Day 8: El Nido

A gigantic thanks goes out to Aaron for uploading all of my pictures last night and putting them all in order for me!  The internet here has a horrible connection! I'm a lucky girl to have him around! Thank you A! :)

  

Yesterday morning, I woke up and flipped the switch to turn on the light and was reminded that there is no electricity here until 2:00pm!  It was a bit comical, as I sifted, blindly, through my backpack to find clothes for the day!  After I got ready, I headed over to the El Nido Art Boutique and Cafe for breakfast and plopped down at a table with a dog laying nearby!

As you can see, it's slow season around here! 

After breakfast, I had nice long skype conversations with my mom and Aaron, which made my day, and then headed out into town to explore!  El Nido is a very small beach town, which has just recently became a backpacking destination.  The people here are incredibly poor... 

Here are some random pictures that I took throughout the day.  A momma and baby goat outside a woman's tiny home/ shop.

This woman was washing her family's clothing on a piece of scrap wood. 

The local El Nido public bus...

A very creative way to grow a garden!

This family was laughing together when I spotted them in an alleyway on my walk through town!  

The local convenience store... 

In the Philippines, they make pink eggs!  The pink signifies that they have been hard boiled in extremely salty water, and they taste like salt with a side of egg, if you know what I mean!  Gala actually told me about them. She had bought them a while back, thinking they were cute, because they were pink!

The children here are creative with the games they play and the things they do to occupy their time!

Here's the beach front and my hotel, Cashew Mangas, is on the left with the yellow trim. 

I sat on the deck of my hotel for a while this afternoon, just taking in the sights of the area!  The limestone cliffs are stunning!

Here's my humble abode!  --1,100 pesos a night (about $24.00)

The local ice cream man!  As much as I wanted to buy some, I refrained!  I was a very good girl today!

This little girl was doing her homework on this bench outside her home, while her brother and his friends played with marbles nearby.

I ate lunch at the Art Cafe!  I love that place!  Their vegetable stir fry was delicious!  As I was eating, Pinky, the manager came over and said, "Jill, did you know your eating a luffa!"  I asked, "What?!!!"  She explained to me that there is a gorge (sp?) that grows here that they put in their vegetable stir fry, where, if it grows to maturity becomes very rough, and is used in making luffas (YES, the things you use in the shower!)  So, I ate a luffa today!  I'm not sick yet! :)

The Art Cafe!

Could these boys be any cuter!  I asked if I could take their picture and they got right into this pose!  i love the hand on the chin thing!  So Rico Suave!

I took a long walk tonight, and on my way back, snapped this picture of the beach front during low tide.

There are hundreds of stray dogs everywhere!  Bob Barker would be very disapointed that their dogs are not being spayed and neutered!  As you can see, they are fond of each other!

These 2 were so fond of each other that they were stuck together for about 5 minutes... You know what that means! hahaha 

I decided it was about time for dinner, so I walked down the beach towards a darling little restaurant that had been set up on the sand and was surrounded by tiki torches and bamboo flags!   

I asked a couple who had just ordered if they had eaten there before.  They said no, but hoped that it was good.  I decided to plop down at the table next to them and within about 5 minutes they asked if I'd like to join them!  Which was a pleasant surprise.  :)  I didn't have to have a romantic candlelit dinner, on the beach, all alone!

Thank you Greg and Maria!

We all chatted over delicious food about their stay in Boracay and they talked about how they watched this Korean show on the hotel TV about this couple!  They said, "The TV show host said that the couple was from the US, but they definitely weren't.  They were French Canadian!"  I asked, "Really?  What did they look like?"  Her response, "He was dark and she was blonde!"  hahahhahah!  As it turns out, they saw the show with Jess and Carlos!  So, a couple from Ireland saw the show about Jess and Carlos on a TV in Boracay, Philippines!  And now they were eating dinner with me, one of their best friends, on a beach in another place!!  Small world huh?!  They were really great and we laughed and chatted about life!  It was the perfect way to end my 1st official day in El Nido! 

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Day 7: Goodbye Paradise!

Yesterday was my last day in Boracay, so I planned to meet Lindsay at 8am to golf a couple holes of the fairways resort golf course!  Unfortunately my alarm on my iPod didn't go off, but luckily I woke up at 8:04 and since I'm what I like to call low maintenance, I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth and off I went!

Lindsay was waiting for me at "the bag drop" with a golf shirt, socks, gloves and some golf shoes for me to borrow! Luckily the shoes fit like a glove! We jumped on her own personal darling red golf cart with her own personal caddie, and headed to the 18th hole!

This is Marisa and Lindsay.  Marisa is 35 years old and has 8 kids! I was speechless!

Dad, be ready to be proud!  I had a double boggie on a par 4!   This is especially impressive, in my opinion, because I've only ever played on a real course once!

I then headed over to my room to pack up and say goodbye to my fabulous accomodataions! :(

I had my daily skype session with Aaron before I left and rhen headed over to the airport with Romel, who accompanied me the whole way!

I've been to small airport a time or two in my life, but nothing like this!

Their xray machine didn't even work! Hahhaha

I'm not sure why I'm getting so lucky with my flights these days, but I got he exit row And the seats in front of me where facing my direction And unoccupied! The stewardess said , "It's okay to put your feet up!" I never had to fulfill my duty with the emergency exit door, so needless to say, it was a very nice flight!!

... and you can't beat a view like this! Boracay is below, Caticlan above, and the 2 islands in between are the 2 I visisted...

When I arrived in Manilla, I ran to my connecting flight and asked a nice girl from Spain if I could cut in front of her in line for check in, because I was cutting it really close and she said "of course!" We chatted for a little while and then she asked if I would like to ride with her and her friends to El Nido in a hired van when we landed in Puerto Princesa! Unfortunately I missed my flight and had to rebook it, but for $20 it wasn't exactly a budget breaker! The nice thing was Gala (the girl I met) and I were on the same plane!

When we landed we met with her 3 friends! The 4 of them are incredibly nice and funny and brought me into their group right away! The van drivers name was Godjill! How funny is that?! So I was Jill 1 and he was Jill 2!

We stopped off here for dinner...

... and I accidently left without getting my change (approximately $20) so they insisted we turn around and we ended up driving back, but when we got there, the man told us he didn't have it and told us we didn't give him extra money, which we definitely did... Very frustrating experience! It's only $20, but it's the principle of it, you know?!  I really don't like being lied to!

Within another 3 hours or so, and lot of bumpy dirt roads, which Jill 2 called "massage time", we had arrived in El Nido, which was lit only by the moon, since it was shortly after midnight! The group checked into their hotel, but unfortunately their place was booked, so Jill 2 helped me find a place! I checked into a small room on the beach around 1am, and headed right to bed for some sweet dreams of paradise!!!

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Day 6: Massage and Helmet Diving!

I woke up after 9:00am this morning, so realizing I had missed breakfast at the clubhouse, I grabbed the cupcakes from the fridge, and the leftover fruit from 2 nights ago and went to town while watching The Office, The Price Is Right, and David Letterman... all shows that were staples for me when I lived in the states!  But, I haven't watched any of them on TV in over a year and a half!  It was a treat, for sure!

Then I took the hotel shuttle to White Beach and took a nice long walk down the shore.  I spotted these police officers, who were ON DUTY!  Talk about living the life!!!

This man was building a sandcastle, which would be his income for the day!  Many local Philippino's do this in the morning, and then charge money for people's pictures to be taken in front of it throughout the day.

I played with these 2 kids for a while!  They were like little monkeys, climbing all over the bamboo walls of their dad's accessory shop on the shore...

As I was walking, a lady politely asked, "Massage ma'am?"  It was as if my voice could say nothing other than, "Of course!"  So, for $7.00, I had myself a 1 hour massage on the beach!

By this time it was lunchtime, so I ordered some pizza and a diet coke and enjoyed it at my table with an ocean view!  (It's worth noting that my lunch was $3.00!

After lunch I went on a mission to find the hotel that Aaron stayed at last summer, when he came to Boracay!  It was actually quite an adventure!  The tryke driver didn't know where it was, so I got a bit of a tour of the island while he figured it out!  It was worth the wait to see where he stayed!  Good choice Aaron!  Very charming, and cool location!

This was the beach in front of Dave's Straw Hat Inn where Aaron spent his summer vaca last year...

As I was leaving Dave's, I spotted a nice man, selling water sport packages in front of a nearby hotel.  I ended up walking away with a ticket for helmet diving!  What's funny about this, is... I saw a commercial for helmet diving one time and remember laughing and saying, "That is the dumbest thing I've ever seen!"  I will tell you now, I should eat my words, because it was awesome!!  

I will upload a video, and pictures, of me, underwater with the fishies tomorrow!  :)

We headed over to Bolabog beach to catch the boat which would take us over to the helmet diving area of the ocean.

I met these 3 Philippino's on the helmet diving trip!  They live in Manilla, and we hit it off right away!  

(Dan, Me, Carla, and Janelle)

After jumping off the boat and seeing these darling Philippino boys, who had made a little pool of water for their miniature fishies they were harvesting, I shared my candy with them, which made us automatically friends!!

When I got back to town, I grabbed some melon ice cream!   For 23 cents, I couldn't pass it up! 

As I was waiting for the shuttle back to the hotel, Lindsay saw me and picked me up in her golf cart!  Lindsay is dating the owner of Fairways.  *** I accidentally said earlier that Dolly's husband was the owner - He is actually the developer of the luxury homes, not the owner.  (Just thought I'd clear that up!)  Anyway, we sat and chatted for a long time over drinks, fries, and a margarita pizza!  She's from Canada, but has lived in Boracay for a year an a half!

I asked her a lot of questions about the Philippines... and she told me very candidly what it is like living here and what it's like for the Philippinos.  She told me that the Philippino's working at the resort make about 200 pesos a day, which is only $4.  Can you imagine trying to live on 4 dollars a day?!

She also said that no food is wasted in the Philippines.  If you eat at a restaurant and don't finish your meal, the staff will probably either eat it themselves or take it home to their family!

She said her housekeeper will take home the heads of shrimp, or the chicken scraps when she eats them at home.  They give them to their families who eat the little bit of meat that is left on them!  She said they get really excited when she gives them scraps because otherwise their family may only eat rice for the day... I was shocked when I heard these things, and my heart when out to the people here.
  

Yesterday I was paying for a coke at the front desk of the resort and I said, "I'm sorry, 500 is the smallest bill I have," (which is $10) and the concierge said, "Wow, you're rich, aren't you?" 

Being here has made me realize how lucky I am to have a job that allows me to travel, eat out, buy things I want, and have a roof over my head... I hope I never take those things for granted!

Tomorrow I am heading to Palawan Island, but not before I play a couple holes of golf with Lindsay on the resort course!  I'm hoping all that screen golf with Aaron will pay off for me tomorrow!      

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Day 5: Horses, Butterflies, Bats, Trykes, Private Beaches, and Music - Absolutely Enchanting!

This morning, I headed over to the clubhouse around 8am for breakfast!  Romel came in, shortly after, and told me he had arranged for me to go horseback riding!!  YAY!  I could hardly contain my excitement and scarfed down my pancakes and pineapple slices!

The horse was literally waiting for me just outside the front door of the clubhouse!  My own private horse trainer was standing beside it and said, "Good morning madam (which I love being called), let me help you on your horse."  It was just me and him the entire ride... none of this horseback riding where there are 20 horses, all lined up, butt to face!  It was just me, Black Dunes, and the trainer!  How trendy are my horse's bangs?!  He would totally fit in in Korea! ***

The trainer walked about 30 feet ahead of me, and the horse did whatever he did!  If he ran, the horse would gallop (which was slightly terrifying!)  If he stopped, the horse would stop!  It was incredible how well this animal was trained!  We walked along the resort's golf course path for a while...

 ... and then went up to the highest point on the resort's grounds (where the zip line is) so I could take some pictures!  These Philippino women were about to ride the zip line and asked if they could take a picture with me and the horse! They were sooo sweet and welcomed me to their country!

The trainer could tell I loved flowers, because I kept saying how beautiful they all were along the golf course, so he started picking one off of each plant we walked by!  haha!

It wasn't long before I had a little bouquet going!

I asked the trainer if it would be alright if I rode Black Dunes on the beach, as this has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl!  His response of, "Of course madam!  We can go wherever you'd like" nearly made me giggle like a school girl!  

It was as if Black Dunes and I were the only ones on the beach (actually, I think we may have been!)  We galloped, all up and down the shoreline!  Definitely a highlight of my trip!

After saying goodbye to Black Dunes and the trainer, I headed for the Butterfly Farm with Romel!

The butterflies were gorgeous....

...but it was the bat that caught my eye!  The man running the farm told me I could hold it if I'd like!   I can assure you that I've never "dreamed" of holding a bat, in fact I always thought they were bitters... but I do love experiencing new things, and being adventurous, so I decided to give it a try!  I'd be lying if I said I didn't let out a few childlike squeels though!  (Enjoy the video!)

After exploring the butterfly farm, Romel and I hopped on a tryke and headed for White Beach! As we were walking through the front gate of the resort, we stopped in to say hello to the woman working and noticed she had an adorable puppy!

I had told Aaron that I would skype with him at 12:20pm, so I stopped into an internet cafe at D'Mall and got to introduce Aaron to Romel over skype...  Then Romel went back to work, and I headed to White Beach!  I plopped down here...

... under these 2 gorgeous palm trees!

... and spent the next couple hours in the water!

A storm cloud started brewing, so I headed for the hotel, so I could hang in the clubhouse if it stormed, but luckily when I got there, the clouds had passed, so I decided to take another little dip in the water!

And for those of you who wanted to see my pedicure... here you go!

There are tons of Koreans here, so I feel right at home!  I befriended this 10 year old girl at the pool today, and got to give her an English name!  Lynzi, I named her after you! :)  Her mom said she's going to be a professional golfer one day!  They chose the Fairways Resort so she could practice golfing!  At $100 a round, I happen to think that's CRAZY!!

After the pool, I went back to the clubhouse to get a ride to my hotel room, and saw Romel, who motioned for me to follow him to the bar!  He reached over the counter and presented me with 3 boxes of Philippino butterscotch cakes and another box of black forest cupcakes!!  He told me to bring it back with me to Korea for my friends!  Lucky you, if you live in Korea!

 

I showered up and headed over to meet Olga and Marco for a drink.  Unfortunately, Olga had an emergency work meeting, so Marco and I grabbed some fancy juice at a beach bar.  We had a really interesting conversation about his life, all 60+ years of it!  They invited me over to their home for dinner tomorrow night, which I'm really excited about!

After drinks with Marco, I headed down the beach in search of some "yummies" as I like to call it!  (Dinner in case you weren't following!)  As I was walking along the shore, I heard a guy's voice and a very John Mayer style guitar in the background! So, I walked over to see what was going on.  In front of the Astoria Hotel (a gorgeous, very modern, way out of my budget hotel) was serving a buffet with a live concert!  I immediately fell in love with this kid's voice and decided to stay for dinner!

When his set was over, I immediately walked up to shake his hand and tell him how fabulous I thought he was!  I walked away with a $4.00 CD!  Hope it's good!

After his set was over, he stepped off stage to grab some dinner and I invited him to come sit with me!  We had a nice chat about his life here in the Philippines and a new opportunity he was just given to record his own album (professionally)!  I toasted to his success, and then headed to the internet cafe so I could write about my day!  Hope you all enjoyed it... I know I sure did!

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