Beautiful Province of Laguna

Early Sunday morning we left busy Manila for the lush countryside in the south.  Much of the area caters to tourists with resorts, many fruit stands, and the opportunity to purchase a traditional nipa hut for your background garden.

Shoutout to Morgan, Angelina, Elizabeth, Lindsey and Jackson:  the Philippines is a developing country.  When it comes to housing there are many types.  In Manila there are few single family homes because it is so crowded. There are apartments, row houses, and shacks.  There is such a mix of humanity, people and more people.  For Americans it is an affordable place to visit but for the average Filipino it is quite costly, especially food.  The starting salary for a teacher is about $3,000 a year.

Demographics:  life expectancy 72 years, birth rate 24.62/1000 live births, death rate 4.9/1000