We were up by 6:15 to eat breakfast and catch our van to Honda Bay. Named for the Spanish name “Hondo Agua” (Deep Water), it’s apparently a popular tourist destination for snorkeling, fish-feeding, swimming, and eating. Our first stop was a floating dock in the middle of the bay where you could swim or snorkel. We didn’t stay there long before heading on to Snake Island (named for the shape, not the inhabitants) where I read and wrote, everyone else tanned, and we ate lunch (more grilled tuna and cucumber salad!) After lunch we headed to one last island before heading back to town with the other tourists on the 5:00 flight back to Manila. We learned that if you pronounced Palawan “PAH-lah-wan”, it means someone from Palawan. “pah-LAH-wan” means the island. When we got back, ... read more

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 ... read more

We had to be at the scuba shop by 8:00am so we were up at 7 and our hostel fixed us a breakfast of bread with pineapple jam and an egg. I always enjoy how people do breakfast in warm climates. Lots of fruit and bread. Once everything got settled at the scuba shop, we had to carry our gear out to the beach and then carry it out to the boat. I carried my dry stuff (clothes, towel, purse) on my head, which worked out pretty well. We drove out to an island around the city and our first task was to swim 200m and back. Which seemed fairly simple at first. But as soon as we got in the water, the winds picked up. And they had neglected to tell us that there were ... read more

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 ... read more

My mother has requested a special blog on something we call “Family Dinners” here at SLP. Essentially, for about 3 months or so, I have been planning and shopping for one meal a week, eaten by the majority of the foreign teachers at my school, as well as a few stragglers here and there. Our theme is to eat a meal from a different country each week and we go alphabetically. We recently finished the A-countries and begin with the Bs this month with the Bahamas. We had been talking about doing weekly dinners for a while and, with my parents visit, I had access to my country coffee table books which include a lot of information on what sort of food you should eat when you visit. Using that information, as well as additional information ... read more