Philippines : Mile Post #6

Only getting a few hours of sleep during the night was catching up to us. During our boat ride and on the walk to the hotel, we hatched plans with Harold and Thomas to do some snorkeling, at a place they'd read about, and check out the hot springs leaving the hotel at noon. Six thirty in the morning came around with a mysterious noise outside our window, which repeated, and repeated, and finally, enough was enough, we got up to see what the making all the commotion. Outside, a kid with a wind up toy sent a spinning top into a metal bucket and gleefully watched it spin about. A wind up toy for Christ's sake! What year is it? Knowing that we would not be able go to sleep, and obviously not willing to accost the kid with our first-world problems, the kid was now surrounded by five of his friends who were all engrossed in the spinning object, we readied ourselves for the day and departed to find some breakfast. It took a while to find something that wasn't sweet bread or meat but we eventually had a bizarre Chinese/American fusion breakfast... weird. We made reservations to take an island hopping tour the following day, putzed about, met up with the Germans.

They planned the adventure of the day using information from The Lonely Planet, yet the hostel owner told us that The Lonely Planet was mistaken. He said it was impossible to get to the Siete Pecados (Edit: spelling verified now and changed throughout the posts) and that we would have to hire a boat at 1500 pesos to take us there. The book mentioned that the Siete Pecados was near the hot-spring and could be readily accessed. This was supposed to be a cheap, but fun, adventure and we headed down to the harbor to get a different perspective. On the way there, Ador (who will be spoken of later) stopped and we questioned him about the Siete Pecados. He didn't understand us very well, I think, and left. The harbor was a bust, the boats docked were not interested in taking us out and the German's apologized for their mistake. We could have joined an island hopping tour that day or something but, instead, we were wasting our short vacation days with poor planning. They walked ahead, while Dacota and I discussed why we chose this route; it was so promising and I tried to justify my decision. The island hopping tours were not expensive and we now wasted a day of our vacation. The mood was tense. Disappointment filled our spirits as we turned around to walk into town. But as we began our retreat, a tricycle come up and stopped. The same driver, who we spoke with before, said that he can take us out to the Sega Pugatas. Really? So the Lonely Planet wasn't bullshit after all? We loaded up the trike brimming with renewed hope and a feeling of justice.

The trike ride. Germans upfront, twin and I in the bug-out compartment

The entire tricycle experience speaks to my practical nature, my demand that companies produce a utilitarian vehicle. As always with our "democratic" capitalism, one can only choose what is offered and not what is desired.  If any person reading this blog has information about modifying motorcycles to include additional carriages please let me know. A tricycle is a motorcycle with attached sidecar. The coupled unit is complete with windshields and roof; it is basically a mini-car without doors and is infinitely more practical than any vehicle I've been able to find in the states. Seats for two sit parallel with the driver while a back "bug-out" compartment has folding benches capable to sit a few people facing each other or for hauling cargo. It is basically the coolest rig I've had the pleasure to ride in.

Back and side of a trike

 Although I took a million pictures of trikes, apparently they are lost somewhere in the Ether.

Passenger's side entrance to the trike

We rode along a beat-up dirt road and took a right (heading south) into a village. A small creek ran through the village and people were bathing, washing clothes and dishes, in the fresh water. Children ran about, pushing used tires around with sticks while other children hauled wood or were occupied in some sort of other menial labor.

The small chartered boat

We stood at the shore and Ador pointed out the Siete Pecados, a half mile out to sea. We could have probably swam the distance but for $2.5 a head, these young kids, in there early teens, drove us out and waited around for a few hours while we explored the wonderland. Within the past five years, the area became protected and the wildlife and coral were stunning. Regrettably I did not take as many photos as I should have and am hoping Harold and Thomas received my contact information to send me some of their photos. A fancier underwater camera, than mine, allowed them to take some amazing shots and I will post their photos if I can obtain them. One really cool part of the taxi/boat we chartered, was that the money given went directly into the pockets of these men, instead of some middle-man taking a large cut.

A spiny sea star

 In this deeper area, amongst the plants and sea stars, a few barracudas could be seen swimming in the shadows.

Some beautiful fish

 The pictures featured are at depths I could easily swim in. The majority of the pristine coral had only a foot or so of water overhead, thus, I was too busy observing or too focused on avoiding damaging these beautiful creatures to take photos. As you can tell, I'm still kicking myself over not properly documenting the amazing underwater landscape.

The edge of a field of coral

Majestic blue and rainbow colored coral glistened in the sunlight as if radioactive. Fields of it lived underwater verifying why most science fiction writers use this unique world as descriptive elements to express the strange, alien, and impossible.

A fish "car wash"?

 We took a decent amount of photographs of these fish. They were too cute!

Our send off

 After a few hours, being both tired and getting cold, we decided to depart the area. Without a life-jacket, hours of swimming is tiring! Furthermore, our rented gear resulted in foggy lenses which we battle the entire time. Next time, for there will be a next time, functioning equipment will allow for greater enjoyment with less maintenance. A tip for people going into the tropics, bring your own gear. The extra money for the gear will be inconsequential given the increased experience produced.

These fish swam around us in the thousands and was the first school of large fish that I swam with. It was really neat!

Looking back, this adventure with the Germans was one of the major highlights of the trip. They were awesome, the snorkeling was the best of the trip, the unique opportunity and undulation of emotions regarding joining with fellow travelers on an adventure not planned on and experiencing the opportunity presented, creates a special fondness for this day.
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One of many cats at Makinit Hot Springs

Ador waited for us to return (for his fee of the day consisted of driving people to a location and waiting around for them to return) and drove us to the hot spring. As we ate a snack and prepared for the best part of the journey; a few cats came over hoping for a treat. They weren't about to let a bag get in their way, and ate the hidden pastries while we were away.

A first glance at the hot springs

 I will go into greater depth about the springs in the next post.

East facing shot looking into the ocean as the sun sets. 

As darkness descended, we stayed at the hot springs much longer than anticipated, enjoying its wonder.

We headed back into town, so that the Germans could meet up with a friend and we could eat dinner. As we headed back into town, we talked with Ador about climbing Mount Dalara that evening, hoping to maximize the day with a herping adventure. He claimed that friend of his could guide us and that we were to meet him at 9:30pm at our hostel.

Geckos can be seen running on walls and ceilings. A much greater improvement than spiders, in my opinion.

A delicious meal at a Korean joint, kimchi, kimchi ramen, vegetarian ramen, and spicy tofu with greens, recharged us. Lights, extra batteries, water, and a snack filled our backpack when we met Bomb, and his little brother; the men who would guide us up the "mountain". Mount Dalara is only 1,968 feet above sea  level, so it was only a small hill compared to our normal hikes. Rumbling through the black night for about forty minutes in the tricycle, we came to an unmarked stop and disembarked on the journey.

Perhaps it is a local conspiracy, but the lack of signs, even street signs, makes a foreigner almost dependent on hiring a local guide to simply help them locate the correct place.

The night's hike

 It was warm as we began our hike. Hiking in the day would have been entirely too uncomfortable but the evening's temperature was perfect.

Last years typhoon devastated Coron, you can watch videos online of entire towns and sections of the island being swept away by massive surges. The damage has caused tourism to decline and, outside of town, the damage is easily seen.

Our first snake!

As we hiked passed a stream, and I felt something hit my pocket and splash into the stream. What the hell, I thought, did I drop my camera? No, it was still in my hand. I shined my flashlight into the stream wondering what I dropped and saw a frog swimming away at top speeds towards a pile of downed bamboo. I rushed over to the pile, without bothering to call out to my companions. Like a crazed ape, I started rummaging through the pile, cast aside the outer layers with the hopes that I might reveal the frog. It took one second for me to realize that I inadvertently discovered a sleeping snake. Overjoyed, I called to Dacota and our guides and they quickly came over to my position. Obviously a day-time snake, this little thing was laid back enough to allow fifty pictures to be taken. We hadn't really explained our mission to Bomb, and he was surprised that we were more interested in snakes than hiking, and that this entire mission was to find nocturnal animals. By the end of the night though, both he and his brother were on critter-watch and seemed pretty enthused by the hunt.

Highly reflective spider

Glinting jewels on the ground mean some critter is about. Hundreds of little sparkles could be seen when shining the flashlight about and, regrettably, it wasn't the eyes or scales of an anaconda but, instead, one of these small ground spiders. Only between two and two and half inches in diameter (foot print included) they did not compare to the rumored bird-eating spider or gigantic tarantulas, neither of which was but were hoping to.

A very venomous centipede common to S.E. Asia, Taiwan is saturated in them

 I'm not sure whether this centipede's bite is as bad as a black widow spider, but the rumors suggest something along those lines.

The traveler's at the Mount Dalara climax

Although we did not expect to see snakes outside of the wooded lower-strata of the hike, we climbed through three different strata, wetland, forest, and grassy hilltop. All of our conditioning kept us pushing Bomb and his brother (professional guides) to hike at top speeds. They complimented our vitality, and I think we must have been an anomaly for he called stops for rest instead of the opposite, although we did stop often to investigate sounds or critters. As we left the woodland slopes and began walking along the spine of the hills, massive gusts of wind quickly cooled us off. Stars shone overhead, bright and magical, and faint lights from town or from the harbor was the only light pollution to be seen. It was quiet, besides our footfalls, wind, and occasional conversation -- very peaceful. Atop Mount Darara is a communication tower used to keep internet and phones working in the area. A live-in guard came out to greet us and, while he and our guides talked, we poked around, looking at huge dishes, ten to fifteen feet in diameter, generators, and trash. The T.V., playing inside, talked of a storm, sourcing the wind, but, supposedly, Busuanga would be off its path, fortunate for us tourists and locals alike. We headed down and explored the stream/wetland area with some minor herping success.

A butterfly, sleeping on a leaf

The most common ground spider

A jumping (wolf?) spider

A unique blue

 We only saw one example of this spider. It was really beautiful though.

Least common frog

Second most common

Most common frog

Another angle

The frog that originally attacked me was bright green and about twice the size of the ones featured. I hoped to get a picture but was unable to find that species again.

So, at around three a.m. we drove back to town, each of us tired but, at least on our part, happy to have a quasi-successful herping trip (we'd hoped to find a significantly greater amount of species) because the unsuccessful El Nido expedition had left us feeling dismal.