The Philippines-Day 2

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We got up at 5:00 am to catch a cab by 5:30 am to the airport. Our flight out was at 8:10 and we wanted ample time, which was good idea because both Brittney and I ended up having to check our bags because of weight restrictions. Unfortunately, the Manila airport does not have a very efficient system for this. We went through the line for no luggage to check, no problem. Then, when we tried to go through security, they weighed our bags, told us we had to check them and sent us to a new line. While in that line, the woman kept saying things in Tagalog and people kept passing us. Fun. Once we got through line, we had to get in a new line to pay. Because that’s logical. After that, it was a breeze. They split security lines into male and female areas. The male line had about 40 people in it. The female line had about 4. Win! When we got through security we found Joel, who had spent the night at the airport, and got Cinnabon for breakfast (so much good Western food in Manila!)

They asked us if we were pregnant before we got on the flight (What?!) and I sat behind this Russian family who seemed to be the only people on the whole plane to recline their seats. Awesome. Especially since the boy in front of me didn’t need his seat reclined. He was standing up in his seat and looking around the whole time.

Getting our luggage in Puerto Princes a was a bit hectic, as there is one small baggage carousel and everyone crowds around it and then tries to push out the one door simultaneously. Everyone who checked baggage (almost everyone on the plane) has to go through the same line to make sure your ticket matches the tag on your luggage. Which I appreciate, but it’s time-consuming.

From Puerto Princesa we had hired a van to take us to our final destination of El Nido. The trip took about 5 hours with one stop for a quick lunch and another stop to fix something on the van. It would have taken longer if our driver cared about silly things like speed limits. I cannot tell you how many dogs, chickens, and people we almost hit.

We had lunch in this little, out-of-way cafeteria in a town called Roxas. By the time we had gone in, eaten, and come out, apparently the news had gotten out that foreigners had shown up because there were many children there to beg. That was something we noticed a lot of in Manila, too. I had seen it before, but it was Brittney’s first time with poverty like that and she took it pretty hard, I think.

Once in El Nido, we found Lindsey and Dave right away. They had already been there for a day. We went to the scuba shop to get fitted for our scuba gear and then went to eat Christmas dinner at a restaurant called Art Café. Like many of the restaurants next to the beach, there are no shoes allowed. So we left our shoes on the stairs (this later turned out to be a bit of a problem as white flip-flops are quite common and mine were obviously taken by accident. Luckily there was a store with flip-flops right next door). The Art Café had delicious food and we all had a slice of cake since it was Christmas (I had lemon coconut). Again we were all exhausted, and we had to be up early for scuba, so we headed to sleep pretty early.

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