Market Day...
Yesterday we encountered the market in the local town of Iriga City. It was a wonderful, though slightly stinky, experience. (well, it was actually VERY stinky, but it was such an exciting chance to see Philippine culture!) I was a little hesitant to take pictures, but when I did someone always asked me to take one of them! The Philippines are full of very friendly people. Though they can sometimes be shy, we have an automatic celebrity status and almost everywhere we go people call out things like "Hello, Mam!" or "Whoa!" or "Americans!" I'm sure it gets old after a while. I felt really awkward at first, but I enjoy the chance to smile and say hello. This was inside the fish market... Piles and piles of fish! It was later in the day, so very smelly but not too crowded. I asked this sweet woman if I could take her picture, and she laughed and covered her mouth in embarrassed excitement afterward :)

No, that is not a mask behind them... it actually is a real pig's head! This man was a little more outgoing -- he asked me to take his picture. It is technically a meat market, but this is one of few stalls that was not entirely fish.
Steve bought some seaweed here... but it wasn't quite what he expected and we ended up not eating it... I'm up for trying new things, but if Steve's not willing to eat it I don't feel a compelling need to outdo him ;)