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.