The Zimdians had warned me that travelling in the Phillipines was hard work. In my head, I was a little bit dismissive, thinking "yeah yeah, how hard can it be? Probably no worse than travelling on buses in Zim." I now know to mostly heed the words of the well-travelled.
When I made it through security, a Filipina looked at me, did a double-take, turned to her family. Stolen glances, chatter, and suppressed laughter until I shrugged and laughed with them with shared understanding at what was so funny. My daypack looked like a chicken bus: seams and zips straining, shoes in tatty plastic bags squashed into every side pocket and a packet of incense protruding. Only a trussed rooster missing. Dearie me. And then the flight was delayed.
It was in Cebu city that I not only became an expert in ferry travel to Leyte island, but also came to the conclusion that the universe was testing me. After a good sleep I walked the traffic-choked streets of the city, making my way to a big mall to find an agent to sell me a ferry ticket for that night to get to Maasin, Leyte island. This was my hopping off point for Sogod Bay - place of whale sharks and wall dives. There are massive ship-like ferries which ply this route. Plenty of room. Nah. Sold out!!!! Whaaat? I hadn't accounted for Friday night, school holidays and local fiestas (big religious parties that happen to a timetable too complicated perhaps for my guidebook to even mention). So off to pier 3 to get a ticket direct, from another ferry company to a different place on the island: Hilongos, which would involve a punishingly expensive transfer. Success after 2hours. Back to pier 1 to get the return ticket from Maasin. Sent to head office, pier 4. Closed. Distress! How could I be so stupid as to find myself in docklands in a foreign country at dusk? Never mind: 5 helpful and concerned staff and security folk were at hand to give travel advice. Don't walk back to guesthouse - very dangerous. Taxis (cheap in Cebu) all full? Ok take this number jeepney to here, then that number jeepney to there. I eventually walked some, taxied some and with migraine pending wrote off the 9pm ferry ride and checked back into bed.
Things always look brighter in the morning, so at 8.30 I was queuing for another ferry ticket next to Christopher who made sure I was in the right place. An hour later, as I shifted up to second in line, ticket systems went down. Sorry, we're offline. Advice: go to our office on pier 4. Shit. The communal decision of the queue was that Pier 4 was a better bet than waiting for the system to come online. So we all piled into jeepney no. 7. Price? Otto pesos. Christopher made sure I got local price and the right change. The upside of all of this was that - out of pure boredom - I read the small print and realised that despite having already missed my boat, I could "re-validate" my ticket for a small admin fee, instead of buying a new one. Happy days. If only Easyjet and Ryanair were this easy. Mad dash across town and back to collect luggage with a brief stop to buy crackers and a couple of green mangos for the ride. I hadn't time-accounted for the departure being from a completely different pier to check-in, but a student next to me reassured me that we'd make it: ferries run to "Filipino time". Ah, like Africa time. This concept I know and put into practice myself. My relief as the ferry shuttle bus pulled up was short-lived as I suddenly realised that I'd left a very expensive and patchily-insured piece of technology in the guesthouse safe. Universe definitely testing me. Should I turn back? No way. The obstacles only made me more determined. I was getting on that ferry to Leyte dead or alive. Ok that's exaggerating...web-connected or unconnected.
So Leyte it was. I was staying near Padre Burgos a small village in the south of Leyte. There are a few dive "resorts" which milk you for money if you dive with them and milk you for much more if you don't. I found one which had cheap dorm beds, and, as it turned out, the best pork adobo I ate in the Philippines (mmm).
I arrived late at night, knackerooned, and opened an external door for air, to find that my room had a balcony with sea view and a lullaby of waves a-lapping - niiice!
Following an incident on our last dive, involving strong-ish current, the loss of our Divemaster, and a distinct lack of botheredness on his part when we surfaced okay thanks to A and his dive computer, I spent my last couple of days walking and snorkelling. And watching the final of American Idol with the restaurant staff, who, along with the rest of the country were supporting half-Filipino Jessica Sanchez (in my expert opinion she should have won).
The snorkelling was great. First time in, my heart sank when I spotted a bright purplish-blue object. Ugh, a plastic crisp packet, but no, it was one of many lovely starfish. And in the late afternoons, lionfish at 4metres, and...a turtle. Slowly, silently sculling it's way down to the seabed to graze on seagrass, then up to the surface for a few sips of air. What a treat!
In general, I was a bit of a novelty to Filipinos, who found it surprising that I was a female travelling alone. After the usual questions "where are you from? how old are you?" came "are you alone? aren't you scared?!" In Padre Burgos this was magnified x20. But, as elsewhere in the Philippines, people were super-helpful, and genuinely friendly. Which made for many great conversations, the occasional crowd of curious kids, and acts of kindness. Like the time I was unable to find "load" (top up credit) for my Filipino sim card. I asked a group of young folk where I could buy some. Easy. One of them put me on the back of his motorbike and zipped me around the village until we found load.
Pics of sleepy Padre Burgos below.
The return journey on the overnight ferry was great: comfy bunks and a little cafe for my morning coffee. I thought I'd escaped the roosters for a night (cock-fighting is big in the Philippines) but no my friends. As surely as the clock strikes 4.20am there was a rooster on that boat and it crowed. Tunefully at least, which is not always the case.
Ferry arrival Filipino time still allowed me to collect my technology and catch my flight to Palawan island. A brief stop in Puerto Princessa to work out another ATM-less budget and then onwards to El Nido in a speedy minivan. Small bangka (boat) trips out of El Nido are the best way to see the islands of the Bacuit archipelago. Dramatic limekarst scenery, secret lagoons (accessed by climbing or swimming through holes/passages in the rocks) and such white sand and clear blue water that your brain struggles to process the beauty. A day on a boat is spent island hopping, snorkelling and lagoon exploring, with one of the boat guys to check wave safety and guide your clamber/swim through the sharp rocks. Interrupted only by a couple of hours on a beach (first pic below) for freshly BBQ'd fish with rice and fresh salad, mmm. And all waste and equipment is taken there and away at the end - even the table.
(Last pic above: coconut crafty - how to park your bike in the sand)
I had a bit of bad luck with the weather in El Nido: torrential rain for several days which, at the start, had restaurant staff muttering "typhoon?" (it wasn't). But I caught the live drama of impeachment proceedings in the Senate against the Chief Justice on corruption charges, for failure to declare something like US$5million of...uhhh... earnings in his statement of assets and liabilities. It bumped the coverage of Jessica Sanchez's every blink off the news and was an all day affair with Senate members making long speeches as they cast their votes. The score? 20 votes for impeachment; 3 against. I reckon every TV in town was on that channel - well, between powercuts. It's good news for the President's anti-corruption mission, amidst fears (so my Filipina friends told me a few days before the result) that the Senate will not give him the support he needs to succeed.
With a raging cold from the damp and cold showers (my delicate constitution not used to temperatures below 30degrees!) I was glad to get back to Puerto Princessa sunshine and dry air.
My route out of the Philippines involved two challenges: to find a non-sex-tourist hotel in Angeles city (near Clark airport) for less than $30, and to avoid the notorious taxi mafia at Clark. There were some tense moments when I couldn't find my pre-arranged taxi dude, the airport had closed and I was the only passenger left at 9.30pm, resisting the circling taxi sharks. But it all worked out. The bitter taste this left was completely abolished in the morning when wonderful, chatty, helpful hotel staff came with me down to the jeepney terminal and helped me to sort out a jeepney back to the airport.
The Philippines were brilliant. Time and time again, I was struck by how genuinely friendly people were, and how often they would go out of their way to help. Oh and, I know it may be weird to mention, but the loos everywhere, euphemistically called "Comfort Rooms" or "CRs" (don't look for the international "WC"), were unfailingly clean. The travel planning was sometimes tough and time-consuming, but the beauty of the places I visited were worth every minute of frustration and there was always a mate to be made whilst queuing. So, 2 Filipino islands down. Only 7105 now on my "to travel to" list.
Wow, what an adventure!! Sounds amazing!!
ReplyDelete