Unexpected Adventures

I attended the Memorial of the Dead here in the PHilippines. 

Has it been 9 years since my last one?! This event is huge here. Work and school are both suspended and everyone goes to the cemeteries. It's people, vendors and cars galore and restaurants are packed full.

We parked in an empty soil filled lot where the land sloped downwards the deeper you got into it. Then, while at the cemetery with 10,000 other people, vendors and clergy folk, it rained really hard. The lot turned into a swamp with the water collecting near the back of the lot where the car was. I watched as men pushed on a minibus stuck in the mud. It just sank deeper and deeper with each rev and even planks were useless. 

I remember thinking to myself: This is probably how massive ww2 army convoys can spend days navigating only a few miles a day if roads are like this. The car next to me hasn't even left his spot yet and his tires are already spinning uselessly. So when I got to My car, I plotted the route out of the muddy lot to the exit up top. (first I had to shake off 15 pounds of mud from my shoes) With the gear on first engaged, I roared up that muddy slope with mud flying. For about 8 seconds, I was a rally car driver with the vehicle's tires turning sideways and slipping through the muck. But I made it! I even raised a triumphant fist in the air as I whipped by the onlookers watching the other vehicles struggle. Not bad for someone driving a front wheel powered 4 door sedan. :)