A day of Firsts

It was a horrifying yet mesmerizing experience...i saw my first...and possibly last cock fight! It was Sunday, which was the Sinulog Festival- a festival only in Cebu, with a massive intense parade, street vendors, pigs roasting on sticks, henna tattoos...and an excuse for a cock fight. We passed this large group of men shouting and men walking around holding their ROOSTERS. And i asked Rhonda if it was a cock fight and if we could watch, i was quite excited. so we joined the crowd of sweaty and smelly men as i stood on my tip toes to see the action. I watched as they were calling out bets and making the roosters extremely angry at each other. You should have seen the amount of money passing hands there....right on the outskirts of a cemetery where squatters live and children starve...but apparently those men thought seeing two roosters attack each other was more important than feeding their children. anyways at one point they opened the gate to let some men in and they were motioning to me to come in and get a better view, and i was confused at the chaos and thought, "hey, it would be nice to actually see whats going on" so i was stepping in, when all of a sudden a hand grabs the back of my shirt and yanks me back, and Rhonda says, "you will NOT be going any further than this"....i won't lie, i was scared for a moment when i realized that i would have been in the pit and could have been ATTACKED by angry roosters!! thank you Rhonda. Anyways, i squeezed in and got a view- so the roosters had an extra claw, it was a big claw tied and wrapped around the roosters leg... i froze as the cover was taken off and a sharp curved knife glinted in the sunlight. It was like in the movies and i was horrified. Another observer was keen in explaining the whole process to us 3 white girls, that the extra claw is used for extra advantage...huh NO KIDDING! 2 seconds later they held up the two enemies and let go - like i said i was horrified and mesmerized as i watched them attack each other, wings flailing and claws digging. It didn't last long, until the death of one. Lovely thought eh!
and than walking home, Jonah insisted that we experience a real Philippine delicacy... APPARENTLY eating chicken FETUSES is a treat! so Jonah bought the egg and opened it, took a bite and looked like she was in heaven than passed it to me...after a moments hesitation i took a large bite, figuring i might as well try and say i did. honestly it took all my might not to make a huge scene and barf it up there on the spot. The texture was like rubber! and for those of you who know me, when eating, textures are important. so that terrible texture along with the knowledge that i was devouring a chicken fetus, i gagged a couple times and swallowed it. Amber Lea and Amber Kay had a try also, and had the exact same warm fuzzy feelings i did.
peace out
Amber Rae