I'm in the news!

We happened to find out that the month-long Megayon festival was going on in town.  We decided to check it out. It just so happened that the main event of the night was the sili (chili pepper) eating competition.  The goal of the competition is to eat 250 g of extra-spicy Bicol Express and 250 g of laing.  No water is allowed.  First to finish wins.

They had 10 guys compete, followed by 10 girls. Last, they had a wildcard round, with two local volunteers vs two foreigner volunteers.  I was the only one to raise my hand as a foreigner... So I got to compete!

The food was definitely spicy (and also very tasty)...  but I think that ghost pepper salsa I've been eating at home prepared me for it.  I didn't do too bad.  Of the 4 people competing with me, I finished second.  And since I came in first for foreigners I even won a 1000 Peso prize!  Here's a clip from a local morning show

These guys are the actual winners (the guy ate all his food in 1:04.  Not sure what my time was... But at least 2 or 3 minutes)

Laura was curious to try the Bicol express, so we ordered some the next night (this one was fish rather than the tradional pork).  I think this one was less spicy than the one I had for the competition.

A fun (and hot) few days here.  We'll post more when we can.

View of Mount Mayon, over the harbor