April 2015 – Olivebell

We sold our house, and with the money we made off of it, we decided the wisest thing probably to do was to put it towards our next home. Or buy silver. Or save it. So here we are in the Philippines 🙂 P.s- we ain’t the sharpest tools in the shed, but at least we’re tools in the Philippines!!

We flew into Manila, which took us almost 48 hours with layovers and all that lovely jazz. It’s a busy, loud, smelly, and overwhelming city that if you give it a chance, overlook the fact that it is dirty, and there is poverty, it’s quite a lovely place to find yourself in. There is culture everywhere, there are some of the friendliest people you will ever meet, along with some of the weirdest foods you might ever try….. if you’re brave enough. People told us before flying to Manila we would hate it. That it was too crowded, too much pollution, too busy. And it was. But the thing is, how can you complain when you’re travelling? Its something new, something you may never get to experience again, so just take it all in, enjoy it. You may never get to come back, and at the end of the day, you still get to go back to your home. I loved Manila. Is it my favourite city? Heck no! But I refuse to complain about being given the chance to experience it. Go do a market tour and see how the locals live, you may just find yourself kicking yourself for complaining. I did. Doesn’t stop me from complaining now… but it’s an eye opener. So go ahead, fly to Manila and have your eyes opened.

Boracay is lovely. It’s a long skinny island just off the mainland of Cataclan. It’s very touristy, with lots to see and eat, and lots to fall in love with. Like the kids selling mangos on white beach. If you go, try and find a kid named Toto. He’s a hustler, tell him I say “hey”. The mangos alone are worth going to Boracay for. Unless you hate mangos, then it wouldn’t be. Go to the Sunny Side Cafe and order the mango pancakes that are the size of your face. Eat all of it and don’t step on a scale for awhile. What else…. Cliff jump off Crystal Cove and swim like Nemo back to the ladder, waves are crazy. Watch the sunset. Every night. Oh! And eat lunch at the Lemon Grass Cafe and tell all the ladies there thank you again for keeping my phone for me when I left it there one night, my bad. Even if you stay at the crappiest hotel, eat the crappiest food, and meet the crappiest people (you won’t, but I’m just saying), you will be swimming in some of the warmest turquoise waters, with some of the whitest, softest sand your ugly toes may ever feel. I’m sorry if you have pretty toes.

Palawan. Another Island. Puerto Princessa is Palawans capitol, which is where we stayed for a few days. It wasn’t MY favourite, but Dane, my husband really enjoyed it. My favourite night was when we went to the boardwalk along the beach where there’s all these little shops and places to eat, kinda where all the locals go to chill. Anyways, we bought 5 dozen donuts and went to this boardwalk and started handing out donuts to all the locals. You know that saying “news spreads like wildfire?” (Is that how the saying goes?) Whatever, well news spread that this tall white guy with a short lady that could possibly be Filipino were handing out FREE DONUTS! So in just a short while we had a bunch of little kids following us around, and some adults too, cuz adults like donuts too ya know! The people’s grins were worth it, and I will always remember the night I shared donuts with Filipino locals instead of eating them all myself.

Maribel was a lady we met in Puerto Princessa. After knowing us for about 3 hours, and telling her we were on our way to El Nido, she offered us her home to stay in. Remember when I said you might meet me of the nicest people there? So off we went, she and her husband picked us up and drove us 3 hours to her home between Puerto Princessa and El Nido. We stayed in a really cool Tree house right by the ocean. Her family was also visiting, and her little 10 year old niece Precious, yes, that’s her name, and a bunch of other little kids, were who we spent most of the evening with. We met another little boy named Toto who stole our hearts. He was three and fearless. I hope that if I have a little boy one day, he’s just like him.

El Nido. I can’t say much about El Nido because we were only there for two nights. We missed the ball on booking a place to stay, so we ended up in a tiny room with no a/c, in +37 degree weather. So basically we slept in a greenhouse. I can say that it’s beautiful, small, and fairly quiet. Right now anyways, it’s on it’s way to becoming a hot spot for tourists. We did get to do a snorkelling/island hopping tour, where we got to see the REAL LIFE NEMO AND MARLIN!!!! It was a baby clown fish with it’s dad clownfish I’m assuming, because Pearl was eaten by a shark. That made the whole greenhouse fiasco worth it.

Philippines is beautiful. It’s vibrant and colourful, with sunshine and sand and lovely beaches with even lovelier people. #itsmorefuninthephilippines

This post is long, so I apologize. If you read it, I award you with a hero cookie. I don’t have one to give you at this exact moment, but maybe if I figure out this whole blogging thing I can post my recipe for my chocolate chip hero cookies! They’re pretty awesome. I know they are because I eat a lot of cookies. Talk so0n!!

~Claudia