First night: eat and dance-a-thon

The Filos (abbreviation not to be confused with filo pastry) LOVE to dance and play music. On our first night, we had a cultural treat: going to a restaurant with lots of both (as well as food of course!).

There were dancing women and guys with poles ...



... then the women had to jump through and over and around the poles ... which made me nervous someone was going to hurt their ankle!



Then more dancing girls ... though I'm sure by this time it was becoming more Hawaiian than Filo ...?!



Eventually they got the crowd - and my friend Felix (pictured below) - into the act!



My Filo friend said that this was some kind of traditional dance to show the courtship of the woman, the woman choosin the best man amongst three alternatives, and the wedding ceremony. Which still didn't explain a lot of things ...



ps the reason I'm using the word "Filo" is (i) it's more efficient, but more importantly (ii) I keep getting the number of Ps and Ls in "Phillipines" mixed up ...