Beach Paradises

Last week, we got our first vacation. We finally had some time to explore the Philippines but mostly we needed time to relax and not work. So of course, we headed to the beach. First we went to Apo Island which was our favorite stop. To get there, we flew, took a van ride and then took a boat. Once we were on the island, the only way to get around was on our own two legs. There was a town with about a hundred people and a path went down the middle of it. At the end was a marine santuary in a cove and it had the best snorkeling we've done. There was lots of colorful coral, tons of interesting fish and even a sea snake or two. We would just float and watch everything for a couple hours until we got cold each day. Then we would go back to doing pretty much nothing. Our room was just a few meters from the beach and we had the resort and cove all to ourselves for most of our stay. The only drawbacks were no running water, electricity only a couple hours of day and our resort's food. On day two they ran out of fruit. On day three there didn't seem to be any vegetables left and by the end there wasn't any pork or chicken left. Luckily we discovered that the other resort on the island had really good food. The only thing lacking was chocolate. That was the hardest to live without. By the last day, we were shoveling down this dessert that was basically low quality hot chocolate mix, mixed with water and rice.



Next we went back on a boat to the main island where we hunted for breakfast at a weekly market. This was the real Philippines--nothing touristy about it. The market was like a fair in that they brought all sorts of live cows, bulls, pigs and goats to sell. I almost became a vegetarian after seeing how much the pigs at the market were resisting being brought to an eventual death. It was awful to see how aware they are of their fate. At this point in the story Matt likes to jump in by noting how long my vegetarianism lasted. Yes, it only lasted until breakfast the next morning when I ate bacon. However, I'm going to make an effort to eat a lot less pork from now on.



Then we went to another island with a really nice resort and excellent cakes and frozen drinks. However, the snorkeling wasn't as good and we had a moldy room that made both of us sick in the end. Plus there were some really annoying children there. So the first place is the one we'll return to.