hill station of the American colonial occupation, and the home of Camp John Hay. It's a long van ride from Manila by moonlight to the pleasant condo of Tammy's friends. I have a miserable cold and go to sleep the moment we arrive. Cool enough for two blankets! Can we really be in the Philippines?

Bliss Restaurant is another of our Lakbay Amigo sponsors. Delicious lunch and a warm welcome from Jim and Shanti, fine representatives of the ex-pat community in Baguio. Here we will show AMIGO with subtitles for the Tagalog.

These screenings at UP Baguio were really good. Good questions from students and teachers. John looms over his young fans.

Back to Bohol

Bohol is never too far from my thoughts. I came across these photos from our Lakbay Amigo stop and had to include them:

Rosaria was our pregnant villager. Here she is with our first Baryo baby, Mary Rose.

When John Arcilla, Ioni, and Tammy joined us in Bohol, where did we take them for lunch? To Manga, to eat at Lic-Lic. Look back in the blog and you'll see us there during the shoot, as frequently as possible.

Our Stone Home

We lived in Stone House, E. Rod, Quezon City for two months during post-production. We are happy to be warmly welcomed back to Stone House, and grateful to owner Gary for joining as a sponsor of Lakbay Amigo.

We are back in the Penthouse, and receiving visitors Cecille Baun and her new grandson-in-law Bobby Savoca-Guay. Here, below, Joel Torre with some of the wonderful Stone House staff.

Lakbay Amigo, next stop Pampanga

Traveling with Tammy, we never miss an opportunity to have a very good meal. Here we are at Claude Tayag's wonderful restaurant Bale Dutung in Angeles City. In red, cooling off with FROZEN towels after guiding us through a fabulous 12-course meal, is Claude's wife MaryAnn. Claude's dream is to make a food movie like "Like Water for Chocolate" or "Scent of Green Papaya". This beautiful house is just the place.
After our "grand bouffe" we spoke to students at Holy Angel's University. The question frequently asked by the students there was "You mean America was not our savior"? It's exciting to see big questions raised by AMIGO in the minds of students and faculty.

Australian Premiere of AMIGO

Catch us tonight at the Adelaide Film Festival Palace 1 at 7pm. John and I will introduce and speak after.
If you miss tonight then aim for 12:45pm Monday February 28 Palace 6. Looking forward to meeting Pinoys Down Under.

After Cebu, Davao

What about a city that greets you at the airport with a giant durian? For those of you who don't know, it's a famously stinky fruit and you can't be in Davao for 5 minutes without someone asking you if you have tried it. Me? I had a durian candy and my mouth tasted like durian for the next hour.
The best part of Davao was spending time with the Cinerehiyon gang, filmmakers from the regions (try saying "region" like it was Spanish). Exciting to be around young,idealistic filmmakers. They were assembled for three days, a gathering of the tribe by Teddy Co. Really exciting, and fun to go on a boatride with them. Joel with his editor Manny, and John with RJ, our brilliant tour organizer.

John and I had a quiet Valentines Day on nearby Samar.

Beats Workin'

Okay, it wasn't all hard work. Before the Bohol premiere we went out to Cabilao for some R&R with my valentines Dieter and Bee. Here they are, coming and going.

 We snorkeled and rested.

And a handsome German waiter brought us coffee from La Estrella next door.