After just an hours sleep and no time for breakfast, we’re not too pleased when our private bus decides to pick us up an hour late; meaning that there was enough time for breakfast after all but not if it’s to be served by our very “special” waitress (who cannot tell tea from coffee or butter from bread), who needs at least an hour to make a cup of tea.
We almost give up hope and resign ourselves to permanent residency at the illustrious D’ Lucky Garden Inn.
Thankfully, we’ve not been left behind; our bus arrives and we hurry aboard, grateful to be escaping. However, it seems that all the good seats have been reserved; we’re squished in the back, along with a young Dutchman, who Stef chats to about football for the entire 7 hour journey (how anyone can talk about football for that long is beyond me).
The road to El Nido is long (and that’s when there’s actually a road as such). At many points along the way you can see the frame of the incomplete road beside you whilst you jig about violently (thanking yourself that you decided to wear a bra).
Being so tired, I barely notice the hours wallop by; every so often being aroused rather brutally by a particularly spine shattering group of pot holes
Despite the off roading (I’m sure some people would pay good money for this kind of trek), the scenery is some of the best I’ve seen in the Philippines; lush rice paddies back dropped by dramatic mountain ranges that look almost like fallen dinosaurs. Thankfully the weather is dry and bright; apparently, when wet there’s a big threat from landslides along this solitary road. On more than one occasion I notice what looks like the aftermath of a slide as our bus meanders through some terracotta cliffs.
Halfway through the journey the concrete road disappears and things get very bumpy indeed- being in the back doesn’t really help the situation and at one point my head is pretty much touching the ceiling. For some reason I can’t help but let out a deranged grunt with every pothole- bloody hard work for just a sit down job!
We’re obviously relieved when we spy the epic limestone islands and cliffs that make up El Nido. Finally we’ve arrived.
We have no place booked which we immediately regret as everywhere our trike driver takes us are full.
Oopsy.
It seems kind of pricey here too. There also seems to be just a hint of that “this place is so beautiful it gives us the right to charge you the earth and not really bother to give you a good service” attitude. Or maybe that’s just my tired perception of things.
Still, accommodation is markedly more expensive here and we have little choice but to pay.
We find a small but newly built place which I forget the name of. It’s not exactly on the sea front, but it’ll do. The room is like a box but spotless. I flake out straight away, listening to the sea hitting the shore. Stef wonders up to OG’s (back packers hostel) to find Rob and Mary in the hope that they’re still there.
I wake up to some familiar voices- Rob and Mary are outside chatting to Stef. It’s good to see them- they’ve loved El Nido so much, they’ve extended their stay. We make a plan to meet the next morning for some kayaking to some of the islands. Apparently you can rent a kayak for about 700 pesos for the day.
Later, we get very drunk on the beach in a bar with a small chip-stealing monkey. This seems to be a habit Stef and I have developed whenever we arrive in a new place (getting drunk; not befriending small thieving monkeys).
Kayaking is going to be fun tomorrow morning…
