I just got home from Palawan. I could seriously imagine myself living there. Everything about the island is beautiful, the ecology, the food, and of course, the people.
Our flight was delayed so we stayed the night in Manila. That night we went to an amazing restaurant called Ziggurat. It served food from all over the world; Middle Eastern, African and Mediterranean, to name a few. Manila is a city of intense diversity. We went to the neighbourhood of Makati (the business district), which looks like Bay street only fancier. The infrastructure takes you very much by surprise. You are no more than 5 minutes away from the dusty streets of Baclaran, yet you feel like you are in a different world. It is a visible representation of how wealth has been propagated in the Philippines.
It is not developed in at all the same was as Borocay. It remains a small village, occupied and managed by the locals. My cottage resort was right on the beach, which was set alongside one or two others. They were all small free-standing hut style resorts made of traditional materials....again, a far cry from Borocay.
Right after I set my things in my cottage, I set off to the waterfall. The waterfall is roughly 4 km into the jungle, so the walk was about 1.5 hours each way. The walk itself was beautiful enough, but after my guide and I got to the waterfall I was lost for words.
This island has everything; a mountainous jungle interior with cool, freshwater rivers cuddling a coast which is laden with white sand beaches, aquamarine water and coral fringed seas. My first thought, this is paradise. Moreover, Palawan is draped in small islands, like little beach coated gum drops with a thick foresty filling :)
After our trek back we hopped into the paddle boat and headed to the sand bar where I busted out my snorkel gear and got my first sight of Palawanian corals. Again....this is paradise! After eating my dinner (guisado..mmmm), I had some beers with the locals, which really topped my day off. They were the sweet, open, and very humorous. We ended up going to sing some karaoke. But I guess that would be assumed, after all, when are they not singing karaoke here? :)
The next day, my two hospitable guides and I began our island hopping adventure. The snorkeling was out of this world. I never thought that anything could top the Galapagos Islands, but this came pretty close. Although there were no sharks or sea lions, the water was teeming with all sorts of beautifully coloured fish. I saw schools of over 100 fish feeding off of the corals; nicely demonstrating their wonderfully symbiotic relationship. I know all of you must remember the awesome sea castle in A Little Mermaid, well, I saw the real thing! One of the corals seriously looked exactly like that castle, it was gold and everything! AMAZING!
After over an hour of snorkelling we proceeded to Exotic Island; a tiny island inhabited by a very friendly family. Other than one small bamboo hut, the island looked virtually uninhabited. There was no litter and no sign of any garbage storage area (which of course is common). I soon found out that it was because the family just composts most of it, and what they can’t compost, they burn. In fact, that is what most communities do on Palawan. It’s interesting because I made a comment to my guide about how clean and pristine the land is—even if it is inhabited—and he informed me that it was because they burned anything that they could not reuse. Given that there are no garbage trucks, this clearly makes for very efficient garbage removal. Anyways, after our arrival my guides proceeded to prepare our lunch, which they purchased fresh at the shore that morning. After a lot of snorkelling (judging by the incredibly painful sunburn on my back and legs) I walked up the beach to see our prepared lunch consisting of freshly grilled fish, stuffed squid and cucumber salad. It was unexplainably spectacular. Unfortunately, I am not good enough with my adjectives to describe how delectable that lunch was, but I hope the pictures can do it a little justice. By the way, everyone knows how to cook here. Man, woman and child. One could expect that to be true in tourist areas where even the men and children have to cook for tourists, but it is also often the case in non-tourist areas as well. They all contribute.
Anyways, that night I headed back to Puerto Princesa to prepare for the following day of adventure! That being, our boat ride through the largest underground cave in the world! AMAZING! They are actually trying to make it one of the 7 wonders. But, it’s a delicate ecosystem and tourism is already getting thick so hopefully it is managed sustainably, i.e. progressive tourism restrictions.
On another note, last weekend we visited San Nicolas Farm where Bal—the wonderfully friendly and informative manager— taught me all about agrarian reform in the Philippines. It’s so inspiring to be able to speak to people on the ground. People who live, work and experience in a tangible way all of the intangible ideas, concepts and issues I have been reading about. I really helps me to grasp the degree of complexity that these concepts carry in practice. Oh and I rode a Carabao!...please refer to the awesome photo...I really thought I looked cooler than I did. Very disappointing.
Oh, and my birthday was great as well! They threw me a great party with p-lenty of snacks! I love Filipino birthdays. So much cake! Great food and great people, what more could you ask for on your first birthday away from home. Well, I can think of one thing, pedicures! Which I got, along with a foot and back massage :) For a total of $6! Well-being service like that is very cheap here.
Anyways, back to work tomorrow, so much to do!!! And I am really starting to get homesick. I miss so many people, some who I didn’t exactly expect to miss. I guess that’s what happens when you lose all of your grounding. Home soon enough though.
That’s all for now.
