On the Open Road From Leyte to Catanduanes.

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I can feel it so vividly, the feeling of new adventure on the open road. After an amazing time in Mindanao and around Mount Apo, I had met some really cool people and almost extended my time there. So tempting, much more to explore and I will be back. I stuck to my original vision though, woke up in my funky art hotel in Davao, tossed down some instant Indonesian coffee and walked out to the main street. It was about 8AM but starting to get warm already. I was completely comfortable in this city now, it had been rather scary when I first got here over a week ago. That's how it goes, these worries we create in our brain are often unfounded. Ready for new adventure, I hopped in a loud colorful jeepney that was packed full. The people on board helped me pull my backpack on, all of us squeezed on. People asked me about my trip so far, I definitely had achieved street cred by hiking up Mount Apo.

And just like that, I was back at the Davao airport, seemed like so much had happened since I arrived here over a week ago. Easy check in, my flight lifted over Samal Island and the Gulf of Davao, headed up the east side of Mindanao, quite clear and mountainous as we headed past the Compostela Valley, a place I will come back and visit. I settled in, just an hour later we dropped into Tacloban City (on the north side of Leyte Island) and landed. You may remember that this coastal city of 250,000 people was absolutely destroyed by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, 6,500 people were killed, widespread looting and destruction of land. The local government collapsed. After taking a helicopter flight over the city after the disaster, US Marine Brigadier General Paul Kennedy was quoted as saying, "I don't believe there is a single structure that is not destroyed or severely damaged in some way – every single building, every single house".

Aid organizations had clearly done solid work since the disaster, landing at the airport in Tacloban was uneventful, nice curious people all around. I guess hardly any tourists come through here. I walked to the end of the airstrip, pretty hot outside. Hopped in another local jeepney to get into the center, people on my flight had told me how to navigate through town. Dropped off on a busy corner, grabbed a fresh coconut juice and walked about 4 blocks to the long distance bus station. Just like that, an hour later the little minibus pulled out, I had grabbed a decent seat. We crossed the San Juanico Bridge, the longest bridge in the Philippines. Headed up into the hills and increasingly lush landscape of Samar Island. I had spent time reading about this island and many possibilities for adventure, caving, waterfalls. At this point though, I had started to conceive of the idea of going to the North Philippines mountains at the end of my trip. For better or worse, it looked like I would just pass through Samar. The drive was beautiful, we hugged the west side of Samar, often had views of the water in the distance. The vegetation was dense in many places, we passed through many farming/agricultural areas. Most of that looked small scale, which was reinforced in my mind when we made a stop for bathroom and food. The local market had many organic homegrown products, this appeared to be a real breadbasket. I got more coconut juice and some delicious dried and salted local organic mushrooms.

We rolled on, the bus dropped me off in the scruffy little seaside village of Catbalogan City. I hopped another crowded minibus, was getting into the afternoon by now. We headed past more of the same dense vegetation, really pretty rolling hills. Rolled into the vibrant town of Calbayog at about 5PM. I had thought about pushing farther but this looked like a good place to stop for the night, it turned out to be a very good decision. I dropped at the bus station, walked about 5 blocks up into the center of this small city of 150,000 people. It was about 95F, found cool respite inside the 230 year old Peter and Paul Cathedral, very beautiful and peaceful building. After gathering strength, I walked on into the pretty middle of town, I really really liked the vibe of this place. Found a $15 room with shared shower, dropped my bag, took a very welcome shower.

The evening had started to cool off, really pretty middle of town, modern buildings with a few older ones around, some parks with mature trees and landscape, a river that came in from the sea and provided great little spots for people to hang out in the evening, little cafes. Again, NO Westerners in sight, I wandered around, super friendly people. Snapped some sunset photos of colorful boats, seemed to be a sizable fishing fleet here. Food vendors down by the harbor cracked me up. There were about 12 carts, EVERY sole one had fried chicken. Really good but odd to have no variety. I found a little sit down cafe, got some massive prawns grilled for me, big plate with fresh veggies for about $6. The breeze had started to come in, really pleasant. I had a couple cold beers and was feeling really happy. This was another one of those places that gets almost no hype in the guide books. I actually loved it, seemed friendly, cultured. There was a university here as well, that's always a great things to add to the flavor of a city. Wandered back down to the seaside and back to the cathedral one more time before turning in to bed.

Great sleep, up early and ready to roll the next morning, fresh fruit and chicken soup for breaky. After walking back to the station, caught a local mini bus headed north and leaving in 45 minutes. I grabbed a seat in the front row, settled in. Met a really cool art professor named Noel Sagayap and his students, they were almost all of the other people on my minibus. He was taking his students to another town in Northern Samar to participate in a community mural project. Really special person. I'd really like to go back and travel Samar with him and I suspect I will. I chatted with him about the artist down in Davao, he seemed to know him and said he was going down there in the next month. Noel's students loved him, I can see why. His art is complex and he is a wonderful kind person.

I think our trip up to the north side of Samar was about 2 hours, we zipped right along. I was dropped off near the ferry terminal in Allen, missed a fast ferry by about 15 minutes, found out the "slow" ferry was leaving in about 45 minutes. Met a woman headed my same direction, we walked over to the boat terminal, I could see the island of Bicol far out in the distance. Great, got a ticket, looked like the boat wasn't that crowded and the journey would only be about 2 hours. Before you know it, our huge boat (with cars) load up and headed out. It was actually pretty similar in size to our Seattle area ferries, definitely one of the largest ferries in the Philippines. The boat seemed very well maintained with an orderly loading system, comfortable seats inside. People were lounging about, relaxing, chatting, a few people had brought their own hammocks and strung them up to take a nap. Cool vibe.

As we approached the southern tip of Bicol, we passed stunning islands and a looming volcano and jungles in the background. Honestly, the Philippines had really started to capture my heart. Just gorgeous, everywhere you look, so topographically varied. Our ferry pulled into the little port of Matnog, on the southern tip of Bicol in the Sorsogon region. I threw on my pack, walked off the boat, cooled off again in a local church, much smaller. Matnog was steaming hot, town of about 40,000 people, bustling energy and commerce around the boat terminal. I chatted with a few locals, ran into a funny Canadian guy living there with his Filipina wife, has a little ice cream shop near the ferry. I bought him a cold beer and asked him about how things work, I had to see the islands we had just passed, they looked stunning. Great info, in a matter of 30 in minutes I had hatched another great plan, connected with a local boatman.

I grabbed fresh fish, brandy, veggies, rice, lots of fresh fruit and water, hopped in a small boat and chugged out across the bay. We stopped at a cool little fish sanctuary on Juac Island, the water color and clarity of water was some of the most beautiful I had seen in my life. We rounded the northern tip of Calintaan Island, stunning water and scenery all around. This place was straight up magical, a few other boats passing by. We were headed for Subic Beach, on the south side of the island. I had heard there were overnight huts there, a fun place to be. We pulled up, the water was pretty calm, dropped me in about 3 feet of water and i waded onshore. I really liked the vibe here, looks like I would have been okay not bringing food. There were about 15 bungalows on the beach, some concrete, many of them thatched. I got a great one right on the sea, sheltered under a large banyan tree, I think it was $18. No AC but a great fan, pit toilets and bucket baths right next door, decent water source so i could filter drinking water. Home sweet home, mindblowingly beautiful, I think i said that already 😊.

I took a refreshing swim, wandered around the little island and met some locals, a few dogs and kids. This seemed like the kind of place a person could settle in and stay a very long while. Sunrise looked to be good right where I was, sunset (and a very weak internet connection) was just across the narrow part of the island, bats as the sun went down. I showered up, got a local guy to grill up my fish for me with some chilis and garlic, just heaven. There were a number of groups outside on huts eating dinner, drinking, enjoying the early evening. I have told you about how nice Filipinos are, EVERY group (there were about 6 groups) asked me to join them and eat and drink. There was a pretty well known Filipino actor/newscaster and his posse, I sat down with a boisterous and fun group of young fellow employees on a little retreat. They work for the biggest pawn shop in the Philippines, Palawan Pawn. There were about 8 of them, super fun and kind. I heard their stories, shared my food and ate theirs until I almost exploded. We ate, grand, sang, laughed, all in this little paradise. Told them about my journey, got to know them. Really really sweet people. Stayed up late, collapsed onto my mattress on the floor under a starry sky. What a place!

Up the next morning a little hungover, took a long run on the beach, gorgeous sunrise as expected. Just chilled out for the whole day, enjoyed the people around me, explored the island a little more, mostly just lounged and swam in the sea, lots of colorful fish. This beach was really clean, the locals seem to keep it that way. Food, fun, beer, lots of local food I got to try for the first time. My god Filipinos love pork, delicious lechon with crispy pork skin too. I had brought fresh pineapple. That's it, just chilled out for the rest of the day, met lots of great Filipino travelers, who seem to have immense pride in the beauty of their country, laughed at my Manny Pacquiao shirts. More singing, more music, Filipinos also seem to be very musically inclined, I once heard jokingly that one of the leading exports of the Philippines are excellent cover bands, they can be found playing in casinos and on cruise ships all over the world. I guess you all know the story of lead singer of Journey, Filipino Arnel Pineda. He joined the band in 2007 and breathed new life into it. Read about the story if you haven't, it's amazing. Collapsed in bed about 10PM with a big smile on my face, I would join my new friends the next morning for another island adventure and trip back to the mainland.

Up the next morning to yet another stunner sunrise, took a run explored farther into the local village on the island. This would be yet another difficult place to leave and another spot I absolutely would be back. It's weird, normally I don't get urges to go back to the same place I've traveled. I'm overwhelmingly feeling like going back to the Philippines though, may do that sooner than later. Crazy, I found a local guy in a little hut who had an espresso machine. Yum. packed and loaded up, met my new friends, we headed with our boatman over to little Tikling Island, I had seen it a couple days ago to the right when my ferry came in. Not many people living on it, I think i heard no real water source. We pulled into a pretty beach, walked and explored the strange vegetation and rocky cliffs of the far side of the island, relaxed, hunted for some seashells. After a couple hours, we hopped back on our boat and chugged over to Matnog harbor, looming Bulusan volcano in the background. Said good bye to my dear new friends, hopped right on a jeepney, it was about 1PM now.

We chugged up through lush landscape, gaining altitude, all around me were places that looked beautiful and I could have easily stopped and explored. It's hard to make choices but choose i must. Each time I got on a new jeepney, i had more stories to tell when the locals asked me. Most of them speak English very well and are quite curious. They are respectful, a little shy, very polite and kind. Besides the random Canadian guy with the ice cream shop, I had seen no Westerners in days and almost none on my whole trip. Got into Sorsogon City about 2PM, walked over and got the last seat on a minibus headed north, about 5PM pulled into Legazpi City, a bustling place on the sea with about 200,000 people. The iconic Mount Mayon volcano loomed over it, they say it is the most active volcano in the Philippines. I had to go see it. Hopped off my minibus, caught a ride on a moto out toward the perfect cone volcano and the Cagsawa Dominican ruins from the 1500s. I got a great room for $12 in a little hostel looking right at the mountain. I was on the outskirts of Legazpi, much more mellow here. Dropped my bags, quick shower to regain energy, then walked out about a half a mile to the ruins. Local tourists wandering about, a really stunning location.

The mountain was stunning. There were ATVs available for tours but I opted for a more peaceful experience, wandering around the ruins and taking in the view. It was evening, kind of magical, not many local tourists around this time of day. Although the mountain had erupted just a year ago, there was just a little smile coming out now. The shape of it, the cone, was right there with Mount Fuji in Japan as one of the most beautiful I've seen in my life. I strolled back to my hostel, grabbed some tasty local food on the way. The food in this Bicol region is some of the most tasty in the Philippines, widespread use of coconut milking chili peppers. It is said that many years ago, this area was seafaring and traded with Malaysia, adopted many of the same ingredients and food usages. I had seafood, greens with coconut milk (called laing), more pork and fruit of course. Home for a cold beer on the terrace overlooking the mountain. Collapsed in sleep, it had been a really good day and the open road was calling the next day.

Up the next morning. Tasty breakfast of eggs, bacon and potatoes and coffee on the roof deck overlooking Mount Mayon. I was tempted to walk to the ruins again but the view was so good that I just chilled and enjoyed the morning. Packed up, headed out, committed to hitchhiking this day. Picked up by a 75 year old American Vietnam vet (raised in West Virginia) and his Filipina wife. Great people, told me a story about how they met. He was suffering numerous bouts of PTSD and in VA psych hospitals, had recurring suicide thoughts. A famous entertainer names Art Linkletter in the US had a charity that helped suffering soldiers. This Filipino woman, who had come to the USA years earlier to work as a caregiver, volunteered for Art Linkletter's charity. She lived in LA, he was back in a psych hospital on the East Coast. The volunteers would put together little craft care packages for the soldiers, it was thought that they would get some peace from art projects and things like that. Each volunteer was assigned to communicate with one vet, a really good idea.

So, this beautiful spirit woman sent those packages over a year period, also put in handwritten letters encouraging the man to not give up hope. This was pre internet, over time they started to communicate by letter, grow find of each other. The man credits the woman with saving his life, believing in him. Eventually, after many months, he got better and was discharged, one of the first things he did was to go to LA and visit Rosie, the woman who had saved his life. A short visit turned into love, amazing story. They moved back to the Philippines and lived in her family home, in a rural area near Naga City in Bicol. Here said they are pretty comfortable on his pension, a pension she has from her work in the states. Life is simple, peaceful, just the way he likes to. He said the people in the communities near him accept him completely, it actually reminds him of the West Virginia of his childhood.

They had driven to Legazpi City to drop a relative off at the airport, had passed by me and double back to pick me up, cracked up laughing when they saw a white guy hitchhiking. He laughed out loud, said that he had never seen that before. I hopped in their very comfortable double cab AC pickup truck. We shared stories, a little slice of life between people who had never net before. They were completely curious about my journey, talked about how it was strange how few foreigners come to this part of the Philippines. They told me the story I just shared with you about, it left me with tears in my eyes and a full heart. The guy said that he still struggles some days but that his wife saved his life, believes in him and challenges him to be his best each day. Amazing couple, uplifting, they dropped me on a little corner just past the small town of Baao. We had a coconut juice and a few tasty lumpia together, big hugs and we both were on our way.

I had eyed this road, Fuentebella Rd, heading for a mythically beautiful area I had heard about called Caramoan Peninsula. So there I stood on a lonely little corner with my thumb out and dreams in my heart. About ten minutes later, a nice young dude in a pickup truck snatched me up, he and his father have an engineering business and he was headed out to check out one of their little projects. he took me as far as Tigaon, then I luckily got another ride in an old car all the way to Sabang Port. I waited an hour, loaded up on a few supplies and headed out on our local catamaran like boat. It had large Polynesian looking wooden pieces on the side. As we headed out into Lagonoy Gulf and the waves kicked up, I quickly learned how important those stabilizing wooden pieces were. The waves kicked up a lot, much more than usual. my fellow passengers were white knuckled like me, the 2 hour trip took 4 hours, we finally and mercifully pulled into Guijalo Port, a bustling little place on the south side of the peninsula. I stumbled off the boat, so glad to be on dry land, hopped a moto up the long hill to Caramoan town, very lush, rice filed everywhere. I got a little money at the ATM of the surprisingly busy market town, then about 5PM caught a lift down to Panaman Beach, got a little room right next to the sea for about $15.

Strikingly beautiful Paniman Beach and Caramoan Peninsula, karst islands in the distance where a few seasons of Survivor had been filmed. Not many tourists here as it was midweek, there were a few Westerners, meet some Germans and a couple guys from Israel. Right next to me, ran into this Filipino guy and his BIG extended family. He has lived in Vancouver BC for many years, is a software engineer and comes back once a year to visit all his people. They had the bungalow near me, were completely welcoming to me, offering me food, drink and to join them for island hopping boat trips over the next couple days. So that's what I did, stayed here 3 nights, walked around this beautiful place, met great people, took trips up to Caramoan town, walked the rice fields and rural setting, has tasty local food.

Our two days of boat trips were legend. Faraway islands, beaches, rock formations, lighthouses, seafood cooked for us on a little beach the first day. The second day we toured to closer by islands, in many ways the more strikingly beautiful rock formations. They compare this area to Palawan, but way more pure with a fraction of tourists. I got in some great swimming, excellent photography, really an exceptionally beautiful area. Again, incredible hard to leave but I managed to rip myself away, had decided to make a run for Catanduanes, at least see it for a day, then catch a flight back to Manila and try to get to the Northern Mountains of Luzon. The third morning, again with a heavy heart, feeling a little crazy for leaving this paradise, I ripped myself away. Hopped a moto back up over the highlands of the peninsula back to Guijalo Port, got another boat to Codon Port of the west side of Catanduanes Island.

The seas were thankfully much more calm, we rolled past the stunning cliffs of the south part of Caramoan Peninsula and across to Catanduanes. I got on well with my shipmates, pulled into Codon after an hour or so, hopped in a shared moto and headed up the long hill toward San Andres and eventually Virac town. Originally when I planned this trip, I envisioned staying on Catanduanes about a week. With the Mount Apo climb and my desire to try to get to the crazy headhunter traditional tattoo village, and the fact that I found magic near Matnog and Caramoan, there wasn't going to be time for more than a day here. That's the things about the Philippines, every place is mind-blowing. So, I would make the best of my day and evening, had a flight out the next morning. I grabbed a cozy room in surprisingly urbane Virac, close to the airport. It was a splurge at $25, but very very nicely appointed, hardwoods, AC, lovely.

I showered up, threw down my bags, it was about noon now. I had a day and I would make the best of it. A friend of the hotel owner had a truck and offered to tour me around for just gas money. Just like that, we were off. Curled up into the hills, went to really pretty Maribina Waterfall, I jumped in for a quick swim. We carried on to a world class surfing spot, Pururan Beach. I met another Filipino guy who has lived in LA for many years, home to visit family, big reunion this day under palaces on the beach. You know the drill. They all called me over, many stories, food and beers later I rolled on down the road with my driver. We had just a couple hours left, he took me out beautiful beautiful Bato Peninsula to a stunning beach of the far eastern side of the south. Across from here is the well known Poseidon Rock and pools, too late in the day to see it. Next trip for sure, I thought the rural qualities an insanely beautiful beaches of this area left much to be explored. I could see a trip where I go back, grab a scooter and just chill in this area for a couple weeks. Oh, they catch lobster there too 😊.

So that was it, an incredibly action packed day and taste of Catanduanes. At least I thought that was all. I got back to my room and found that there was a message for me. A few years ago, I had met a really cool guy in Kyoto Japan, actually in British pub. He told me to look up his cousin Floyd if I ever got to Catanduanes. I had sent him a note earlier this morning when I left Caramoan. So now, I had a message from him at my hotel. I was tired but had to rally. I called him, he came right over with his great girlfriend Jann Ursula, they said "let's go". Before I knew it, they had taken me to a real cool outdoor spot, filled with food booths, beers flowing, great food and live music. Fantastic people, friends of fellow are like family, the world over. What an incredible way to end my walkabout in this part of the Philippines. With big smiles, they took me back to my room, fell asleep in my luxurious sheets with so many amazing memories of my journey. Up for a tasty breakfast the next morning, quick up over to the peaceful Virac airport. The plane taxied and took off, I waved goodbye to Catanduanes, saying "I'll be back".

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Comments

[Mar Harrison]

Wonderful Story
I loved this blog - very un-American and that was the best part. I think we all need to loosen up and trust more. We miss so much when we are fearful of a new place. Vince really, truly captures the spirit of a place.