After the quick but fierce invasion of Supertyphoon Santi which caused delays in the arrival of flights into the Philippines late Friday evening till Saturday morning last week, the girls of Miss Earth 2009 have started to arrive. In particular, three early birds (Misses USA, Sweden and South Africa) checked-in before the bad weather made its landfall so they were spared the hassle of long layovers for their connecting flights to Manila. They are currently housed at the Carousel Gardens before checking in as a group at Discovery Suites today or tomorrow. Here are some photos of the girls already in town for the competition.

Miss Earth Venezuela Jessica Barboza and Miss Earth New Zealand Catherine Irving

Miss Earth South Africa Chanel Grantham and Miss Earth USA Amy Diaz

Miss Earth Sweden Giulia Simone Olsson and Miss Earth USA Amy Diaz

(L-R) ME South Africa Chanel Grantham, ME Philippines Sandra Seifert, ME Luxembourg Theodora Banica, ME USA Amy Diaz, ME Belgium Isabel Van Hoof, ME Sweden Giulia Simone Olsson, ME Italy Luna Isabella Voce, ME Netherlands Sabrina Anjis and ME Korea Yeju Park.

Miss Earth Nepal Richa Thapa Magar

(L-R) Miss Earth Ukraine Karina Golovata, Miss Earth France Magalie Thierry, Miss Earth Northern Ireland Kayleigh O'Reilly and Miss Earth India Shriya Kishore

There are more girls who arrived last night and their photos will be posted here in the next few blogs. In the meantime, I would like to acknowledge Melvin Sia of OPMB Worldwide Forums for the images above.

More arrival pictures coming up!