As we were waiting for our guide to pick us up at the hotel for the island hopping we saw a familiar face. A guy who had approached us the first day we got here asking us something meaningless and in general gave a slightly strange impression. We were now to go for island hopping together and like many people lacking or having severely impaired social skills he was eager to talk, regardless of whether audience appreciated or not.

On the island hopping were also two russian girls we’d seen in our Hotel earlier and two american guys. The weather was somewhat cloudy and the sea was slightly rough but it wasn’t raining by any means as the forecast had predicted. We started off with snorkeling and saw a sawfish among other fishes, I really should find some underwater casing for my camera. As we got back on the boat one guy was missing (guess who?) but after loud whistling by one of the american guys the missing guy realized that everybody was waiting for him.

I seldom go on ranting about particular people and it wasn’t really that bad, but when Mirsada pointed out the similarities I just simply realized that this truly was Borat, but for real. Similar accent and appearance, same limited knowledge of cultural and social norms, not afraid to voice racist ideas and all the same time showing symptoms of a heap of letter-combination diagnoses. He just kept on astounding the rest of the group with comments, questions and actions. Do I need to say the guy wasted the better part of a full tube of physical sunscreen while rubbing it over his body for 30 minutes? Or that he took pictures of himself showing thumbs up in every possible and impossible pose and situation? Amazing.

The island hopping was nice, although the day before was better – it really is a weather depending activity. We saw a cave, a nice lookout but due to rough sea we were unable to go to some locations and ended the tour with a nice slacking at Papaya Island beach. Reading (Best American Essays 2007), listening to good music and relaxing in the sun isn’t bad at all.
Tomorrow we would skip island hopping but rather stroll around in the area and get some ideas on how to move on from here. Currently we are thinking of swimming with whale sharks in Donsol or do some diving/slacking in Puerto Gallera before the mandatory shopping in Manilla. And we really need to pass an ATM on the way to either of the destinations.

We’d signed up for island hopping, Tour A, at the reception – it seemed like island hopping was rather organized but we didn’t mind. The theme for this tour was lagoons and snorkeling, which suited us just fine. We were paired up with a trio of dutch, a couple and her mom, and left El Nido beach.

Apparently the shootings of Survivor weren’t completely done yet and some constructions and buildings were present and sometimes areas were off-limit due to filming. I have no clue as of the purpose of a high chair we found in a lagoon but it made a nice picture at least. The snorkeling was really good, weather was superb and the surroundings amazing. Razor sharp rocks and cliffs next to swaying palms and white beaches together with water in different shades of blue and green makes every angle look like a postcard.
The dutch trio was good fun, however the fact that at least one was trembling badly in the beginning of the day and the couple had around 10-12 beers each while we were drinking water made us feel almost religiously healthy. The beer had little effect on them though so I guess it’s just a question of habits, it just felt like being sober at Roskilde or something in their company. Is it just us who don’t drink excessively while on vacation?

As we got back we made a little discovery, due to some change with payments for our apartment in Sweden, no money had been transferred for the December rent. Of course the bank having all our contact details hadn’t bothered to let us know this, bah. And the host name for my computer at home had also vapored in cyberspace (causing this blog to become inaccessible). So getting wifi access presented not only solutions but also new problems.

According to weather forecasts it would rain the following day, but since it also stated it was currently raining we chose not to trust the report and signed up for another day of island hopping, this time we went wild and chose Tour B.

We woke up early as usual, had some rather nice french toasts for breakfast and got the restaurant to pack a bunch for us as snacks for the long ride to El Nido. Our large bags were on the roof of the jeepney and with recent thefts fresh in memory I got up on the roof as well when we saw that a bunch of local kids had climbed us as well.

As the ride to “the junction” went along more kids and adults joined the ride. I wasn’t sure I believed my ears and eyes when they lifted up a big fat pig though. The pig wasn’t delighted either and when they placed a goat more or less on top of the poor bacon-to-be animal it squealed high and loud. After not more than two hours we’d reached the junction though and now waited for the bus to El Nido to pass through.
The bus came and to our surprise it wasn’t crammed at all. Nice. The road was good enough to allow reading and the sun was shining, things were going just fine. As any frequent reader should know by now this is when the vehicle breaks down. The driver managed to stop the bus close to a small shop/restaurant along the road though, so we enjoyed two cup noodles while they were fixing the bus with available tools and black voodoo. More reading and music and after only six-seven hours from the junction we were in El Nido.

We scouted for places accepting credit cards and were told that some tourist/travel shop made cash advances for a mere 10% fee. High way robbery but at least a viable option if needed. Finally we chose El Nido Beach Hotel which were rather nice, we thought we deserved hot showers, wifi, proper floor, air-con and a grand view. The fact that they only had 5% extra fee for when using credit cards also helped.
The reception commented on that we were swedish since apparently the swedish version of Survivor, Expedition Robinson, were shot in the area and the participants (or crew?) had just checked out this morning. After enjoying hot showers and wifi we gathered our (very) dirty clothes and dumped for laundry at a nearby shack and had dinner. It felt like a good choice going here, it was due time for some slacking and swimming again.