The Philippines, Part 1: The Beach

We spent our first day in the Philippines strenuously trying to get to a small island in the south. It took all day by plane, taxi, bus, boat and minibus, but we arrived at sunset and a young guy named Mervin took us in his motortrike to find a place to stay. We chose the first place he took us to where we took a room in a local woman's house for five dollars a night each.

We didn't leave Camiguin for nine days. The island has a ring road about 70 km around with snorkel spots all around the perimeter and several large volcanoes in the middle. We tackled Mt Hibok-Hibok and made it within a few hundred meters of the misty peak, but it was muddy and slippery and steamy hot and since we couldn't see how close we were, we turned around. We snorkeled in a giant clam sanctuary--an odd preserve with armed guards and signs prohibiting any "Immoral Activity" (including hand-holding), but run by some inspiring dedicated women who really love those bivalves that can live for hundreds of years and grow up to two meters across, and the clams were impressive with their glowing colorful mantles and their ability to snap off our limbs. We went to a disco and a cockfight and got to know many people on the island. We rode in the back of a local tricycle with girls on their way home from school in their long Catholic skirts and flip flops. We were interviewed on our views on local tourism by two girls studying ecotourism at the local college.

We made ourselves at home on Camiguin and Shanghai felt a long way away (even though there was a Dutch guy at our place who also lived in Shanghai and wanted to keep talking about it). We drank coffee until it was time for beer. We ate mangoes for breakfast, afternoon snack, and dessert. We tanned. We watched the bright tropical set of stars sink into the sea. And we tried as hard as we could to stay, but because of the Chinese holiday we couldn't change our tickets, so we chartered a local fishing boat and headed toward an unseen island.