Aaron and I have take a few holidays since I've arrived in the Philippines. We started with the stormy trip south and west of Dumagete, a college town in Negros Oriental. The trip to our resort/hotel was two hours by van on roads that impressed 4-wheeling afectionado Aaron. The rest of our long weekend was rain, arguing over my smoking habit re-emerging, and eating the best food I've had since leaving the states. In short, we had a great time hanging out, playing UNO, and loving every bamboo-covered square inch of our hut by the sea.
The next trip was chasing a typhoon to catch the swell that follows a storm to surf on. Northern Luzon, Zambales, and most specifically, a one-tricycle town called Pandequit featured a sweet left that Aaron rode over 40 times in one session. I caught a couple of rides and kicked a rock so hard my ankle is still bruised. This surf weekend was, for me, marked by a decided lack of fear on my part and a true enjoyment of being there, doing that. Travel time, however, was a long 6+ hours each way by cab and bus. Thank goodness huge blockbuster summer movies from the US were the video choices and Aaron and I caught up on our Marvel and DC films courtesy some guy with a camera in a theater.
Now we're finally settled after days on the road looking for the longest and least planned holiday yet. We flew into Tacloban, on the island of Layte, Friday afternoon. After a night in the city of many and fearless cockroaches, we took a two buses to the island of Calacoan to again look for surf. What we found were waves that only pros would attempt, of the 12 ft variety with gorgeous, glassy, and clear, clear blue tubes that would rain down tons of ocean on you if you didn't get in, ride it like crazy, and get out.
In other words: surfer torture. Look at the beautiful waves all day long and never get on a board or get in the water. We spent a lot of time talking with the local surf crew, a group of folks over 30 who hung out in bamboo huts on the beach and told stories about how 12 of their boards were snapped this season when the waves were jacking from the typhoons. My favorite was Father Doors, as he's affectionately called by the crew. Full of information, never in a hurry, and whip thin.
Following our Lonely Planet guidebook and the scribbled notes from conversations with Father Doors and an Aussie surfer we met, we decided to try a different type of holiday for the rest of our week than watching waves we couldn't surf. Three buses and 10 hours later, Aaron and I had traveled the length of almost two islands, pulling into a hotel at the tip of Layte, just as the electricity in the whole area went out. A grandmother who spoke no English, no Tagalog, and had only a few teeth, said something about "son" and lit several long tapers before shuffling off into an impressively black night with an equally impressively bright flashlight.
She returned with her 24 year old grandson who went to international schools and polished his American/Australian accented English working at a Convergys call center. Aaron picked out a fish from the plate of fish they had in the fridge and no less than three people worked in the kitchen for over 30 minutes to produce two cups of rice and one unseasoned fried fish that I ate with the ferocity that comes with going hours without eating. I had worked a long day on Sunday in order to free up Monday for travel, but at 9pm I had to log into work. Without the advertised wifi, I had to leave the hotel and found myself huddled under the edge of a roof with the iPad held in my right hand to get one bar of 3G that I could use to work for as long as I could with my left hand both typing and fending off mosquitoes.
Today ended up with yet another hotel move, this time just a few kilometers away but next to a cell tower, with working wifi, a real dive shop (not just a advertisement for one that, like the wifi, didn't exist), and hopefully a few days of actual holiday.
The list of what to pack we've started in our Lonely Planet notes section of the book is growing rapidly, and I've promised to take off some days on future holidays to minimize wifi stress.
Pictures coming soon and apologies for taking so much time off...