Advertisement
Published: January 27th 2014
Edit Blog Post
My goodness, this was quite a bumpy ride..
Being a little bit nervous going to Philippines not knowing what I'll encounter. Starting in Manila, which was fortunately just for one night. Darkness in the streets, beggars, dirt. Honestly I've seen worse, but somehow the negative vibe struck me.
After some kids gifts shopping I was expected to be in the port 4 hours(!) for departure. After a boring wait, some snacks and an amazing book-as-a-pillow nap we finally boarded. My 'room' was a 132 bed room, perfect. After some beers at the deck with some very loud and painful 'in-your-face' karaoke, I slept great! Surprisingly of all the 10 tourists half of them were Dutch, what are the odds. One with mutual acquaintances even.
Coron/ Busuanga my home for the next bit. I met the family before I met Don, the guy who was running the project Roof & Boat. Adorable; mum (72) immediately sang us an opera like song. I definitely wished we had her on board last night. The house is on a wooden dock out towards the water together with other families on the left and right. Some have pigs, we had dogs and cats, most
have bamboo walls and a corrugated roof. Very simple but yet good enough. The houses are on poles above 'mud' which was enriched with 'compost' (whatever was not useful in the kitchen anymore), shower water, toilet contents and animal droppings. This, you can imagine, created at some moments of the day a rich aroma.. I totally got into the bucket showers, my bucket toilet flushing skills however needs some improvement. From here we purchase materials for the town we were about to visit. We headed out with plywood, gifts and relief goods, 2 hours west from Coron. The town Panlaitan was struck when the Typhoon Yolanda (or Haiyan) exited the country. They don't receive help. The area is not hit as hard as the south east and luckily there were no deaths. However they lost (parts of) their houses and more important their boats. Fishing is their food and income & the boats serve as transportation to the next island with a bigger city, to buy and sell goods but also to get i.e. medical attention.
The people were grateful, a local guy helped to hand out the goods to the family who needed it the most, same for the
relief goods. The kids got some presents and made a lot of colourful drawings, which I returned to them as decoration with Christmas. It took them a few minutes to realize it was their own art work hanging there, they were thrilled.
Even though the help is necessary, the goods received with a huge smile and lots of gratitude, it didn't give me the right feel. What made me feel this way? I expected to be full on busy 7 days a week for the next 4 weeks, also Don showed a side of himself which wasn't only giving and tolerable, but selfish in a way and exhausting. And I got dengue fever just before Christmas. This was draining, a bit scary and freaking painful. So the answer is: all of the above. I felt out of place. After a amazing trip to El Nido, the warm care of the whole family when sick and a beautiful expedition (in which I more than once hit myself in the face questioning why I came along in the middle of my dengue fight) I left, boating and floating back towards Manila.
By leaving I missed out on some apparently great
From my house
girl with sleepy Jingles diving (wreck and thermal line), leave beautiful surroundings and leave some great people. Some will leave big, other smaller traces in my memory. In Manila the plan was to leave immediately again together with a Canadian girl I've met previously. Excited after hearing good stories from others about the north and the smiles I shared with my to be travel buddy. It turned out a little different though.
Her smiles turned in to sighs and an overload of the F-word. 'Frustate' and variations were abundantly present. There were some disappointments; overnight buses take their toll, lack of other tourists frustrated us both and new years turned out to be an hotelroom 'party' thanks to 7 Eleven and the fact that everything closed at 9pm in this picturesque cobbled stone town, Vigan. But we did have amazing meals in Vigan and we did go sand boarding north from here. But the F-word remained. It was difficult having the feeling I had to pick up myself after a disappointment but also someone else. It got harder and harder to keep smiling myself, which upset me. After 2 long bus rides; all day and one all night right after. Of which the last
one showed Seal team 1 to 5, then a Dutch war movie and to top it off, the Beegees live in concert...don't ask me why. The Beegees failed to please me this time as it was 4.30 AM.
Donsol was for me a place to get excited about, whalesharks. I've had some attempts in the past to come eye to eye with these magnificent giants. Here was another failed attempt, sadly. Luckily we stayed at a resort in a dorm and with pool; great! Ran in to some tourists and happy hour included a free shot in our juice drink. And swarms of fireflies which created zoned out stares.
Excited to fly Cebu/Malapasqua to dive with treshersharks and I can't deny the fact that I felt relieved this trip with my travel partner came to an end. No more tip toe-ing, but smiles, no more sighing and negative remarks, but smiles. And did I get those! It was so relaxed, being in a hostel with amazing people. Half of them setting up their own project: a soccer team for kids, building a house, teaching women a skill, you name it. That the island was in big parts destroyed hit
me, I guess I didn't anticipate this. Foolish maybe. All together great people, great sharks, great vibe! And another hell of an escape: I had to fly Monday 5AM. So the plan was: leave late Sunday to arrive late in city Cebu, catch up with an earlier met friend and fly. None of this. Storm came, bringing rain and strong strong wind and wind gusts. Prediction, no boats leaving the island in the next few days, sheiss! In the end after 3 attempts on Saturday morning at 6, 7.30 and 9AM, a failed attempt to slide 'our' boat of the dive school into the water we left with a smaller boat; no roof, no dry area. We borrowed wetsuits from the dive school, got completely soaked by waves and rain, but we made it. Had a good night of sleep, a stroll in the mall and amazing last night with good company, drinks and good food!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.192s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.1693s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb