The Philippines- Days 5 & 6

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I got to sleep in a little bit, but I ended up waking everyone who wasn’t diving (Brittney, Lindsey, and Analynn and David who had gotten in at midnight the night before) up for breakfast. We ate at the same place we had eaten dinner the night before. I got a breakfast sandwich with egg, bacon, and cheese, which was just as delicious as everything I’d eaten on this vacation. I tried to order a fruit smoothie, but the town of El Nido doesn’t have power from 6 am to 2 pm. Most businesses have a generator. But this generator was currently being used for the wifi. So no blender.

After breakfast, we went to the beach (one street over) to rent a kayak (or three) for the day. We rented 2 2-person kayaks and 1 1-person kayak and headed straight out into the ocean to land on a small beach across from the town. We stopped at 3 more beaches (with only 1 tipping incident. I believe that’s what caused my minor ankle sprain) before heading back into town. I always forget to properly sunscreen my legs and this trip was no exception. I should have that tattooed on my arm or something. So when I’m applying sunscreen to my arms, I see it and remember to get my legs, which were fully in view of the sun the entire time, we were kayaking (about 5 hours). Whoops!

The beaches were beautiful (of course) and they all felt a bit like we had discovered them for the first time. Joel and Sam kept singing the theme to Jurassic Park the entire time we were in El Nido because the karsts were reminiscent of those landscapes. It’s weird being a place where you can’t hear motors.

After kayaking we met up with Joel and Sam, who had just finished their scuba certification, and had dinner before some of us fell asleep. Dave got to go on a night dive since he has his Advanced Scuba Certification. Joel was definitely jealous, but it’s just more incentive to get more certifications.

On Thursday we were leaving late at night so we spent our morning afternoon relaxing on the beach/reading/getting massages. We took a walk down around a spit of land that we hadn’t gone around before. There was a nice beach with hammocks that we relaxed on for a while. While we were there, a funeral procession walked by and it seemed like half of the entire town of El Nido was there. We finished our errands around El Nido and did a bit of shopping before our vans came to pick us up at 6:00 pm. It was just as scary as the van ride up to El Nido, but it took longer and it was in the dark. I wished I could have gone to sleep, but it wasn’t possible. The one time I got close, I hit my head on the window!

We got to our hostel in Puerto Princesa just after midnight. I went to pass out and Brittney realized that her sheets had ants all over them. I was too exhausted to assist, but that’s the first negative experience I’ve ever had in a hostel. And it was the only problem we had in the hostel. They had already booked us a tour for the next day, which was perfect.

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