Philippines: Siquijor

After our adventure at Apo Island Dayton and I were severely sunburned. We spent the next two rainy days in Harold's Mansion resting and trying to get some relief from our painful backs and shoulders. We tried to find some more sunscreen but in Asia all you can find is whitening cream. After lying around watching old NBA slam-dunk competitions from the 80's on t.v. I was ready to hit the road again but this time, it was the sea. We attended church in Dumaguete with our packs on and while still dressed in our white shirts we boarded a small boat to Siquijor. We were both mistaken as missionaries; even our scruffy beards didn't indicate that we weren't. Arriving at Siquijor and not knowing where to go we found a guy willing to take us to the Coral Cay Beach Resort on his motorbike. Dayton had a room reserved for us and we were soon basking in the sun on a white sand beach at this luxurious resort. Surrounded by palm trees and calm, clear water, I was in heaven. The only thing that could make it better was a fresh mango shake, which they made right on the beach at their open-air bar! This was true paradise. They even had a swimming pool, huge book collection, pool table and t.v. Our room was a bamboo hut with super loud roosters right outside our window to wake us up nice and early. I would enjoy a good run on the beach in the morning when the tide was low and the sun just coming up. I immediately fell in love with this glorious place. The resort is about 5K outside the town of San Juan. We found a great place for fried rice and mango shakes called Castaway Cafe. We spent many a peso on this fine establishment with great mango shakes and nice beach front dining. Back at our resort I paddled out in the ocean on a kayak while the sunset one evening and the view was spectacular! I kept asking myself "Why do you live in Utah?". One day while staying at the Coral Cay we rented motorbikes and decided to ride around the island. We cruised around, getting used to the bikes and made our way through the center of the island up a large mountain. The views from this higher elevation were dreamlike. Cruising through tropical forests of palm trees made me lament the fact that I would one day have to leave the island. We ended up losing ourselves on the mountain roads and eventually found a waterfall towards the top of the island. We parked our motorbikes in a paid parking lot where lots of Filipino ladies tried to sell us some drinks but we had our own. We walked down a stair path to the falls and were welcomed by clear blue water and gorgeous green surroundings. There were some teenagers hanging out at the top of the falls so after taking a couple of photos I got ready for a swim and made my way up to talk with them. They showed me a good place to jump off the falls and demonstrated by going first. The falls (which we later dubbed Cowabunga Falls) weren't too high and the water was a perfect temperature. See the video:

Hanging out at these falls was a real treat during our ride around the island and for me was a highlight of the whole Philippines trip. After jumping in a few times and feeling great we made our way back to our bikes where the Filipino ladies offered us more drinks and told us we'd have to pay for parking. The price wasn't much but we didn't have any change so I gave them a U.S. dollar and they were more than happy to accept it. We rode down the mountain back to San Juan and had the "Friend Size" vegetarian fried rice at Castaway Cafe. We were quickly becoming good friends with the waitresses there who made the most delicious mango shakes. After enjoying another great meal we made our way back to the Coral Cay and hung out for the rest of the night around the beach bar. It's a nice quiet place which makes for a good reading atmosphere and the pleasure of making new friends with other guests. I overheard a large group of people speaking Chinese so I started to play pool with their kids. Once the parents found out I had been to their native Taiwan we had a great conversation about my experience there and my reason for going. Back in Dumaguete I had picked up a book called "A Walk Across America" by Peter Jenkins. This inspired me to meet more people and to look for new experiences. I'm glad I had been reading this book and was able to meet these nice people from Taiwan. We were about to culminate our time at Siquijor island and this was a great way to spend our final evening. The following day we packed our bags once again and walked away from another great experience. We had no way to get back to the ferry about 20k away so we just started walking. Hoping for a miracle a nice man in a truck pulled over and offered us a ride to town. This was proof to me yet again that people in this world are good at heart. When we are good to those around us we will receive good in return. I think the idea of Karma was really shown to me that day and in days to follow. Next stop: Bangkok