Well, we now seem to be with water once more at Tongo Point. Regardless of this new development we still feel the need to call it a day there. So, we make our way on foot to Panagsama for a last ditch attempt at finding a suitable abode. Plus, we want to catch Hannah’s happy hour where you can buy two drinks for the price of one; watch the sun set over the water and generally chillax.
We’ve made a pact that if there’s nothing to rent in Panagsama, we’ll head off to Negros and chance our bets there.
On the way we pass the Naomi’s bottle museum and say hello to Myrna and Lito, friends we made on our last visit. They have even more cats now- we can’t resist going in and checking them out. Lito seems determined to find us a suitable place- both him and Myrna racks their brains, trying to think of vacant houses. They’re a very sweet couple.
We go to a few places with Lito, but nothing seems suitable. They both swear to keep looking for us as we bid them good evening, setting off to Hannah’s.
I haven’t mentioned Susima yet- a local Filipino women, excellent masseuse and mother to about nine children. We were acquainted on our first visit by Neil and Di. Neil recommended I try out one of her massages as he swore by them (and has offered her a good price for taking the bus into Cebu City where he now lives- but she flatly refuses to take the trip)- true to his word, Susima’s massages are to die for and I’ve already enlisted her services since we’ve been back.
Susima is also good friends with Linda, so she knew already that we were looking for another place. On our way to Hannah’s we bump into her; immediately she takes me by the arm, exclaiming she’s found the perfect place for us (I think by this point Stef and I had given up hope of ever living here).
We all trundle over some ones farm, passing a few women doing their outdoor laundry. The place she shows us is a little pink cottage, with a tiny fenced in garden. It looks perfectly nice. There are also some other cottages and nippa huts dotted about. Susima goes to look for the owner of the cottage. We follow her to a Filipino couple sitting under a palm, avoiding the heat from the setting sun. They talk animatedly in Filipino, Susima developing a commiseratory look.
“You’re too late,” she tells us.
Bugger.
Nevertheless, as she continues to chat, it emerges that there’s another property - a second floor apartment overlooking the sea.
We go to look at the place and are pleasantly surprised- we end up taking it with a view to renting it on a two week trial. The place is owned by an old Dane and his Filipino wife, Sady, who kindly invites us over to their house for a rum and coke later in the week.
