We were sent to Palawan for our third and last assignment. Palawan is a long narrow island south (sort of westerly, too) of Manila. We flew into Puerto Princesa on Friday, April 17 and stayed in a hotel there. Early on Saturday a driver picked us up and drove us down the coast to Narra where the conference was held. This was another two-hour trip. The road was paved, well . . . almost all the way. After sitting through a long youth Tagalog testimony meeting and then giving our half-hour speeches, we shuttled back to the hotel in Puerto Princesa. Sister Roundy convinced our driver to stop at a crocodile farm along the way. Then after another three-hour wait at the airport, we ended back in Manila around 7:30 and home to our apartment at 8:30 via a PAO driver.

You just have to be here to appreciate the interesting things you see being transported in a Jeepney. This one was loaded to the hilt inside, so most of the passengers were mostly on the outside.

The crocodile farm was a conservation center where they are trying to ensure all the indiginous crocodiles are preserved. We saw lots of them . . . little ones, big ones, moving ones, sleeping ones, stinky ones, smelly ones. We saw a skeleton of a crocodile that was at least 20 feet long. Big guy. And his hide was tacked to the wall. They also had a number of animals native to the Philippines. We spent about 45 minutes walking around.

Pretty much, if you've seen one, you seen them all.