Shenanigans in El Nido
Oh, El Nido... where do I even start? I adore the place. Located on the northern part of the island of Palawan, aptly named El Nido (“the nest”) is a tiny town on a bay, tucked into the cliffs of the coastline. The geography is unique, beautiful, and arguably the primary attraction to this not-so-easy-to-get-to location.
After doing the subterranean river tour, I waited for a van that would take me from Sabang along a rough road for two hours to a dark intersection somewhere in the middle of the island where I was dumped out and promised another van would pick me up and take me to El Nido. Filipinos don’t lie. Sure enough, 30 minutes later a van pulled up; the driver new my name and everything! The trip was something else… imagine the bumpiest, windiest, hilliest road possible, then put yourself into the middle seat of the middle bench of a chockerbock 16 seat van at night being driven by a guy who probably just consumed 9 cups of coffee and has a lead foot. For five hours. Napping was certainly not an option.
Part 1:
I arrived in El Nido in one piece at 11:30 pm and found my hostel, Hakuna Matata, only to learn they had no beds available, but the boy working the reception area (such a sweetheart- always greeted me with a huge smile and a “hello ma’am Kristina!”) said there was a hammock upstairs I could sleep in. Perfect. I was out cold. The next morning, upon leaving to search for another place to stay, the smiling kid wouldn’t even let me pay for the night’s sleep in the hammock. Perfect again.
My Canadian friend Melanie and I found a cheap place to crash for the next two nights until beds freed up at the Hakuna Matata (cheap beds fill up fast), then met up with our Turkish friend for breakfast before heading off to a beach for the day.
Kris, Melanie, and Yucel enjoying breakfast.
Perfect day to lay on the beach- Las Cabañas.
Our little prison cell room. Sweet dreams...
The next three days consisted of island hopping tours, beach bumming, beautiful sunsets, stuffing our faces, and dancing to live reggae music in the sand at Pukka Bar.
Clear water at the "hidden beach."
Fresh lunch!
Nom nom nom!
Sneaking into the "secret beach."
Snorkeling in the "hidden lagoon."
Easy guys!
Doing the "Titanic" where a scene from The Bourne Legacy was filmed.
Waking up from a nap to this view... yes.
Melanie being the cool chick that she is.
The fun never stops.
Puppies!
El Nido's beach front.
Loving life!
This sticky note was posted on the wall at the best cheap restaurant in town. Very applicable.
Part 2:
There is an island off the northern tip of Palawan called Coron which is famous for WWII wreck diving. Hell yes. Naturally, I planned on Coron being my next destination, so I booked a $25 ticket for an 8 hour ferry and hopped on the surprisingly small boat the next morning after getting a mere 3 hours of sleep the night before thanks to the gravitational pull of the reggae bar. Somehow three dozen people managed to squeeze onto the humble "ferry."
This is where the fun part starts! About an hour and a half into the ride we reach the northern tip of Palawan and are at the brink of navigating out into the open sea and suddenly the engine becomes very quiet and the boat starts bobbing around in circles. About seven of us are comfortably sun bathing on the top deck of the boat. We briefly glance at each other and a few half confused looks confirm that no, we aren't dreaming, something probably not good has occurred. No one is bothered though, so we patiently wait for the crew to inform us of what is happening… which never happens.
Here’s what does happen: Two minutes later, a visibly anxious dutch guy who looks to be in his late twenties comes to the side walkway of the boat so he can poke his head up over the deck where we are apathetically lounging and begins to explain to us that he did plenty of research before booking this ticket and read that not one, but two of the boats from this company have SUNK in the last year. He tells us many people have died!! (He had no explanation for his own reasoning in boarding this particular boat after his extensive reading, but that really doesn’t matter.) His life jacket is strapped tightly, he is chain smoking, pacing, and for the next 5 minutes he does his best to convince us that we all need to convince the captain to drop us off at the nearest deserted beach where we can wait to be rescued like damsels in distress because the motor and steering are both broken! We do our best to relax the poor stressed fella while, at the same time, discuss our talents and decide who would be assigned to which tasks when we become marooned on a deserted island (hunters, gatherers, boat builders, etc) because that would obviously be really fun.
Luggage makes a mediocre pillow.
About 30 minutes later the motor half sputters to life and the boat slowly starts moving south again, back to where we came from. I was quite surprised by the lack of information given by the captain, but even more surprised to see that most of the people on the boat had not even realized we turned around until I pointed out that Palawan had moved from our right side to our left. Apparently the issue was something to do with the generator, but no one really knows. The captain didn’t speak English. Four hours later we ended up back in El Nido. Yay, a free boat ride and new friends. :)
Making our way back into port.
I linked up with a Chinese guy and a Bulgarian girl to find a room for the night. After getting my refund, showering, and finding a bite to eat, I walked down the only sensible road in search of my friends who were still in town. Lo and behold, after about five minutes of strolling and peeking into each restaurant hoping for a familiar face, I found two! Gabriela and Rafael, the sweet Swiss couple I met on the underground river tour, spotted me wandering down the street and waved me over to their group at the Mexican restaurant. They were dining with seven other fun and energetic people (one of whom I had briefly met the night before, but that’s another fantastic story for a different day…) from England, Spain, Switzerland, and Ecuador. Unknown to me at the time, this gang would become my very best friends for seven days of straight up debauchery in Boracay a week later.
See, boats breaking down can be wonderful events! I signed up for another tour with my new friends, then, same procedure as every night, we all headed to the reggae bar on the beach for dancing and rum, ate a crusty burger at 5 am, went to sleep for three hours, then boarded a boat for more snorkeling and island hopping.
Kris, Vikki, Gabriela, Rafael, Neil, and Simone
We had to time the waves, then swim through this little hole to get to the secluded beach pictured above. (No, we did not wear life jackets. "We are dolphins!" as Simone put it.)
Clown fish coming at me! Lucky for him I wasn't hungry...
Who wouldn't be smiling with this view?
Snack time.
A little taste of the nightly routine... Diego, Kris, Vikki, Neil, Carlos
The next day, three of us decided to sweat out everything in our systems from the night before by going for a hike. I got up at about noon, stuffed a delicious cheese and egg crepe into my face, and walked over to see if Vikki and Neil were still alive. Win. We found a guide and drug ourselves to the “trailhead” at the edge of town for what we thought would be a walk up a path to a nice lookout point. I didn’t even bother putting on shoes. We figured if they made us wear a life jacket and helmet to sit in a little canoe through a cave in Sabang, surely they would tell us to wear shoes and pants if the hike was going to be gnarly, right? Lol.
We suddenly found ourselves scaling the jagged vertical cliffs that surround El Nido. Path? Ha! Even the guide hardly knew where he was going. About an hour and a half later, sweaty, bloody and dirty, we sat down at the lookout point and enjoyed a breathtaking view of the little town below, protected by the limestone facades of the mountains that extended back to the mainland, blanketed in lush green jungle. This is Palawan.
We stumbled back down the mountain to meet up with the rest of the crew for dinner and, you guessed it- more shenanigans.
Guapos! Luca, Diego, Carlos, Giacomo
Cheers!!
After one killer week, I said goodbye to this glorious nook of the world and caught a bus back to Puerto Princesa to learn to kiteboard and also sleep. All the while, our theme song stuck in my head... "take me hooome, Palawaaan, to the place I belong... EL NIDOOOOO"
