Token tour guide

I'd been aching to get out of the city and my friend Rafe graciously accompanied me since he had a friend visiting him. In the end, we had decided to make our way to Puerta Galera for some much needed weekend relaxation. We boarded the JAM bus liner to Batangas pier and then had a 2 hour boat ride to Puerta Galera. Upon setting foot in Batangas Pier, we were swarmed on by hawkers of all sorts asking where we were going and would we like to buy from them. It was stifling, and as the token Filipina accompanied with two white guys, we were a conspicuous group. All the hawkers would use me as the point person because they assumed I was the only tagalog speaker. From Batangas port to White Beach, it was a constant hassling of "Sir, sunglasses!" "ma'am snorkeling! boat ride! taxi!" Immediately, I was stressed out beyond belief. I don't like attention on me, especially when they are pressuring me to buy things. Thankfully, we had chosen Talipanan, which is a bit removed from White Beach, but much quieter. There were three resorts running, but we ended up choosing Mengie's beach resort. The proprieter was pretty welcoming and would make sure to inform us of the meals she would cook. I ended up sleeping on a mattress on the floor, and we had no A/C but hey for $10 a night I wasn't complaining that much. In the end there was a brown out, so the A/C would not have been utilized anyway.


anyway, who could argue with a view like this?


This is a little german girl that was staying at the resort. She's holding up one of the random cats that prowled the premises. Note the different colored eyes.
When we agreed to a little hiking excursion to some waterfalls, she enlisted her two nephews (?) to guide us. It was a strange situation, as I don't think they were really guides as much as being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a silent trek through pig farms, a "tribal village" and heavy terrain. The boys would just look back at us long enough to make sure we were still following. Now, these boys, despite their surly demeanor, were quite amazing. Wearing only flip flops, they quickly navigated through streams, dense underbrush and this random vertical wall of rocks and roots. We Americans were not quite adept. We were also wearing sandals, but it was a slow going because we were not used to the terrain. We'd gingerly step over wet rocks or try to find solid footing on boulders. I love my havaiannas, but I doubt they were made for trekking mountains. It was amazing that they didn't fall apart on the journey. It was only half an hour's worth of hiking, but as inexperienced and out of shape as I was, I was sweating and panting with the effort. Once in a while I'd hear the sound of running water and get my hopes up, but then it would turn out that it was just a mini waterfall cascading down. Finally we got to the waterfall, and though it was small in comparison to some others i'd seen, it was well worth it. The water was quite brisk, but welcome after my sweaty ordeal.



After the hiking, we gave the boys a tip and they went along their not quite merry way. We hung out beachside, and it was pretty relaxing. I swam a bit and although there were a lot of rocks, I appreciated that we were practically the only swimmers and there were just a couple boats parked in our neck of the beach.





The next day we reserved for snorkeling which was both really fun and really sucky. I loved the snorkeling part, and got to see some very colorful fish, urchin and oo a pufferfish. Luckily our boat guy had a mask for my nearsighted eyes, so I was able to fully enjoy viewing the ocean floor. Unfortunately due to a lot of boating and overfishing, the corals were mostly dead, but at least there were still plenty of fish to appreciate. Halfway through our excursion, it started raining, and got much colder. We had to abort after a couple hours because we all had goosebumps and were just generally miserable.


Pat feeding fish


urchin hiding


fishies




coral


blue starfishes were common along the corals




the boatman's kid came with us. when we got to a beach, they dug up a couple crabs. he tied them to twine and sort of dragged them around for a while. He'd let the string go slack and the crab would think he was free, then he'd get yanked back. It was a bit disturbing

It pretty much went downhill from there, as the rain continued. We had a mix up and ended up getting two tricycle drivers so I had to pay off one to leave and one to take us back to White Beach. Then our ferry was booked, so we had to take another ferry (lost out on $150 each). Oh, and it was still windy on our ferry back so I started getting a little seasick. Fortunately I took some dramamine so I was able to hang on for dear life without puking it all up. Half of the ride though, I had my eyes focused on the peak of an island, while clutching the side of the boat. After the harrowing experience, we couldn't get refunds because no one was at the ticketing office. And then to top it all off, we kept getting harassed when we left the terminal. "taxi? peanut brittle?" As token brown person, I again kept getting asked if whether the white boys wanted taxis or souvenirs. At one point this one lady followed me for ten minutes and kept telling me that I should buy something from her so she has some money for Christmas. Sorry lady, barking up the wrong tree with your pity me gimmick. Everyone needs money for Christmas, and you're not getting me to give in by stalking me into my bus. The ride back to Manila was riddled with traffic, but at least this time I had the company of two fun guys and some random 80s music blaring in the bus speakers.