I can't believe that this was my third time away from home for Christmas. I seem to be getting into this habit. Each time away I always realize how much I miss friends and family back home. As much fun as I am having experiencing all I am- around Christmas time I can't help but feel jealous of everyone together back home. But going on tropical vacations definitely helps ease the jealous pains.
Conor and I decided to go back to El Nido in the Philippines. Although we had been there before- it just turned into the easiest (and cheapest) place for us to book last minute. Our two friends from work, Brent and Mackenzie, came with us too. Getting to El Nido is a process. We flew from Seoul to Manila. Manila to Puerto Princesa- where we stayed a night. The next morning we took a 6 hour van ride to El Nido. The van is an experience all in itself. The first 3 hours are fine, but as you get closer to El Nido the roads get curved and rocky. It's a trek, but totally worth it.
The Philippines is such an amazing place to visit. I felt it the first time around too. Everyone is nice and kind and always smiling. You can't help but feel happy there. There are stray dogs everywhere that come up to wagging their tails. I felt such a sense of relief upon arriving. Any work stress just melted away.
I'll take a minute to briefly talk about work since I haven't posted anything about it yet. I have 9, 7 year old students in my class known as Kiwi Class (5 girls and 4 boys). They are quite a handful. The first week was rough for all of us- a big adjustment period. But after a few weeks I think we have all finally gotten into a routine together- figured out what works and what doesn't. I only haven them for another two months before they graduate. We've had some ups and downs so far which is why I haven't written about them yet. We are still getting to know each other. I hate to admit it- but I did miss them a little on vacation, don't tell anyone.
Anyway, back to vacation. We stayed at a small hostel called Anang Balay. The woman who ran the place, Anna, immediately treated us like family. She and her staff were so good to us the whole time. The place had a roof with a beautiful ocean view, that became our hangout spot. The hostel cat, Ming Ming, sat with us up there every morning and evening. Anna helped us book tours, rent scooters and even introduced us to the police chief! It's always nice to feel at home where ever you are staying.
We stayed in El Nido for 7 days which allowed us to do a lot of things. We had a few rainy days and all of us (except Conor) had a sick day as well. Luckily the sick days and rainy days fell together. Twice we took boats out to go to other smaller islands close by. Out on sea we got to do some snorkeling in the beautiful blue water. We swam through rough waves and small caves to see "secret" beaches. But my favorite part of the island hopping is the lunch provided. Our tour guides cook/ prepare amazing feasts of fish, pork, rice, veggies and fruit. It's probably the most authentic food to eat on a trip and it's always delicious. The tours also allow us to meet some other travelers staying in the area. If anyone doesn't know, I don't love being on small boats. One trip we were moving between islands and the waves got really rough. Our guide and driver just laughed at how scared/ uncomfortable I was. Later he told me that it's like that everyday (is that supposed to make me feel better?). It's an irrational thing for me to be scared of considering I know how to swim, but the idea of a boat flipping over makes me cringe.
El Nido is a cool little town. Although there are plenty of tourists there, it is not run over with tourism. The locals and tourists just hang out together in the area. There aren't big resorts taking over, just small hostels, a few restaurants and shops. There are no cars- only tuk tuk trikes. My favorite part about El Nido is the fact that there is no electricity between 6am and 2pm (sometimes later). It makes so much sense because there is no need for the electricity then. BUT I always woke up around 630 because it was so hot and our air conditioner had shut off.
On the days we weren't island hopping we would take a tuk tuk to a beach close by. Los Cabanos was where we saw the beautiful sunset. On our final full day in El Nido we rented scooters and headed out to Nacpan beach. It was a bumpy hour ride, but totally worth it. Felt amazing to be on the back of the scooter on a beautiful day just riding through towns and past rice fields. The beach was as beautiful as I remembered it. This time there were a few Filipino families there. Everyone had the day off for New Years and it was fun to see families relaxing having a good time together.
Saying goodbye to the Philippines and everyone we had met was sad. But being on this trip and having a new year ahead of me I had a lot of time to reflect. I am so proud of myself for going on these new, scary, exciting and different adventures. I never thought this would be my life- but now I can't imagine it any other way. I'm looking forward to 2014- ready for more adventures and positivity in the next year!
