Odiongan

So Saturday morning we missed our fairy stop and woke on a neighboring island. We then needed to catch a small Fisher boat to the southern tip of Romblon. The boat that we decided to take would not leave the port until it loaded over 300 50kg rice sacks onto the boat by hand.... so naturally after swimming in the Crystal clear water with the kids I helped load the rice! The natives tried to teach me how to "use my head" by balancing the sacks but it just ended in a crowd of ppl laughing at me! But that is a 24 7 thing for me here. The captain let me ride the boat for free to thank me for the help! Once we reached land we tripled up on a small motorcycle 15k to the nearest village where we got on the roof ( I stood up and surfed a lot ) of a jeep to complete the rest of our 50km trip. We explored town and went out to a nice resort on the beach that had live music and great food. The band that played were all friends of Kate's and were a lot of fun!

Sunday: went down the st to the neighbors and bought materials to make omelets and cooked up a big breakfast with coconut milk on the side. Then Kate and I rode our bikes to the base of a large blue river and walked up the river until we were climbing waterfalls and exploring underground rivers and passages. It was epic to try to rock climb up small holes in the ground as a waterfall pounded you from the top! We chased fish in the clear deep holes and jumped off waterfalls into shallow waters. After the waterfall trip we met some of Kate's friends and went to the local spring made pool. We had the entire place to our selves which ment there were no lines for the water slides and we could sing videoki (karaoke) at the top of our lungs. I took a quick mo-ped ride to the market to get some fresh fish to grill up... We ended up with a full yummy tuna. It was the best fish I have ever eaten! At the pool I also taught a young Philippine girl to swim ( you would think ppl on an island would know how to swim, but many do not) while we were there a roaming brown out took away the power for about an hour, but we just swam and ate under the super moon!

Monday: we woke up and went to Kate's work and I went out on my own to try to get money (which was very hard, and no one on the island took a card and no one could break a 500 peso bill ( 12$ American). I then got a great pedicure and manicure that took about 2 hours because they had to sand my feet for so long. I also made friends at the market and all over the place because everyone stairs at me because I am the first or second white male they have seen. Children are scared of me and all call me Joe after GI Joe. But I make it a point to talk to everyone and in turn get interviewed by 20 ppl a day. We got pizza for lunch and went swimming in the ocean afterward, where we walked around some exposed coral and collected awesome animals in a frisbee. I harvested sea urchins and ate them with a coconut that I harvested from a tree!!

null
Posted via Blogaway