~in the shadow of the moon, terrapin station~

Nothing more annoying than a sleepless overnight flight. The grogginess wears off soon enough but the frustration lingers. Cebu Pacific shlept a tired and pissed off Leo (accompanied by a peacefully asleep Jeanette) to Cebu City, Philippines arriving at the ripe time of 4AM. Afraid that the incoming typhoon would put a damper on our stay, we immediatedly hustled to the port where we caught a 6AM ferry to Bohol. The weather in Bohol was supposed to be better than Cebu, and indeed, the weatherman wasn't mistaken. Gorgeous sunny skies awaited!

Our itinerary was loose but Aditi mentioned a nice guesthouse, Nuts Huts, inland on the island right off the Loboc River. While it was a ways out from the main littler-island-off-the-little-island center, Panglao, it was a pleasant little jungle lodgey type feel complete with an herbal sauna and firefly cruises down the river (neither of which we found time for).

We rented a motorbike and cruised to a Tarzier sanctuary. Tarziers, for those unfamiliear, are adoooooorable little primates about the size of your foot with big bulgy eyes. Apparently, they're the only primates that hunt. Their diet consists mostly of insects. The funny/not-so-funny thing about them is that they're notoriously moody. To a fault. They commonly commit suicide under physical or emotional stress. They do so either by refusing to breathe or by smashing their head against heavy things. Because of their emo tendancies, owning these little critters became illegal three years ago. Regardless, the locals capture and stash these poor beasts away in cages to keep as roadside attractions for the flocks of tourists who don't know or don't care about Tarzier wellbeing. When they killed themselves, the locals would just go out and get new ones. And now, these cute little guys are endangered.
 

                               

Afterwards, we rode down to Panglao to snoop around for tomorrows activities and seek accomodation that would be closer to the port from which we'd be departing the day after. As a bonus, we enjoyed a delicious chilli crab and salmon steak dinner, our table on the beach, watching the sun set into the pacific ocean.

Another early morning as we met our bike renter man at 5AM. Outside Nuts Huts, we raced against the sunrise as Jeanette's dolphin watching trip departed at 6. After some quick but safeish motorbiking, I managed to get us there by 6:10 and all was good. The boat hadn't left yet. And while Jeanette boarded, I went on the rocks to meditate and happed to stumble accross some tiny crabs.
                                         
The best breakfast of my backpacking career, mango pancakes, honeyglazed ham, and rosemary eggs with a fresh fruit shake, escorted me into the final dives of my trip (22 & 23)

This time, the main attraction would be turtles

(of which we saw plenty) but also trumpet fish,

a beautiful gnarly frogfish,

 
and his giant ugly counterpart,

a cleaner fish that I scared off the shell of a turtle and somehow managed to entice onto my skin (doubtless, a compliment to my hygene),

brilliant nudibranches,

venomous lionfish, 

and the usual assortment of spectacular underwater wonders.

Although the camera crapped out after one dive making me miss the beautiful yellow pipefish, jackfish, puffers and porcupinefish, I was able to only pay for half of it so it was okay.

Jeanette and I rendezvoused for a yummy lunch before riding 2 hours to the middle of Bohol to see the chocolate hills. These are a gorgeous expanse of rolling green mounds formed by underwater limestone and seashell deposits being elevated out of the ocean. They call them the chocolate hills because people say they resemble hershey kisses... I'm not sure about that but they were pretty.

A very complicated and stressful journey (last public bus out of Loboc was late, no jeepneys ((cool looking local transport here)) headed toward Panglao, Jeanette+Leo+Jeanette's backpack+Leo's backpack+driver crammed on a motorbike with my 14 kilo backpack trying to pull me off for half an hour) brought us safely to our guesthouse. Upon disembarking, Jeanette asked "Leo, where's your yellow bag?" With my charger, hoodie, glasses, other goodies. Turns out I left it on the bus... classic Leo. Luckily, a kid who worked at the hostel drove me back to the bus station. Originally he said all I'd have to pay him was for gas but he wouldn't even let me pay for it. He was so nice! After getting my bag back (whew) we dropped dropped off the bike at the hostel and I went to get Jeanette to join us for a few beers. She was fast asleep :-/ so it was just me and my hospitable Filipino pal, Marc. We had a blast and he told me about growing up in the Philippines and the struggles he has to deal with and the country's corrupt history and poverty. One of the many many reminders of how privileged we are to live in a wealthy nation and speak the universal language. It seems every day, I'm more and more grateful every day to my grandpa for taking us over. Anyway, Marc and I made friends with a bartender and the next bar and got some free tequila shots, played bar games and had an amazing night.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Marc bought me a Balut. If I would have known what it was before eating it, I wouldn't have... balut... oy...

Of course we massively overslept our ride to the ferry the next morning but managed to make it on to the ferry with a minute to spare. Some much needed luck that seems to followme around wherever I go. With some more luck, I'll get back the raincoat I lost last night! Only a couple more posts left...