Filipino finale...

The last day of our Philippine trip ended with Ivy and her dad picking us up from the bus station and telling us to spend our last night at their vacation beach home.  Once again, this families generosity was endless and we arrived to the cutest little beach cottage fully stocked with a plethora of fruit, snacks, beer, and coconut jam, just for us!  If you ever get a chance to go to the Philippines, you must eat some mangos.  They are unlike any mango in the US.  They are rich and creamy and perfectly sweet.  Before the day’s end, Ivy and her dad treated us to coffee and Filipino desserts at their family coffee shop and then to dinner.  Desserts like this should always be before dinner- coconut pie, custard pie, and a sort of puff pastry.  And now I leave you with these thoughts.  Would you ever invite a stranger on your family vacation?  Treat a foreigner to dinner?  Have a person you met for the first time stay in your vacation home?  We’re so thankful this family did all the above for us and then some. I’ve learned a good lesson about hospitality from this experience that is outside of the American norm.  Perhaps you did too!
(apparently we were having so much fun, we forgot to take pictures, sorry Ivy and Isobelle!)

El Nido

El Nido is a small town on the northern coast of Palawan.  We had heard it was a great spot to visit the smaller surrounding islands which have limestone cliffs and lagoons where snorkeling is popular.  We arrive to this small beach town and decide that another massage would do us good.  For $5, the real question is, why not?!  The next day we set out on our island hopping tour which was spectacular.  The islands have these stunning cliffs with crazy textures due to the limestone and how it organically shapes over time.  Over the years it has also developed little lagoons, some where you have to crawl through a small hole in order to enjoy it.  The water is turquoise blue, warm, and full of sea life.  This was the first time I really enjoyed snorkeling and saw amazing life under the ocean. 

At lunch time, they stopped at this other island where we get off and they start making a fire on this little grate.  This is as rustic as it gets people…fresh fish are cut and grilled, tomatoes are cut to make salad, and mangos are sliced to be dessert.  All by the same hands of the crew that man the boat, handle the ropes, the engines, and now cook the food and then serve us.  All without cleaning their hands.  I know this because I could not clean my hands.  There was no bathroom with running water or soap.  But we are getting used to this.  Hygiene is very different on this side of the world.  And if you don’t turn your cheek, you simply may not eat.  Like ever.  Anyway, lunch was fabulous none the less.  From there, they take us to the last island which was one of those places you get brought to in hopes that you buy something from the vendors.  And of course we did.  They had fresh coconuts which they poured Coconut rum into.  This is like a poor man’s pina colada, but the slightly salty coconut water mixed with the rum was exotic and delicious.

The last thing about El Nido that I may mention is that it was far away and the only way to get there is to take a bus or a van (or fly for a ridiculous price in a tiny plane). Transportation here is not like transportation back home. We did a lot of research and decided that the van was the better of the two options.  This is because the bus can take up to 10 hours because they like to stop and pick up random people along the way for no reason at all.  When we arrive to our pick up spot we see a van, just like the van that the terrorists used in the movie Back to the Future.   Np insists that we insert for all you B2F fans- “It’s the Libyans! I don't know how, but they found me!” At first everything is fairly fine until about 4 stops later when we have THIRTEEN people packed into this van when there should only be 8.  Not only that, it was the curviest, bumpiest road I have ever traveled on and it lasted a whole 6 hours.  It looked a lot like this.  And it was hell on wheels.

The Underground River

The Underground River has just been deemed the 7^th Natural Wonder of Nature. It has  become so popular that people from all over the world come to see it now  so in order to go there you have to buy tickets weeks in advance.  But we didn’t know this and we didn't have tickets.  But no worries because somehow we are told we are getting picked up by a private driver and he will take us there.  When we arrive, we found out that the mayor has arranged a PRIVATE boat to get us there! To my left is a massive line of people waiting to get on their boats from pre-arranged tickets and Nathaniel and I swiftly board our boat, cutting in front of everyone, and are on are way.  WHO ARE WE?, I think to myself.  But as I look around, I can see the folks across the way are wondering the same thing!  The U.R. is a river that flows through limestone rock that has been forming for thousands of years.  It is like boating through a cave full of stalagmites, stalactites, bats, and birds.  It is full of color, unusual shapes, and carvings.  To see anything you must use a flashlight as it is pitch black.  Below are the best pics we could capture.

From there our private driver took us to the zip lines where Nathaniel zip lined for the first time.  Cruising high above the water is always a good time.  This was complements of the mayor who also treated us to a beach lunch just before taking us back to the hotel.

To end our day, we were invited to a dinner presentation put on by the mayor himself. Yay, we finally get to meet him!  We learned all about the workings of the underground river and just how important this natural wonder is to the island and its people.  That evening we met lovely Ivy, Isobelle’s sister.  We tell her that the next two days we will be spending time in El Nido, the northern coast of Palawan.   Ivy and her dad are about to graciously give us the perfect ending to our trip, but we’ll talk about that after we tell you about El Nido.  Day 2 was another incredible day for us.

Philippines

We went to the island of Palawan in the Philippines.   We weren’t exactly sure what we were going to do there except see the 7^th natural wonder of the world- The Underground River, hopefully catch some beach time as we were told there are fabulous beaches there and because nathaniel’s friend from high school, Isobelle highly recommended it.   Isobelle’s family lives there and when we arrived, little did we know that they would have big plans for us.   

We got a phone call the morning of the second day we arrived saying that we were getting picked up in a ½ hour.  Ok!  We quickly get ready and met Eva who tells us we are going to the Underground River tomorrow and that they would love us to come stay the night with them.  We didn’t know what that meant but felt so honored to be asked to stay with them so we accepted.  We head downstairs to find her husband, Greg, and some of the rest of the family waiting in the vehicle for us and they tell us we are going to their beach house.  Wow!  How nice of them!  We get to know them on the car ride to the beach house and arrive at a port.  Here we find out that we have to take a boat to the beach house, because it’s located on their PRIVATE island.  OH.  Amazeballs (as pallavi would say.)  

We take their private boat to their amazing private island to their amazing, rustic beach home.  On the way there, we get to meet their sweet kids, and their charming Grandma Evelyn.  We also are with quite a few other people, who I later learned are the caretakers of the boat, the fisherman, the cooks, and basically, the help.  We are so overwhelmed with the realization that this family actually invited us on their family vacation to their island as they will be staying there for a long weekend.  We arrive and they tell us to go play.  

We go enjoy the superb surroundings and beach.  The water is warm and was cooling as the days are very hot.  A few hours later, it starts to rain and Nathaniel and I go back in the water because it’s now warmer than the air outside.  It is one of my favorite sensations, when the touch of ocean water is warmer than the air on your skin.  But then it starts to crazy pour and lightening and the sky turns white.  We can no longer see the house or anyone else nor can they see us  (mom stop reading).  I told Nathaniel that my mom always told me that you should never be in the water when it’s lightening and he tells me its ok.  I can see lightening hit across the vast water and ask him how far away you have to be before you can feel it.  He doesn’t know but we stay in because now it’s very cold outside yet amazing in the water.  We later find out that yes, we should have gotten out of the water and perhaps even worried the family a bit.  Oops, but I blame this entirely on NP.  

As I’m talking with Grandma Evelyn, (btw, that’s what I call her but they call her something very different, but we can't remember what) we’re chatting about cultural differences and she tells me that her favorite thing to do is come to this island and get away.  She is so busy in town with meetings, etc. and I ask her what she does.  She is the wife of the mayor of Palawan.  Ooooh!  I had no idea, and then realize that she is the wife of the guy whose picture is EVERYWHERE.  The people of Palawan love their mayor and his picture is all over town for the work he is doing with the Underground River (next post.)  For the rest of the day, this family treats us like their own and they cook us an amazing outdoor spread of Filipino food, both lunch and dinner.   We have fresh fish the fisherman caught, eggplant salad, traditional noodles, fish soup, chicken adobo and rice, baked beans, and more that I can’t quite remember.  The the hospitality this family gave us was incredible.  They were generous beyond words but this was just the beginning…