Paradise

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Thursday July 7th

I woke up, took a swim in the ocean, took a shower and went to the cafe to see if there were enough people for the tour. When I got there I realized we were gonna be 8 on the tour: me, the 2 korean guys, a filipino couple and 2 danish girl and their mom. I had some french crepes filled with jam (this place is awesome for food). I went downstairs to get fins and mask but the fins were all too small so I had to take ones size 9 that I could barely enter in.

We went on the boat and we started sailing toward an island called Miniloc Island, heading for the Small Lagoon. I really got along well with everyone on the boat. Richard (the filipino guy) is really friendly, the Danish girls are really shy but the mother is friendly and talks a lot. The Korean guys don't speak really good english but they're hilariously funny. There we snorkelled into the lagoon through a very narrow passage in between rocks and we entered this beautiful place with huge limestone karst wall with jungle trees on them. The coral was amazing and there was a lot of fish of pretty much every color (the Philippines is one of the world's greatest exporter of aquarium fish).

This was my first time snorkelling in coral so I really loved it. We swam around for about 2 hours then went on the boat. After that we went on some perfect white-sand beach on some remote island where our guides started cooking fish for lunch. I swam a little bit and then sat in the shade. The meal was very good: salad, rice, fish and banana for desert. The fish is cooked as a whole and served with the head which was interesting.

We then went somewhere called Shimuzu close to Miniloc Island where there is a great snorkeling spot. We swam in there for a while. The coral was amazing and there was lots of fish which was interesting. After that we went on Miniloc Island to Big Lagoon. We again got off the boat and swam into the lagoon as it was too shallow for the boat to go in. The lagoon is in my opinion even more impressive than Small Lagoon but is the same pattern: huge towering limestone walls, perfect water and beautiful coral. There was a platform somewhere on the lagoon and I cut myself badly on my big toe when I tried to climb on it and slipped. We swam back to the boat and then sailed all the way to El Nido. I couldn't get pictures of the interior of the Lagoons and that is a shame because they were really beautiful but since you have to swim there I was not gonna risk my camera for that.

We got back to El Nido around 16:15. We paid for the trips and even though the Koreans tried everything to get a discount (ohh, expansive, we poor students! You have nice eyes you know, very beautiful) none was available. Me Richard and Karen went back on the boat for the sunset trip, where they bring you in a cool place to see the sunset among the islands.

It was a bit disapointing because the clouds blocked the way and the sunset was not nearly was good as the ones I had seen from the beach the day before. Nevertheless, it was very interesting and relaxing to discuss with Richard and Karen. Richard is very easy to talk to and we got along really well. After the sunset we went back to town and we all went to take a shower but said we'd come back to the cafe for dinner. Richard and Karen's place was farther away from mine so I was back to the cafe earlier. I read my book and the local newspapers while waiting for them. We ordered 2 large pizzas and spaghetti and shared. After a day of swimming we all felt very hungry. We stayed there for a long time and I think the waitress was eager to see us go at the end because we were the only customers there. We walked back to the hostel but I gave Richard my email and we planned to meet when I went back to Manila, he wanted to show me around other parts of Manila.

By that time my sunburn were hurting so bad I couldn't sleep on my back so I tried to sleep on my side but I woke up often. At some point I took some painkillers and that made it much easier. All my upper back and the rear of my ankles were deep red.

Friday July 8th

I went to the cafe right away after I woke up. It is my father's and my brother's birthday (well on the 7th but with the time difference it was July 7th in Montreal) so I wanted to call them. I tried to call at the cafe but they were not home (and I forgot their cellphone numbers, of course).

No one else signed for the tours for that day, which is fairly surprising. In any case I didn't mind a lazy day, especially given my sunburned condition. I went back to the hostel and slept in the hamac for a few hours. I ate lunch in a local restaurant which was overpriced and cold. I decided to get on the web so I went to "The Alternative" but they still didn't have electricity. I found out they had a book exchange thing so I looked around and after 30 minutes of looking I found an interesting and very cheap book:Stillwell and US-China relation 1911-1945 by Barbara Tuchman. It is an history book I had already heard about (it won a Pulitzer prize for non-fiction) and I had already read 2 other books by the same authors which I loved. China's history in the first half of the 20th century is unknown to me except the main points so I figured it would be an interesting read. I bought it for 130P and went back on my hamac. I sorta lost interest in the internet and spent the whole afternoon reading the book. I love Tuchman's book, it is easy to read and full of detailed and interesting information.

I went to the cafe for dinner and found that there were 7 people who signed for tour B tomorrow. I ate some good pesto spaghetti and came back to the bungalow where I read some more and fell asleep.

Saturday July 9th

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