And yes, we are still in the Philippines, The name derives from Spanish Influence. It is our last port. And no, it is not anywhere near the earthquake in the region that hit yesterday afternoon. I checked in with the crew: one has family that lives in that region/island but they are all safe and sound.
So today – it was 31*C and humidity well over 70% with the sun blasting this morning on arrival where we were greeted by local performers and musicians. I am guessing that the costumes are a modern adaptation of traditional garb.
Along with another couple, we set out to walk around a bit. Of course, part of the reason for walking was that we just missed the shuttle bus by about a minute. Secondarily, there were the spires of a church within in an easy walk. Easy walk being defined by distance, not by the hordes of tour offers, ride offers, and general/noisy sales pitches that accosted us the minute we exited the restricted port area.
George, Chris, and Terry went into the church. I looked in the door then headed away because it was obvious that a religious service was about to start. I have no clue what would be at ~1000 on a Saturday morning. From there we headed toward the center of town
turns out we were on the road that has all the ATMs (no one needed any cash) and crossed over to the more coastal road at the civic center area. (Couldn’t drum up any interest from the other three in stopping at what looked like a very small museum). From there it was just a few blocks to what turned out to be an extremely modern mall. Three stories and full air conditioned. Lovely to cool off, for a short while then we caught the shuttle bus back to the ship. We had been informed last night that there was a micro-brewery just three blocks from the ship which opened at 1100 which the guys were thinking about.
Wrong – it didn’t open till 1700. The town is cleaner and in better shape than several which we have visited but other than the mall – the main thing here is tourism which = water sports – primarily fishing, snorkeling, and diving.
The other option is the huge natural cave system with underground rivers which has been now named as one of the natural wonders of nature. We had looked into going but…. 2 hours in the bus to get there, two hours to get back and the tour is a total of 5 hours? Other option of an “all day tour” which involved (for 8 hours) – two hours to get there, lunch, two hours to get back which leaves (in my best guess) about 2 hours in the caves rather than one….
All of which might explain why I decided to spend my afternoon lazing about our cabin. There is yet another BBQ tonight. They do one on each leg. I will happily skip most of it but, if the weather holds there may be more of the local performers.
Otherwise, I am making steady progress on “The Comparatively Small Red Ship of Life” by Inkcircles.
