You Want Me to Dive Where?!?

Lembeh Strait diving could be considered the antithesis of Bunaken coral reef diving. One does not got to Lembeh to view hordes of brightly colored tropical fish or large sea reptiles. Instead, at Lembeh, one searches the black sandy sea bottom for small but unusual critters, many no larger than your thumb. This is called "muck diving" because of the muck that is kicked up as one swims over the soft substrate. Muck diving in this area is a relatively new phenomenon (its not even in the Lonely Planet yet...but probably in the next edition). The resort we dove with is brand spanking new and it is one of the 5 resorts that have opened in the past year....many of them branches of the ones found in Bunaken. Searching the sandy ocean floor may not sound like fun, but it's actually a lot of fun playing investigator...and you never know what you may find!

To start off, we made our way from Tangkoko to Bitung. We had an interesting time trying to find accommodation in Bitung and ended up "chartering" a public mini-van. By charter we mean asking him for information on where to stay and then him proceeding to drop his other passengers off and chaffuer us around without our permission and then charging us half of what we spent on the room. My biggest beef so far with this country is that everyone seems to think its ok to charge the foreigner double, quadruple, octuple the local price for transportation. We're beginning to realize that if you ask "how much?" it really means "I have no idea what I'm suppose to pay so please feel free to take advantage of my innocence and empty my pocketbook." We've just started shoving how much we think the price should be in the driver's face then running away before he could charge us more.

Anyway...

We'd heard rumors that prices on Pulau Lembeh were a bit steeper than prices on Pulau Bunaken and since we're trying not to splurge all of our money before we reach the end of our trip we decided to head to the city of Bitung (pronounced Bit-oong) on mainland Sulawesi and see what information we could dig up about the island and diving. We hadn't anticipated that diving the area is so new that none of the locals are familiar with it! We came to the city with no information about how to get to Pulau Lembeh or contact information of any resorts. So bright and early we made our way to the wharf and began asking around. Thankfully we were able to fumble around enough Bahasa Indonesia to get our point across and actually ran into a dive guide who was on his way to work. We stopped got off at the dive shop he worked at and immediately set to work getting ready for two dives since our plan was to dive and then head back to Bitung for the night.

Muck diving is difficult to explain...its not what you'd call exhilarating and there aren't schools of fish to ogle over...but it definitely has its moments. Muck diving is more akin to playing detective and your reward is to witness the most unusual animals of the shallow seas. We saw (among other things) ribbon eels with firey nostrils, frogfish the size of a plate and pygmy seashorses no more than 1/2 an inch long. Overall, we'd both rate diving in Lembeh better over diving in Bunaken and we're hoping that we'll get to return to Lembeh Straight before it turns into a major Indonesian port.

Wildlife Extravaganza

Tangkoko-Batuangas Dua Saudara Nature Reserve. Home of black macaques, tarsiers, hornbills and other amazing creatures. We envisioned spending days in the woods alongside the animals, returning to nature and observing wildlife, something we got to do very little in the Philippines otherwise known as (by me) The Land of Empty Forests.

Well, our vision of Tangkoko was not quite as expected but it was still spectacular. We arrived to the village of Batu Putih on the outskirts of the reserve by riding on the back of a pick up truck that had been rigged up with wooden benches which fit about a dozen people and their various goods. Again, we picked the accommodation based on the price, but our decision ended up being a good one since the owner was also a park ranger.

The entrance fee to the park was steeper than expected. For every three hour venture into the wilderness one must pay the equivalent of $8.88 PER PERSON. This fee includes the guide, but if you want to take a day long hike the price jumps to $10.10 and if you're there to watch birds the price is over $20!!!

We paid the astronomical fee and received our guide, who was very knowledgeable about the area. Our first hike was in the evening and therefore we were there mostly to see the Tarsier. The tarsier is the smallest primate (think gorilla) on earth. It is a nocturnal creature with one of the largest eye to body ratio of all animals. There are many species of tarsiers and even one inhabits the island of Bohol in the 'Pines where we had seen them in horrible little tourist venues. Now was our chance to see them in the wild, going about their wild lives. We waited by the tree house of one tarsier family until dusk. As we watched the lazy critters slowly began to emerge from the depths of the fig tree. Just before it was too dark to see anything, they began to jump, on the hunt for small insects and lizards. They were like lightening as they zipped from sapling to sapling. It was the highlight of the trip.

The rest of the hike wasn't too shabby either. We saw a gang of about 20 macaques, a pair of gorgeous red beaked hornbills, a monitor lizard and sleeping tarantulas. We were extremely lucky to see all of this in one three-hour hike and we came back to the homestay thrilled!

We went on one other hike with our ranger friend, who got us a scam on the entrance fee ($5 for both of us instead of $16). We went with a Malaysian couple who are wildlife photographers. For this expedition they wanted to shoot the tarsiers and so our guide brought a little snack to lure the primate out of its hole. We went to see the same tarsier family only this time there were hoards of onlookers snapping flashing cameras in the face of the poor wide-eyed tarsiers. Then the guides got out a gecko and tied it to a string to taunt the primates. It was pitiful. I felt so sorry for both the gecko who was slowly mangled and for the tarsier who was duped into thinking it would get an easy meal. On the flip side, I did get a few nice videos of them jumping (but I did NOT use flash and I tried to stay a fair distance away from them). Just to show how lucky we were the first day, on the second hike we only saw the tarsiers and a few birds. We did see a cus-cus (think sloth) very high in the canopy but it looked more like a clump of dead leaves than anything (still pretty exciting to a couple of biologists!).

We also spent some time sneaking into the forest. We followed some trails at the edge of a pasture and were able to leisurely search for birds and watch a group of macaques play at the creek with no other tourists watching. If we didn't need to be so stealthy, we would have spent more time exploring this unique area.

Diving across new borders

Saying Goodbye to the 'PinesWell after another failed attempt to climb a mountain we decided we have had enough of the Philippines. We are outta here. Actually our visas were up and Mt. Apo was our last plan for the country that we have called home for the past two and a half years. For me it did not really sink in until the last night that we would be leaving this wonderful country that has provided us with so many memories. In many ways both of us wanted to stay longer to visit more places and meet more people in a place where we felt familiar with the culture, language and surroundings. But another part of us was itching to move onward to new destinations on a trip that we had been planning for the past year or more.

So the day after we got back from Apo we headed to the airport with our Indonesian visas in hand. Luckily our taxi driver was one of the nicest that I have had and it made me remember what I will miss most about the Philippines: the people. Sure I have had to leap over cultural barriers and sometimes living in this country has not been the easiest but the people here have made it so worthwhile and have given me life long memories.

Back to the airport. We were headed to Manado in northern Sulawesi (a huge and weirdly shaped island in eastern Indonesia). This area is known for its unparalleled marine biodiversity and amazing diving and this was one of the main reasons that we were headed here. After our hour long flight we were already in a new country excited about the potential that it held. We were also both a bit anxious about a new place where they did not speak the language that we had grown so accustomed to speaking and knew that it would be harder to get around and have deep connections with people that we had in the Philippines. But we were ready and got through customs with no problem. Then we haggled a bit for a taxi that brought us to our first hotel in Indonesia. We tried to communicate with the folks at the reception with our few Indonesian words that we had been studying and our message was successfully conveyed with accompanying hand signals. So we navigated our way through our first hurdle without too much trouble and we were feeling confident. It would certainly be more difficult to get around here but hey that is part of traveling.

Hello Indonesia
We went out on the town of Manado for a bite to eat and the streets were filled with food stalls (these are somewhat lacking in the Philippines) serving delicious looking food. We sat down for an absolutely delicious and spicy meal of gado gado and a coconut curry. It was sublime (absolutely delicious food for less than a dollar). I was certainly going to enjoy this part of Indonesia.

The next morning we headed to the port to try to find out about the boat to Pulau Bunaken (Pulau is Bahasa Indonesia for island) off the northern shores of Manado. This part of the world considered the "coral triangle" and is the center of underwater biodiversity. The Philippines is also part of the triangle, but its waters are largely overfished and only 5% of its corals are still in pristine condition. The corals of Sulawesi, however, are rumored to be spectacular. According to the Lonely Planet, Pulau Bunaken is where divers go when they die. And so we came to the island to see for ourselves. There isn't a huge selection of accommodation on the island. It's a fairly small island with a small community with basic living conditions. Most of the accommodations are owned and run by foreigners (surprise, surprise!). We decided which accommodation based on the overwhelming response from the locals as to where was the cheapest place on the island. It was also a good choice since it it's also the only locally owned resort on Bunaken. The first day on the water we went out with other guests on a snorkeling extravaganza. It was brilliant! The colors were spectacular and the fish were plentiful. I hadn't seen such a wide variety of fish since the Great Barrier Reef. It was overwhelming. So many species and many we had never seen before. We visited three spots and were in the water most of the day coming away tired a little sunburned but fulfilled.

The second day we dove. The first dive was also incredible. We saw 3 of the largest green and hawksbill turtles that either of us have ever seen (probably over 4 feet in length). One was even sleeping in a crevice on the wall of the reef and we were able to get a really close look. There was a huge Napolean wrasse that was almost if not bigger than we were (also something we never saw in the Philippines even though it should have been). The second dive turned out to be not as good but still a fair amount of fish including about 6 large large Napolean wrasse at the end of the dive and a whitetip reef shark. The area where some other sharks was devoid of them on this dive. Oh well. The next day we went for our final dive and we saw some other colorful corals and some more fish but again it was not as good as our first.

The afternoon we went for our last snorkel on the other side of the island in search of some rumored dugongs. We were not lucky enough too find them but the snorkeling was again superb with absolutely gorgeous coral with almost 100 percent cover in many areas (something we did not see too much in the Philippines or anywhere else for that matter). We also went for a snorkel in the mangroves which was a bit eerie but interesting with roots and branches surrounding us in the murky water.


Overall the island had offered some great snorkeling with amazing fish and coral diversity. There were sheer walls surrounding the island which provided some pretty good diving but not quite as amazing as we had anticipated. Perhaps we have been a bit spoiled by our diving experiences in the past and we are expecting too much. It certainly was not too much of a let down though. We had a few days in the water to be awed a bit by its natural wonders. Our first stop in Indonesia gets a check in our book (maybe not a check plus though).

We also had an opportunity to meet some other interesting folks who also made Bunaken their home for a short time. There were even two other Americans: one who was teaching English with the Fulbright program in Java and another anthropology student who was trying to find out a bit about the ocean and the people in the area. There were also the German and Swiss students who had been assigned to work on the island with an environmental education program for three months which feel apart shortly after they arrived. They gave an interesting insight on the island and development work in the area. It was weird to be in the company of other Westerners. It had been awhile again and it seemed like the island was crawling with them. It was nice for a bit of conversation but certainly does not help our Indonesian language skills. It is a bit weird to be on the tourist trail since it seems that almost all of the Philippines is off it. It has its good points and bad but we will try to jump off it soon at least for a bit.

Highest Peak of 'Pines...Attempted

A few days ago we attempted to summit the highest mountain in the Philippines...Mt. Apo. It is located a few hours outside of Davao City and its a popular destination among local mountaineers. They have a few major hikes each year when hundreds of people climb at the same time. Holy Week, for example, is a very popular time to climb anything that has a steep slope. Our guide said that one year over 10,000 people climbed. Since most mountaineers here aren't known to be the best environmentalists (who can blame them in a society where littering is almost encouraged and is definitely not discouraged) the mountain was covered in trash, causing the national government to shut down on trekking in the area until the municipalities cleaned up their trails and set up some stricter measures to deter further destruction.

There are many routes to the summit, but we chose to route from the municipality of Santa Cruz about 45 minutes away from Davao City. This is not the most famous route, partly because it takes longer than the others, but it was the one we found the most information about in Davao and the other route required that we travel to Cotabato, which is both farther and a little sketchier than the Province of Davao del Sur.

We arrived in Santa Cruz a little late to head up the mountain the following day, so we had a day to kill while the guide got ready (meaning he bought rice and made us buy 3 times as much fuel for the stove so he could cook his rice). During this day, we decided to go river tubing down the mighty Sibulan River, which gets its water from the mighty Mt. Apo. We had both been tubing in the States before and thought that while we were not experts, it would be pretty easy cruising down a lazy river. Wrong! Silly us, we are NOT in the US and people in the 'Pines are not afraid to let customers do some pretty crazy shit unlike America where everyone is afraid to get sued. We travelled down a section of the river in an inter tube with a guide holding on from behind pushing and pulling us around the large rocks in the rapids. Now, not to worry, these were class 5 rapids or anything, but it was a bit thrilling the first time we went down.

Beginning the Trek
The next day we got up bright and early to begin our trek to Mt. Apo. We opted for the additional Sibulan River trek which we heard would cross the river about a dozen times and lead us to the bottom of the highest waterfall in the Mt Apo area. Note: the river we were about to trek was the same river we rafted the day before. The raging torrent of water was difficult to cross and about half way through we abandoned the idea in favor of the steep slopes of the foothills of Mt. Apo.

Everyone in the hills gets around on horses or carabaos...we saw children as young as 7 maneuvering the large animals as if their bodies were connected. It was amazing and it made me a little jealous that we were hiking with our heavy packs while there were so many pack animals sauntering past. The beasts of burden also made for some interesting trails, which were largely used for them and thus were rutted deep into the soil.

We reached our first destination Sitio Tudaya in the early afternoon and proceeded down a steep cliff to Tudaya Falls. Now, many places in the Philippines have stories of the Japanese hiding gold in the hills and caves and there are many speculations as to the where abouts of the elusive golden Buddha. Mt. Apo is no different where the indigenous tribe, the Bagobo's legend has is that the waterfall is man made by the Japanese to hide their matchbox sized bars of gold along with the golden Buddha at the bottom of the vast flowing falls. We somehow doubted the validity of the tale, but nevertheless it is an amusing one...After a day of steep trekking, we weren't sure that the falls would be worth it (see previous entries on falls). But when we arrived it was absolutely breathtaking. It blew all of the previous waterfalls out of the water. The flow of water was incredible and created a mist that showered down on us like a gentle spring rain. It was twice as tall as the waterfall in Libertad and had at least twice as much water (it was the source of the fast flowing Sibulan River we had been crisscrossing earlier that morning).

Digression about our guide: The Excuses Man. He had a different excuse for why we couldn't do what we wanted every time we talked with him. First we couldn't take a different trail down the mountain because their might be militants hiding on the peak, then it wasn't the militants, but the length of the trail that deterred him, but that really wasn't it either, the main problem was that is was slippery. Basically, he was about as Filipino as you could get. He hated to tell us "no" and he especially didn't like to tell us the truth as to why we couldn't do what we wanted.

The second day we actually began hiking up the grand mountain. I could not believe that 10,000 people a year could hike up the path. It was extremely steep and slippery and overgrown. Until this trip, I was fond of tree ferns...they looked so soft and gentle...but in reality they are the devil's henchmen. The large fronds fall to the ground where their sharp thorns grab on to anything in their path, including clothes and even worse, skin...ouch! Though the slope up was steep, the trees were some of the largest we'd seen in the Philippines. The trail we were on is an old hunting trail and as we reached the forest we came across a Bagobo wielding a gun...I don't know what he was looking for because we certainly didn't see anything more than bugs and a few birds during the entire trip, but supposedly there is still some wild boar. Or maybe he was hunting the majestic Philippine (aka monkey-eating) eagle one of the largest eagles in the world, which makes its home on the volcano.

On the third day of hiking we hit the boulders. We started climbing what looked like a dry riverbed, only we could faintly here the sounds of running water, which got louder as we climbed higher. When we turned a corner we were hit with the sight and smell of sulfur steam jetting out of the side of the mountain. It smelled like rotten eggs and left of film of yellow dust on the surroundings. There were small vents throughout the boulders which blew out hot air and were surrounded by yellow rocks. After sometime of boulder hopping (approximately 2500 m up a 3011 m mountain) The Excuses Man gave a sigh at the path ahead and slowly turned toward us to state that the trail had been destroyed by a landslide. He told us to wait awhile to see if the clouds which had rolled in would clear (because this might also clear the landslide?). We discussed the topic at much length. The conversation mostly consisted of The Excuses Man lamenting at the sorry state of the trail and us trying to convince him that we could still make it to the crater. Alas, our cajoling was in vain and we made our way back to our campsite to pack up then head down to Sitio Colan where we would spend the night.

After our hike we congratulated ourselves on an attempt well tried with a nice long soak in the Colan hot spring. It is a gorgeous steaming hot spring hidden among the hillside fields and as you sit in an almost completely natural pool your eyes wander to the forested hills beyond. I

Random Tidbits:
Motor rides: two of the scariest motor rides ever ridden. The drivers had to "run" up the steep hills so their motor wouldn't stall.

As went down the mountain: footpaths became small bumpy dirt lanes which turned into wide winding cement roads while the horses became motors which transformed into vans and other large vehicles. Back to "civilization" as they say.

City of Durian

Davao City...much bigger than anticipated. The smell of durian follows you around the city where on every corner you can buy the spiky fruit for 30 pesos/kilo. The smell clings to those who have eaten it. The odor, though strong, is much less offensive then folklore would have you believe. The taste, however (as previously mentioned) must be an acquired taste since after the tasting it again, it still wasn't the sweetest fruit on earth.

The main difference between this city and all the others is that the most of the city jeepneys have conductors (someone to take your money, give you change and tell you where to get off) and 3/4 of the conductors are women. In every other place we've been too conducting is strictly men's work. In Agusan Marsh, we also saw women doing what would be considered "men's work in other parts of the country - fishing and farming - perhaps Mindanao has different gender roles than the Visayas...

We spent two days touring the city trying to confirm everything for Indonesia. First we went to the Indonesian Embassy to apply for a 60 day visa. We could get a visa on arrival, but they are only for 30 days, which is not enough time to visit a country that is among the top 10 in land area. Sulawesi Island alone could take months to explore. We had heard horror stories about the difficulties of getting a visa for Indonesia, but the process seemed relatively painless...that is until we went back the next day to pick up the visas and were told that it would not approved until we showed proof of incoming and outgoing tickets. PROBLEM! We are entering Sulawesi via airplane from Davao, but our plan was to take land transportation from Indonesian Borneo to Malaysian Borneo and thus we had not ticket. Our solution: Search online (have to love Air Asia) for cheap flights out of the country that we have no plans to actually use but would satisfy this silly requirement. Luckily we were able to find a $24 ticket from Sumatra to Peninsular Malaysia.

We wavered in our decision to go to Indonesia since the combined flights equalled the amount of money we have spent since we started our vacation (3 weeks worth of travelling!) but we decided Indonesia sounds too good too miss so tomorrow we are heading out of the Philippines. This in itself is causing some conflicting emotions. We've had a wonderful time the the Philippines and have enjoyed getting to know the people here (facilitated of course, by knowing the language). We feel that we've seen a lot still there are so many more islands left unexplored. At the same time, we are eager to experience some entirely new people and places though a little unsure of how everything will fly while we're learning a new language (we've been studying Bahasa Indonesia!). We know we won't get as much out of the trip since we lack means of communication but we still are excited to begin the travels!

Check out some pics of the Philippine Eagle Foundation, a non goverment agency which is dedicated to the preservation of one of the largest eagles in the world (and the national bird of the Philippines). They have developed an artificial insemination method for the birds of prey and have released a few animals into the wild. The only problem I see with their grand scheme is there doesn't seem to be enough old growth forest left to support an increase in eagle populations...

Mud and Birds and Things

We left Siargao Island on an early boat and headed on our trip further south in Mindanao. Our final destination would be Bunawan where we would hopefully arrange a trip to Agusan Marsh. We did not really know a lot about the marsh other than it sounded cool in the guidebook with the chance to see some wetland birds. After not seeing many birds for the past two years, KC was especially excited about this opportunity. This marsh area was also supposed to be inhabited by people who lived in floating houses and lived off of the marsh. We were interested in learning more about these people also but were going into this adventure pretty blind otherwise.

So after getting of the boat from Siargao we got onto a bus and started on the 6 hour ride to Bunawan. Along the way we did notice a few things. One was the amazing number of fruit stands. The main products were durian and marang (another smelly fruit but with a much less offensive taste than durian). Another thing that was evident was the wood of Mindanao is being harvested at an alarming rate. We passed dozens of trucks filled with logs upon logs and saw numerous piles of logs on the sides of the road on top of that.

We finally showed up in Bunawan and headed straight to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources office in town to check out information about the marsh and to arrange a day trip. We showed up just in time before the office closed and were met by the knowledgeable and helpful superintendent of the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary. We talked with him for awhile and he convinced us to change our plans from a short morning trip in the marsh to a two day trip staying overnight in the middle of the swamplands. We were excited about what he said and he also offered to set up the boat for us to start early the next morning.

We headed to the lodging house across the street since there was no formal pension or hotel in the area. It ended up being a very simple but adequate room for sleeping. Oddly enough the owner kept on apologizing for not having a nice room with air-con. We certainly were not expecting air-con and have not yet been met with so many apologies for not having nice accommodation available. We assured her that whatever she had would be fine and while the room was a bit more basic than usual (just some plywood and a rough concrete floor with a small bed) it certainly suited our purposes of sleeping. A lot of the other residents at the boarding house were college students and they showed great interest in us and what we were doing. Before going to bed we talked a bit with the owner of the boarding house. She told us that the water in the marsh would be very low at this time of year and that we might not be able to see many birds. She told us that she went with some other foreigners a number of years ago and they were very disappointed by the trip. She told us to start as early as possible to catch any birds that might be there. Even though we had tried to arrange to leave very early we had been told that we could not leave before the gas station opened (the boat needed gas). So we were beginning to have our doubts if this trip was going to be worth it, as it seems we came at the wrong time of year. But we decided to go ahead with it and see what would come of it.

We awoke early the next morning and met with the boat operator to arrange a price for the two day trip. He quoted something that was quite a bit more pricey than we had been expecting (the foreigner price of course). We tried to haggle a bit but it did not seem to work so we bit the bullet and decided to go and hoped that we were not going to be disappointed. We started out later than we wanted but finally loaded everything into the boat and got on the river about 7:30AM. Along with us was the boatman and a worker from the DENR who turned out to be a great guide and fairly knowledgeable about the birds in the marsh.

We motored on the main river for about a half hour or so before coming to a smaller creek which we headed up to get to one of the lakes which we were to visit. We started going up and the creek narrowed and became more shaded and unexpectedly we actually started seeing some cool birds. There were brightly colored kingfishers and orioles along the way and I was already satisfied by the start of this relaxing river cruise.


We also started to see some floating houses along the creek. The indigenous Manobo live mainly off the freshwater fish in the marshes. During December through March there is a great deal of rain causing the water to rise about 15 feet from the current level. To protect their houses during the flood, they strap large bundles of bamboo and logs to the bottom of their native huts so they float on the marshland. Some of them tie their houses to the tops of the trees to prevent them from floating away, but unless they have a large rope they often break in the winds causing their houses to travel all over the marsh. During the dry season, the banks of the rivers are often exposed so they sometimes plant crops, such as corn, in the area. The Manobo of Agusan speak Visayan fluently, but they have a traditional Manobo language which they still teach their children in order to keep their culture alive. One of the women we met exemplified the differences between the Manobo and the rest of the Filipinos we've met. She was just one year older than me, but she already had 5 children. She said that she had been married when she was 12 and her husband was 16 and that this was a common occurrence on the marsh.

So after cruising down the creek for a bit we came to the end of the line and got out at on of the floating houses of the local residents. Beyond the end of the creek was what looked like another body of water but the way was closed off by a roadblock of marsh vegetation. We found out that this body of water was the first of four lakes that we were supposed to tour to look for more birds. Unfortunately at this time of year the vegetation was so thick and the water was so low that our motorboat could not pass through. Also unfortunately there was a bit of wind and waves on the lake so the small dugout canoes that the local residents usually use to go out fishing on the lake would have been flooded if we tried to go out. So instead we explored a little through the mud and muck along the edge of the lake and fought our way through some of the thick marsh vegetation to get a better look at the lake. It was actually quite fun to be calf deep in mud and at times have our whole weight supported above water only by the marsh plants.

Upon arriving at the next lake we again found that our boat was not going to be able to enter to search around. However the winds were non existent and a very talkative and hospitable local offered to take us out in his small dug-out canoe. This was one of the highlights of the whole trip. As we headed out on the lake, the kids were paddling home from their school in the middle of the lake for lunchbreak. Our trip out on the lake was perfect with gorgeous water lilies and other plants surrounding us from every side. A few fishers were out with their nets and spear guns. Birds (ranging from huge herons and egrets to smaller terns and bitterns) flew from every corner of the lake even though it was the middle of the day. It was just a really swell jaunt on the water. After about an hour or so we headed back to our boatman's house for a bit of dried freshwater fish for lunch. For the second time we were greatly astonished at the hospitality of the people we met. This family couldn't afford to fix up their rotting wooden floor planks but they were so interested in us and so willing to offer a piece of themselves and their life for us. Within 30 minutes we had already been offered a place to sleep in their house even though they barely had enough floor room for their own family. It would have certainly been nice to stay here but we still had one more lake to explore so we moved on.

We motored further upriver and into another creek by late afternoon. There were mudflats and floodplains abundant with wetland birds and we even got a few glimpses of some larger birds of prey (eagles and falcons). We met many fishers along the way coming home from their long day of work out on the river. It was about 4 in the afternoon by the time we arrived at our final destination where we would be sleeping at the house of the "datu" who technically holds tenure over the whole marsh area. This really astonished Lora who was sure that datus were mythical beings from before the age of Christianity. They were the stuff of legends such as Datu Lapu-Lapu who slayed the famous explorer Magellan. She was sure the only datu still alive was Datu Puti, the maker of a popular vinegar. Yet we were standing on the veranda of the Datu's floating house about to invade his home. It was explained that it is his job to oversee activities in the area and he is the main representative for the people there. The role of datu is passed down through the family and even though he is revered, he really has no position in the government unless he runs for office. In the days of old, however, datus were the village leaders. Our Datu was still out fishing but when he returned he heartily greeted us and laughed while he said it was more than OK for us to stay at his house.

In the morning we awoke for a bit more birding before breakfast in the lake (although there was hardly any water left) where we had stayed for the night. After a breakfast of, yep you guessed it fish, we started to head back on the river to Bunawan where we started. The trip took about three hours to get back but we saw many more birds along the way and both of us felt satisfied with the trip that we had just taken. Again it was nice to be off the tourist trail and see a place that not too many others see. The people that we met were great and so incredibly hospitable. It also makes us realize how much of a difference knowing the language can make. People almost certainly would not have opened up the way they did if this was not the case. It will be interesting to see how traveling in other countries is different. But we are slowly working on our Indonesian so hopefully that will help.

Our time here in the Philippines is almost up but we will head to Davao next and then hopefully climb Mt. Apo before heading out of the country. The experience at Agusan left us muddy and sweaty but satisfied with all that we had seen. It was not the right time of year but it was still an amazing and gorgeous place.

More Island Exploration

We arrived in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte on Mindanao the jumping off point to the island of Siargao (pronounced Sure-gow). Surigao was your typical provincial capital with lots of traffic, etc. One thing did set it apart from the others - the plaza. Now every municipality in the Philippines has a plaza. Many are run down and mostly empty unless there is a government function or local talent show on the stage. But, the plaza in Surigao City was completely different - it was large with nicely manicured landscaping. And there were people everywhere! Benches were full of students chatting and the lawns were crawling with young children. There was nice music from the stereo, guards were actually keeping the peace and there were even photographers who were paid by locals to take pictures of their kids in the grass. It was a wonderfully homey seen and I could have stayed for hours just people watching and eating my delicious tropical fruit.

The next day we arrived in Siargao. Some background info on the island: about a decade or so ago, some surfers were passing through when they noticed that one spot far off shore in a small barangay in the rural municipality of General Luna (GL) had amazing waves and thus Cloud 9 was born turning the tired little community into a surfer haven. We just missed (thankfully) the Quicksilver 11th Annual International Surfing Competition that is held every year on the far flung island. There is also a national competition each year, which apparently has the place crawling with tourists. We had originally thought we would try our 2nd hand at surfing, having both only done it once before, but the cloud was a little crowded and we were a little shy in front of what looked to us almost professionals so instead we were content watching others ride the waves (which weren't very good anyway because of the winds - so we were told).

That afternoon we explored the downtown area. Along the way, we passed by a building called the Pirates Pub with children peeping in through the windows. We decided to investigate to discover what all the fuss was about. As we approached the building, a loud voice resounded from within, requesting us to come inside. Now, we had been expecting the pub to be what it claimed to be - a pub but, once inside we quickly realized that it was no longer a public pub but a one man bar slash family room. The pirate, as is turns out, is a drunken Aussie who has been living on the island for some 17 years. He has a truckload of children who were watching TV on the bar. We suspect that the pub at one time was a functional bar complete with pool table and dartboard but it seems the owner decided he would rather entertain himself then a bunch of drunken tourists and let the whole thing got to pot. It was a pretty surreal experience needless to say, and not at all what one expects to find in a quite little town.

Day 2
The next day, we hired a motor complete with driver for P600 pesos for 6 hours. We wanted to tour the island and usually we rely on public transport but jeepneys seemed to be in very short supply on the island. For example, GL (where we were staying) only had transport 1/2 hour before a boat left to Surigao City (and those only leave 3 times a day). So, we woke up bright and early to hit the first stop, Mapupungko at low tide - the only time one can visit Mapupungko. Having no idea what Mapupungko was or why we had to be there at low tide we set off. It appears that Mapupungko is a "famous" tourist spot, but since there are hardly any tourists who venture off of Cloud 9 it is very secluded, not even our driver new exactly what we were looking for! Luckily, KC was able to sniff out the deep crystal clear blue green pool which appears only during low tide. On the gloomy gray morning the pool shone like an emerald.

After a quick (and cold!) dip in the pool we were off again! This time to the waterfalls. Along the way we drove through municipalities such as Pilar. In all my time in the Philippines I don't think I've ever seen down towns look so rural. Instead of the main part of town, it looked like a remote barangay, there were no real stores, none of the streets were paved and all of the houses were made of wood or bamboo. Here we stopped along the river to watch the people and take in the scenery. The waterfalls were a far ride off and turned out to be nothing special, as most waterfalls are (for exceptions see entry on Libertad). We soon learned that aside from Cloud 9, Mapupungko and the waterfall, there really isn't any other "tourist attractions" on the island...or that is to say that none have been exploited yet. So we puttered around the rest of the island stopping at viewpoints to snap a few pictures and give our sore bums a rest. Unexpectedly, our driver took us to a local weekend getaway. In this ingenious place the owners have created 3-4 large cement ponds which they have filled with fish and crabs caught from the ocean. The fish are fattened up much like in other fish ponds, but they must feed them expensive steroids because they are huge and cost an astonishing P300/kilo! The locals come to the ponds to relax in the cabanas and buy expensive fish which is harpooned on the spot and grilled up nice and fresh. We were lucky enough to watch a boy spear fish in the shallowest pool for a nice fat surgeon fish, which was surprisingly difficult for him to catch.

Off to Socorro
KC had read about this amazing cave called Sohoton Cave on a nearby island. During low tide, one can enter the tunnel on a little paddle boat to be met on the other side by a gorgeous white sand cove. We decided this was were we wanted to go on our third day and searched for a reasonably priced ride there. However, it seems that only rich surfing tourists in packs of ten want to go to the cave and such we were unable to find a decently priced boat. Also the winds were not in our favor as the 2nd typhoon in a row was passing through the Philippines and the waves were very unfriendly. The caves are on the island of Bucas Grande, which is an island about half the size of Siargao. With two decent sized islands, we thought that there must be public transportation between the two and from Bucas Grande we could hire a boat for much cheaper and then we would be on the choppy water for much less time. Our grand scheme seemed a great idea to us and we began to search for a public boat, which we found. Even though we had already promised to stay at our overpriced mozzie ridden resort for the night we decided to suck up the costs and hitch a ride to Bucas Grande to put our plan into action.

On the boat ride over we discussed our plans with many of the local passengers. All of them seemed a little wary of us boating around in the rough seas, but they were all more than happy to help us plan what they thought would be our demise. One woman name May May (pronounced My My) was extremely helpful and even offered us a free place to sleep as long as we paid for the short motor ride. She told us we could come down to the main village of Socorro early in the morning when there are loads of fisherman and their boats to arrange for the trip. So, we set of to Atojay (pronounced Ato-hi) in the hills. The journey was at dusk and the scenery was peaceful...and long...we kept passing through small barangays where I was sure we were going to stop but we just kept on truckin' through the massively deforested hills. I started envisioning this sweet woman taking us in the middle of no where to the home of a strange cult that would drug or kidnap us and thus I was starting to get mildly nervous.

Finally when we couldn't go any further, we stopped at a couple of large wooden buildings swarming with children. The strange cult wasn't a cult at all, but a farming cooperative. The coop was established in the 1970s when the government allowed the residensts of the island to begin cultivating the highlands after the forests were destroyed by illegal slash and burn farming. The lands on the denuded hills belong to the cooperative and members are allowed to farm as much of the land as they wish. Most of the members live in the lowlands and so they built a large dormitory for them to sleep in during the harvesting seasons. They also recently completed an elementary school to encourage the farmers to live closer to the land to which they tend. We were welcomed by members of the coop whose turn it was to take care of the dormitory. They were passing out rice to the farmer's children through a new government program (hence the multitude of staring eyes). They were extremely welcoming people and quickly set out a modest dinner of instant noodles, rice and canned fish, made up a room and sat down to ask us a million questions (we also had a million questions for them).

I was beginning to think this was perfect, exactly the vacation I wanted - away from the annoying backpacking tourists who are only interested in talking to each other - really getting to the heart and soul of the places we were visiting. I was greatly enjoying my time and then...dun, dun DUN... the inevitable happened... The grape vine had trickled down enough for the head honcho of the cooperative to get wind that we were in the neighborhood. Quickly we were whisked away from our hosts in the cozy wooden dormitory and smacked into the bright white new concrete guest house that the coop was finishing so there would be more rooms for them to stay in. Not only were we forced to stay in the sterile, echo-y rooms but we met with El Presidente himself who first had to show us pictures of him with all the ex-presidents, congressmen and mayors who have visited the farming community. While before everyone in the dorm seemed on even keel, in our new group of ten people, it was clear who the boss and everyone bowed down to his demands while he paraded us around. Then a grand banquet of food was set before us. I couldn't make heads or tails of the situation. In the wooden house the cooperative had seemed like the ideal group of small time farmers helping one another out. But in the guest house, it was clear that things weren't as perfect. The president clearly was not a subsistence farmer (he was the former mayor of a town on Siargao Island) and was so obviously wealthy I couldn't figure out why he needed to be a part of the coop. My visions of a grand collective group working together were shattered. I guess nothing is what it seems.

One of the worst parts about visiting the co-op president was that he convinced May May that we shouldn't attempt our trip to Sotohon Cave (our only reason for coming to the island). Because he said it was windy, she got really worried and finally convinced us that we shouldn't even attempt the trip. We were about to get on the early boat back to Siargao when I thought that we might as well check out the island we were on instead of just hanging out in our bungalow in GL. May May had accompanied us to the pier and when we told her we would stay until the last boat ride out she practically jumped for joy. OK, that may be an exaggeration, but without batting an eye she stood up and told us that she would show us Socorro and we immediately set off to someone's house where they fed us an elaborate (for them) breakfast of fresh fish. May May had taken us to their house because it was bigger and made of concrete then her house which was a falling down wooden shack high on a hill. During our time at this house (whose, we didn't quite know), a large group of adults and their children had gathered. They swiftly decided that we should go swimming in the municipal pool, I assume because this was the biggest attraction there was in town. However, when we reached the pool, we found it was empty, so we headed to the beach to swim only to find out it was low tide. Instead we munched on snacks on the beach where we mentioned that there was no young coconut in America. This astonished May May who immediately decided that we needed to head to her farmer friend's house who could supply us with young coconut and other fruits to our stomach's content. Once we were finished we were whisked back down to the house of May May's relatives because we had already been invited for more food for lunch. At the house we were fed a large mud crab and more fish and then headed off to the pier to travel back into touristville.

I was really touched by May May. It was clear that she and her family were genuinely hospitable people and truly wanted show us the wonderful place where they lived. It was also apparent that none of the people we met on the trip were very wealthy, but it didn't stop them from providing us with free food and a place to stay even though we were "Amerikanos" and by definition very wealthy. They could have easily tried to get some cash for acting as our tour guides, but that was the farthest thing on their minds.

After returning to Siargao, we realized how tired our trip to Socorro had made us. It can be difficult being the center of attention for so long - answering so many personal questions and having everyone try their hardest to make sure you're happy. We're both not used to this since we've kept to ourselves for most of our travels. However, the trip to Socorro strengthened our conviction that we did not want to spend the entire SEA Asia Adventure along the tourist trail and that we want to spend time getting to know the REAL people and customs of the places we'll be visiting.

It really starts, but not without a few bumps

After our extended time in Cebu, we were itching to get out of the big city and into the fresh air and clean countryside of Camiguin. It is a small island of the northern coast of Mindanao which is famed for its past volcanic activity and its sweet lanzones (a very delicious yellow fruit). Since it had been off-limits during our Peace Corps service due to its proximity to the "dangerous" island of Mindanao we had not heard of any first hand experiences from people who had visited the place. We were unsure of what exactly to expect but were excited about the potentials that this island held for us.

So we took another night boat to Nasipit, Mindanao and another bus and boat trip to finally arrive at our destination only about 18 hours after leaving Cebu (that is fast, efficient traveling for you). Our first stop was the tourism office where we impressed by how well they had developed and advertised the tourist spots on the island. They had great maps, lists of accommodation and staff that were highly informed. After talking for about an hour or so at the office we felt ready to set out and explore the island for the next few days. There seemed to be tons of things to do: hot and cold springs, volcano trekking, snorkeling in a sunken cemetery, loads of waterfalls and many more.

After visiting the office the next logical thing seemed to check into a room and we chose to stay at a place called Enigmata which the tourism office suggested as both unique and cheap. It was a house built around a tree and it looked like an interesting place as we approached it. When we arrived however there was no one around and when someone finally did show up they seemed confused that we wanted to stay at the place. Even though it seemed like no one was staying there it took about 5 minutes for him to actually decide that there were any open rooms and the price that he quoted was not what we considered "cheap." So turned away by one place we moved onto another which turned out to be awesome and a great value ($6 a night for a nice room a few steps from the beach). The long trip to reach Camiguin combined with the swaying hammocks on the porch and a typhoon in the northern Philippines which had brought up some good winds and drizzling were all enticing factors to laze the rest of the afternoon away. We would start our Camiguin adventures tomorrow.

So we rose early the next morning and packed our daypack for a jaunt around the northern part of the island. We took a nice little hike through a community and forest to Katibawasan Falls (which were about 250 feet high). Our next stop was supposed to be a cave that the tourism office told us about. We had planned to hire a guide in the barangay where the cave was located but once we got there, no one really seemed too knowledgeable or willing to guide us so we moved on to our next stop. We ended up walking a bit more to some cold springs (a bit too cold for us wusses to jump in) but nice to wash our faces and put our feet in. By the end of this we were both tuckered out and decided to head home especially since the following day we planned to climb Mt. Hibok Hibok, the famous volcano on the island.

Before heading to bed we decided to dive into something we had picked up at the market earlier (what they call here "the king of fruits: the durian"). We had refrained from ever buying one before because they are much more expensive than other fruit in the Visayas, but in Mindanao they are reasonably cheap so we decided that it was high time to see if this fruit could live up to its' name. This green spike covered delicacy which looks like it would more aptly fit on the end of a medieval weapon rather than in someones mouth is said to "smell like hell but taste like heaven." Well I cannot say that I agree and after so much hype I was a bit disappointed. To me it tasted like garlic snot. Maybe it is an acquired taste but I do not think I will be acquiring that taste anytime soon.

The next morning we were both excited to hike and got another early start for the climb of this 4,000 ft peak. We had gone to the Department of Environment of Natural Resources the day before to arrange a permit to hike and decided not to get a guide since they said that the way was fairly clear. We started in the community where they told us and made our way across a number of farms to the base of the mountain. Along the way a number of people offered to guide but we declined these offers confident that we could find the trail. We were almost at the base of the trail which led into the forest but when we asked directions we were led astray by further people looking for guiding jobs. We were having trouble finding the beginning of the trail and we were losing confidence that we could find our way without a guide. So we finally broke down and paid the few hundred pesos for a guide (a barefoot one in fact) to lead us up. Two minutes after we hired him we found the trailhead and realized that we probably only needed his help to find this and not to lead us up the whole way (but oh well).

So we started up the mountain and easily got up to the halfway point. The first have was not all that steep and a pleasant walk in the woods. And soon after it became hell (and of course no switchbacks since they do not exist in the Philippines). Furthermore what we had expected to be forest was mostly sharp cogon grass which encroached on the path and cut up our arms, legs, face and any other exposed parts. Not exactly as nice a hike as we had expected. But there were some cool plants along the way and the view up top with clouds passing by was almost worth it...almost. I don't think we would do it again but would have regretted not doing it. Anyway we needed to get in shape for the climb up Mt. Apo (the highest peak in the Pines).

On the way down we did have a few more problems. As our guide charged down at lightning speed we were left in the dust. At one point we thought we had made a wrong turn and debated turning around for about 15 minutes. Since we were both pretty exhausted and out of water we decided to keep heading down even though we were not sure we were on the right trail. Luckily we were and once we hit the bottom we parted with our speedy, barefoot guide and headed to the rejuvenating hot spring waters of Ardent Springs which sat at a strategic location at the base of the mountains. So we jumped in and relaxed our tired bodies for a bit. This was quite nice and after about an hour we decided to head home. This sounded like a good idea until KC started to feel dizzy and then decided to puke his brains out for about 5 minutes. We are still not exactly sure what induced it: dehydration, heat exhaustion, those "therapeutic waters" or that smelly durian from the night before. But after a little while KC was able to head home and we got back in time for him to sleep away the small fever and hope for the best the next morning.

Luckily KC did feel better in the morning and while not 100%, we decided to go explore a bit more but take it a little easier. So we started in the morning with a much shorter hike up the Old Volcano which had erupted in the late 1800's. It had destroyed the capital city of Camiguin at that time and had also caused an earthquake which pushed a cemetery into the ocean which we would explore later. The Old Volcano now has a shaded path on it with the stations of the cross alongside since many local residents make this climb during Holy Week.

Afterwards we moved on to the Sunken Cemetery which we were both excited about since we had heard of reports of snorkeling in this underwater graveyard was both interesting and eerie. Well we jumped in and were thoroughly disappointed by the fact that we could not see any signs of any graves or any resemblance of any type of cemetery other than the fact that there was a big white cross that they had recently erected to mark the area. On top of that there was a strong current and nothing really remarkable in the way of marine life in the area so we soon left. Then we headed to the nearby ruins of a church which was also destroyed by the Old Volcano (what an innovative name!!!). These ruins were just some moss covered walls and nothing remarkable.

After being a bit disappointed by the sights and with KC's reduced energy level, we decided to call it a day and head back to our room. In the afternoon, Laura got some good news about the Peace Corps medical issues that we had been diverted by in Cebu and we would no longer have to return there and could move on with our travels. So we decided to celebrate and blow $4 on dinner (now that is big spending). We also decided that we were going to move on to our next destination Siargao Island early the next morning. We had not finished everything that we wanted to do in Camiguin but both of decided that we wanted to make sure we were not rushed too much in Siargao and that leaving was now was the best way to assure this. Unfortunately we do have a little bit of a schedule to keep and so many things to do to get out of the country before KC's visa expires.

So Camiguin was a nice little island with some nice sights and some overrated sights. We did hit a few bumps on the way but we are still both getting in the groove of traveling and it might take a bit more to get accustomed to that. But another island down and many more to go. Now onto the surfing capital of the Philippines: Siargao Island.