Next Stop: Unknown

Ah, the Philippines at last!  I’d been looking forward to the Philippines thinking it would be a significant change in culture from the rest of Asia.  Plus, Jenn and I have been dreaming of gorging ourselves on mangos.  We started in the city of Cebu, with the plan of taking an overnight ferry to meet ‘uncle’ Stan on the Island of Camiguin.  Cebu itself was a disaster zone.  The people in the city are so poor that Jenn and I felt uncomfortable even taking our camera out of the bag.  We managed to find a hostel that wasn’t too bad, then took a taxi to the ferry terminal to buy our passage for the next evening’s departure.  No problem thus far, but we were glad to be escaping Cebu quickly!

We spent the next day touring through Cebu, although there wasn’t really much to see.  When it was ferry time, we picked up our bags and headed to port… only to find out the ferry didn’t arrive due to a storm.  They told us to come back the next day at the same time.  Arg, frustrating… so we decided to treat ourselves and check into a nice hotel.  We spent the next day relaxing at the hotel and then headed out again for our ferry trip the next night.  And again it was delayed.  WTF??!?!  What does it take to get out of this city?  We eventually booked a different ferry to a different city that was at least closer to our destination.  So, 3 days later than expected we arrived where we wanted to be!  Note to travelers, Super Shuttle Ferry seems a bit unreliable… Super Ferry however seemed to be just fine.

Camiguin was paradise. A small little island in the middle of nowhere, with beautiful beaches, incredibly friendly people, and sweet sweet Lanzones. All of the little kids would wave and yell “Hi Friend” to us as we scooted around.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t mango season, so we didn’t get that treat, but there were plenty of other local delicacies to be had!  For the first few nights (4 or 5?) we stayed in Stan’s beachside bungalow.  Don’t let your mind get to excited… it was as minimal as you can get!  Yes, it was right on the beach… the sound of the waves lapping at the shore was tranquil. But offset that with no electricity, no running water, no bathroom… everything was done in the swamp.  (Well except for peeing – he actually just peed right on the floor, trusting nature to evaporate it away). He rented the bungalow for 200 pesos a month, which is the equivalent of $4 USD… his half star hideaway!  Water for drinking and bathing was gathered from a pit about a 10 minute walk away… the water there leeched out of the ground and was separated from the brackish sea water by a small concrete barrier.  It had a funky taste, and neither Jenn nor I wanted to drink it, but Stan and the family he lives with had been using it, and seemed to survive.  We treated our water the first few days, but then ended up just using it as it was.  No problems! 

Stan is a hardcore minimalist, and he strives to live the most simple life possible.  He fishes when he gets hungry, sleeps when he’s tired, and just spends his life day by day doing whatever he wants to do.  Right now however, he is busy building a new house for himself and his girlfriend, Jinky.  So for 5 days, we slept in the bungalow, and helped him cut wood, hammer nails, measure, gather, and eat like him… until we couldn’t take it anymore.  There is only so much rice and cassava root a person could eat.

We checked into Camiguin Action Geckos, which is a dive and ‘action’ resort. It was quite the upgrade… we had running water and electricity, and wi-fi to boot.  We did 3 dives and ran around the island on our own for a couple days. 

 

Stan’s temporary beachfront bungalow and our shared home for several days.

 

Jenn and Stan relaxing in Stan’s new house.

Beachfront in Camiguin is where food is cooked, wash hung out to dry, and tired vacationers sleep when it’s too hot in the bungalow.

Stan gathering shellfish for dinner, and Lucas headed out for a brief kayak. About thirty minutes into it he was too sunburned to continue. Thus quickly ended his interest in boating!

The infamous swamp! This is where drinking water is gathered, where clothes and bodies are washed and where whole tribes of brackish water shrimp call home.

Lucas posing with Jinky’s daughter, Mandy on the porch of their new house!

Mmmmm, an entire spit grilled pig.  It was delicious!

We picked a particularly hot day to head out to St. Nino cold water springs. As luck would have it, the clouds came out as soon as we got there. But we put up with the chill and introduced Jinky’s family to the local attraction for the first time. Imagine, never having seen a pool or a slide before at 10 years old! After first they adamantly refused to try the waterslide, but after some substantial coaxing they gave it a go. Then we couldn’t get them to leave!

Stan, Jinky, Lucas and Jenn get a back massage from a mini-waterfall at St. Nino.

Jessie, one of Stan’s oldest friends on the island, is also an excellent welder. Here he’s making Stan’s kitchen sink from an old jeep gas tank. Creative, eh?

This was a massive waterfall! Having a mini Stan in the background gives some perspective, but our camera wasn’t even big enough to capture the top of the falls. You can only see about 2/3rds of it in this photo! We had a great time diving through the falls into the pool and splashing around in the cool waters.

Three hundred years ago there was a huge volcanic eruption on he island. It destroyed several villages and sunk this cemetery! There used to be actual graves underwater here, but our dive master told us that they’ve all been moved. Safely restored to high ground, stolen, or what she couldn’t specify. Only the tall cross remains to mark the spot.

Another nudibranch. We just don’t be tired of these guys!  This was the first brown/purple/black on white one we’ve seen!

A skunk anemone fish. We’ve never been diving anywhere with more interesting anemone fish than in Camiguin – light pink, dark purple, deep red to orange – the entire rainbow was represented.

Clark’s Anemone Fish – lovely!

Another Nudibranch; you aren’t tired of these yet, are you?  I like how this one had a trident like appendage on the top rear… at least I think that’s the rear… maybe it’s the front?

Portrait of Stan, sans-beard per Jinky’s request! He didn’t manage to have a shirt on, so at least he got his way in the clothes department. I think in the course of almost two weeks, I saw Stan wearing more than a bathing suit perhaps three times – and that’s being generous!

The highlight of Bohol island, a nocturnal Tarsier! We’d just woken this loveable girl up from a snooze. She was hiding from a downpour under some bamboo leaves when we snapped this shot.

We also did two dives at Bohol, but weren’t overly impressed.  The coral was great, but there was absolutely no fish life.  It wasn’t until the end of the 2nd dive that we even found a nudibranch.  So, instead of diving the next day, we rented a motorcycle and took a mini tour of the Island.  It’s really large though, so not possible to drive around in a day.