Corregidor: The little island that could

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Corregidor is a small island about an hour from Manila that has played a very important role military-wise in their history, particularily WWII. Technically no one lives on the island and you can only visit as part of a tour. The tour is only run by one company and is therefore slightly overpriced, but we had a great day and a fun experience!

A word of warning: My journal was filled up and sent home so I don’t recall many specifics about this trip. I’ll update later!

After an hour-long boat ride, we arrived in Corregidor on a beautiful sunny day. The island is well maintained and landscaped and was a welcome sight! We were welcomed by a big statue of General MacArthur saying "I Shall Return", his famous words before he left the island to invading forces.

We got on a mini tram that took us to all the sights in the island, including many war memorials, old war batteries that still had some huge rocket launchers and missiles and the remains of the US war buildings (dorms, movie room, meeting rooms etc). There is also an extensive underground hospital (Malinta tunnels) that was used during the various different wars experienced by the Philippines. Today only a portion of it remains open to visitors and they have set up a sound and light show that, while mostly tacky, involves statues of actual war commanders and re-enacts some of the most famous events that occurred on this island. Lunch was a delicious buffet lunch and we happily stuffed ourselves with chicken, potatoes, spaghetti and salad!

Around 4 we boarded the boat to return to Manila, where we walked around the harbour at dusk before getting ready for our early morning flight to Dumaguete! We were SO ready to hit the beach and relax a little!

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