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We chose to stay at Lualhati cottage as they allow us to cook, the premises is full of fruit trees, guyabano, atis, pomelos, banana and Till's favorite, star fruit which he comes to pick from the trees every chance he gets. It's his turn to be fruit picker, I hounded constantly the plum trees behind our homestay in Mestia, Georgia when we last traveled together. Well, despite the location being nice we struggled to sleep as the constant barking of dogs and crowing roosters some starting at 1am kept us from having a deep slumber, not to mention the tricycle and truck noises as we were just near the main road, I was still iffy the next morning so we decided to postpone island hopping for the time being. Walked to town and looked for breakfast, we found a place near the beach, looks good but service and food was actually bad and Till counted the waitress as the 3rd lady boy we had encountered so far in Palawan. Our friend MJ found us, here from Coron, to attend a wedding, he told us his journey here was a breeze compared to ours.
Walked back to our GH where we
met a very nice Spanish couple our age, Oscar and Maria, they just moved to our GH from a place near the beach, they said their former place was a shit hole, trail of ants and spiders in the room, toilet not working, hardly any water, the owner told them no water in all of El Nido which was a total lie! Anyway Oscar told us they just rented a motorbike the day before and that his girlfriend Maria is sick because of it, well then that makes the 2 of us, at lest now I know my pains are from the brutal shaking I got from the bad roads, it's like a whiplash effect, we both only felt it a day after the motorbiking ended.
We decided to do a snorkel trip tomorrow with the Spaniards, we went to the El Nido cafe boutique and art cafe, same place I used when I was here last. The building improved, it's bigger and busier, we went up to reception to book and the girls there though trying to be helpful seems to have an attitude that annoyed Till to no end. The girl helping us wanted us to buy
this eco tourism ticket thing for 200 PHP each, for the maintenance of El Nido or something, we all refused, we told them why do we need to pay that when we are coming here to spend money and do excursions, they should use part of the income they make from tourists for the upkeep. Apparently every tourist entering El Nido must purchase it, well we came by sea and no one forced us to buy it at the port upon arrival, she insisted we buy them and that if we get checked we will be forced to buy it by the authorities! We told her we will risk it and left the office!
In the eve Till and I went to the market to buy food to cook, he bought tuna mackerel and I bought sea snails the locals call sikad sikad, we cooked them and had a feast, then for dessert, star fruit fresh from the tree, then off to bed. The next morning we went to the meeting point and rented snorkels,and masks 100 PHP a set. Our first stop was near a resort that burned down years ago, we are allowed to snorkel in the
coral areas but stepping on the island is not allowed, the water is cold and a bit murky, you need to dive a bit to see clearer the fish, I tried but I keep having headaches, and chills, my body isn't fully recovered yet so I went back to the boat. We also stopped at Snake island then to a nice beach for lunch, I decided no more snorkeling as I felt bad again, barely touched my lunch, and by the way after all these years this company had not improved on their service, food was the same, galunggong, the cheapest fish in the market and bbq pork which was meager. Come on with the money they are making now, how about serving some better quality fish once in a while, fish here is quite cheap anyway. I tell you if you do all the A,B,C trips with them, the food will be all the same,no variety, frugal Swiss owner!!
Back in town, we went to market but can only find squid for dinner, which we grilled while Maria made really awesome Spanish torta! Dinner was excellent and we packed for the next day's trip to Port Barton. One
little scare was when Oscar thought he lost his camera in their room, a break in he thought but false alarm, he placed it somewhere else. The owner of our GH arranged for us to have a shuttle van for Port Barton for 5,000 PHP, quite steep for us but have no choice so we took it. Transport to Port Barton is not easy to arrange here surprisingly enough, you can take a chartered boat but it's not cheap and if you are a lone backpacker it would be a problem, you can take a bus that goes to Puerto Princessa and they drop you off at a junction but apparently there is only few jeeps that go from junction to Barton and they stop service at a certain time, they said last one is around noon(?) these facts coming from locals who themselves have not taken the jeep ride,and if you miss it you may need to stay the night there or if lucky maybe flag a private vehicle heading to Barton, suffice to say we are not willing to risk that.
Sadly we only spent 3 days here, I wish we had more time to explore as
El Nido Island hopping
Spaniiards Maria and Oscar I enjoyed El Nido the 1st time I was here, but maybe I come back for a 3rd time and climb the cliffs that hangs over the town for some great views, weather have been overcast for the most part and a few drizzles here and there, this is supposed to be summer, the locals told us well it's El Nino in El Nido..
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Beata and Tomek
us At Home Abroad
the place looks really nice ;-)