Masayah Ko (I'm enjoying life)

Warning: Mom and Dad, don't read this one.

Jamie and I had a pretty close call with death the other day on a small boat that took us from one island to another. We were traveling from Coron to El Nido and the normally 6-8 hours boat trip took a little over 10 and a half that day. On a small wooden boat we made the trek through open sea by dodging 8 to 10 feet waves, harsh winds, and more rain you could imagine. Walls of water were capsizing onto our boat blasting us in water for more than 3 seconds at a time. It is definitely monsoon season here. I've been on some pretty choppy waters in Lake Erie on my dad's boat growing up but this was by far the scariest boat ride I've ever been on, I am glad I don't have to worry about seasickness. A lot runs through your head when you can't see land and your caught out in a storm on open waters. There was a couple from Russia on the boat with us and surprisingly a guy from San Francisco who was Russian and was able to translate for all of us. They became great people to know over the next few days. That boat ride will be forever burned in my mind as one of the closets calls to death. Sure it was a risk, but what I find more of a risk is avoiding these situations in order to be careful, how much of your life will pass you by from not taking chances?
Anyways, we finally made it to El Nido and it was well worth the trek. El Nido is now by far the most beautiful place I've seen with everything you need to be happy the rest of your life. Despite some rain we got caught in, I had no problem hanging out in bamboo huts on the beach with locals. Before getting to El Nido, we got stuck in Coron for a few too many days because the weather was not good to travel- I can't even imagine making that boat trip if the weather was worse. While in Coron we ended up going back to the Ladyboy bar..... All four nights we were there. It was partly because it was the only nightlife the town offered but also because we befriended the lead singer, Laura, who ended up being somewhat of a famous singer/model in the Philippines. The town of Coron was small and after 4 days we probably knew half the people in the town One night we ended up renting a motorbike(that broke down repeatedly in the jungle) to cruise the island then hang out with some of the workers from our hotel in a nearby hotspring. It was so amazing, everyone down on the Palawan islands have great outlooks on life and it made me put all my petty problems back home into a new perspective.
In El Nido we quickly got to know half the town again and were able to go island hopping through the most beautiful islands I've ever seen- I don't know what could have made this more of paradise. One day the security guards from our place took my to the top of the mountain in El Nido, I thought it was going to be a quick hike but ended up being a free-base rock climbing adventure. We scaled cliffs with drops of 200 feet below us, only hanging on with our hands and supported by a very small ledge- My legs were trembling worse than ever before but the view from the top made it well worth it. I never expected the Philippine's to be such an adventurous place to travel and the strange thing is not too many tourist come here- it must be because the Philippine's are looked down upon because of the kidnappings that have occurred in the past.
The time came to leave that town of paradise and we headed down Palawan to Puerto Princesa with an English guy and French girl who brought nothing but pure entertainment to the trip. We all squeezed in a small van fit for 10 but sat 13 for a 8 hour trip down a muddy path which we got stuck, ran out of gas, and the axle broke- it was a long journey for sure, especially when people are passing gas and the windows are shut. We were crammed in the van with two disturbing men from Australia that made it very obvious they were here on a sex tour... nasty. Puerto Princesa is a larger town and we are here in time for the Barangatan festival where everyone on the island tries to make it here to show off their local specialties. My time in the Philippines has come to an end but will hopefully not be the last time I am here- there is still way more to see but I am very happy with all we've done and all the funny times that came our way. If all my planes leave as scheduled I will arrive in Mumbai tomorrow night around 10pm.