The Calm Before The Storm

Our trip to Sagada was absolutely beautiful. 1 lowlight was a miscommunication and instead of going spelunking in two caves we only made it to one. Even though the cave that we went into is no longer in use as a burial cave, it was pretty amazing. We did see hanging coffins from across the valley, walked through some rice terraces (and managed a congo line) near Bontoc, and bought some woven goods from the Sagada Weaving Room.

Now we’re back in Manila and getting ready to hunker down for Super Typhoon Durian that is supposed to pass the city tomorrow. Fortunately the eye of the storm looks like it will miss the city- but after the last typhoon that came through, folks are bracing for the storm. Time will tell. We’ll try and get some photos up tomorrow- or whenever the power comes back on if we lose it.

From The Ocean To The Mountains- With A Wedding Thrown In

Had a fun day of exploring Coron Island and nearby islets- walking up to a lake and going snorkelling, snorkelling at a shallow shipwreck, and going sea kayaking. Saturday we headed back to Manila, went to Tiendisitas in Pasig- which was basically an upscale hawker center (food court) before going to Xaymaca in Quezon City to hear some reggae.

Sunday was a bit of a scramble as Damon and I split off of the group to attend my cousin’s wedding that afternoon while the group headed up to Banaue. We had a wonderful lunch at my uncle’s house (Vito Cruz) before heading to the wedding. We had a great time at Jobie and Carla’s wedding- it was wonderful to see relatives, meet some relatives we’d only heard about- but the definite highlight was when Jobie serenaded Carla as a surprise.

We left the reception early and went straight to the bus station for the 9 hour freezing cold bus ride to Banaue. The ride itself was uneventful (although there were a few movies that had some bizarre subtitles- like the dialogue was “We went snorkelling” and the subtitle said “We met in Switzerland”). We met up with the group, had time for a nap before breakfast and then we all headed to Sagada by jeepney. The drive was beautiful with great views of rice terraces. We’ll try and get some photos up soon!

Day in da Life: Two Shipwrecks and a Four-Cock Derby

Yo from the Philippines!  We arrived in Manila late Tuesday night, and early Wednesday morning we flew with the Tagolog-on-site reunion crew to Busuanga and the islands off the northern tip of Palawan.  We’re at the Dive Link Resort and it is fantastic.  Yesterday we went snorkeling and bathed in a hot spring.  While snorkeling, we briefly sighted a very large sea creature of unknown species.  Theories so far are whale shark, dugong, or eagle ray (?) … stay tuned ’till after we research on Google Images.  Today we did two dives, each at a Japanese WWII shipwreck — very cool!  Our divemaster led us into the ships, and we saw a boiler room, ladders, staircases, etc.  Cool fish too.  Then we went into the nearby town of Coron and witnessed a cockfight.  This is very popular in the Philippines and it was quite a scene.  This particular cock fight was the “Provincial Meet Four Cock Derby,” sponsored by the Governor.  We saw the large crowd betting on their favorite cocks using elaborate hand signals, and then the cocks went at it.  I was expecting the cocks to be gnarly and mean-looking, but these cocks were actually well-groomed and beautiful.  The cocks were, however, well armed with nasty looking scythe blades attached to their legs.  After getting all riled up by their handlers, the cocks attacked each other and fought to the death.  The loser cock is declared when it is dropped to the ground three times without responding, to raucous applause from the winning betters.  We watched the money fly around the crowd and the workers sweep up the stray feathers and chicken guts, and then got outta there.  All in all, it was a memorable Thanksgiving!  More fun here tomorrow, checkya later!

Our Bags Are Packed!

Despite being done packing bags at 5 pm today we are still trying to get a few things sorted out. The important things are done- and I must admit that my time could probably have been better spent than finishing our Costa Rica page, but it’s done so that’s good. I also managed to upload some photos. We’re off to Manila tomorrow and will be joining our friends for 10 days- 4 in Coron, Palawan, 1 in Manila, and 5 in Banaue/Sagada, Mountain Province. It should be fun!

Back in the USA…

We made it back to CA late last night and are taking care of some trip preparations before we leave for the Philippines on Monday. Once I get the camera batteries charged I’ll get some photos up! I’m workin on figuring out how exactly pages work- so check out the Costa Rica page later this week and hopefully I’ll have a summary of the trip up with photos!

Tortuga Y Tortugita!!

Yesterday (Monday) was a pretty amazing day. We met up with our friend Jenkay at Playa Grande as scheduled on Sunday. We stayed at a place called Faro Arriba (Lighthouse Up). It wasn’t really a light house but it was a pretty cool building with a private pool.

We headed out to the beach and Jen and I went for a walk while Damon tried his hand at boogie boarding. We had some tasty brews while we watched the sunset.

Yesterday Jen went for a beach walk and a boat ride to Playa Tamarindo and Damon and I decided to try some of the options offered at our hotel, Hotel Las Tortugas.

We rented a canoe and spent a couple of hours paddling around a nearby saltwater estuary while the tide came in.

Of course it started pouring rain almost as soon as we got out on the water- fortunately it was a warm rain. We were able to check out some side channels and saw a caiman which was pretty neat. The highlight was having a crocodile pass right in front of our canoe.

After a yummy lunch at Waltini’s (Hotel Bula Bula) we went and hung out at the pool at our hotel with Jen while Damon and I waited for our surf lesson. Our instructor was great- giving helpful tips while we were on dry land and calling reminders to us as we practiced riding whitewater. We were both able to stand up a few times (I made it up on my first try!) and it was a really beautiful afternoon with a gorgeous sunset and great waves for learning how to surf. Jen got some great rides on a boogie board- a great afternoon was had by all.

If that wasn’t all great enough, we had a reservation to check out some nesting leatherback sea turtles in the Playa Grande Marine Turtle National Park. The night before they hadn’t spotted any turtles so we showed up with a deck of cards prepared for a long wait while guides roamed the beach looking for nesting turtles. Miraculously after about 5 minutes they told us that we would have to see the introductory talk later because a turtle had been found and she was ready for us to go and observe her. We got to watch as the 1.36 m long turtle finished digging her nest, laid about 60 eggs, and covered her eggs back up. Some biologists and volunteers were there to count the eggs, tag the turtle, and take some specifications on her. If that wasn’t cool enough, as we were walking back to our vehicles a baby turtle which had just hatched was making it’s way down the beach to the ocean. No cameras are allowed at the turtle nesting so I don’t have any pics of that- but it was really awesome.

A couple of photos that I wasn’t able to get uploaded before. Sunset in Manuel Antonio.

The view from our bed at Milarepa, Malpais. (Thanks for the tip, Colleen!)

And a howler monkey that was passing by the hotel while we were getting ready to check out.

An iguana feeder in Playa Tamarindo (why have a bird feeder when you can have an iguana feeder??)

We’re heading up into the highlands tomorrow- checking out Arenal Volcano for a few days, meeting up with my cousin Carlyn, checking out the cloud forest in Monteverde and then getting ready to head back stateside on Tuesday. If Damon’s theory holds true (10% of every vacation sucks), then we have some bad days coming up- the past week has been pretty great.

Manuel Antonio

On a friend’s recommendation we decided to check out Manuel Antonio after we went to Poas Volcano with Carlyn. We got a guide for the park as the guidebook suggested and it was very worth it. The guide spotted all sorts of animals that we wouldn’t have seen on our own and he brought a telescope around that he set up so we could check out the birds, bugs, and other creatures in the park. Sloths, iguanas, monkeys, it was pretty cool! I seem to be having issues posting photos to the blog- (mostly that all the computers in the internet cafe all restarted on their own). So photos will have to wait- but you can check out a few here on our Smugmug Page.

Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Who knew that high speed internet (which hasn’t found it’s way to Heredia, near the capitol of San Jose) has made it to the surfing hamlet of Tamarindo?? We’ve had a great week-checked out Poas Volcano with Carlyn, spent a couple of nights in Manuel Antonio (where we saw a bunch of animals- including some sloths… photos to come), a couple of nights in Santa Teresa/Malpais on a recommendation from Colleen, and are now in Tamarindo getting ready to pick up some laundry! Hopefully we’ll be able to post photos soon!