Two ferries away from the common starting point of Cebu makes Siquijor in the Philippines feel like a slightly hidden gem. We were never far from a white sandy beach during our time on this island. Our week here was marked with a few too many sleepless nights—not the fun kind. Our neighbors’ love of late night karaoke combined with a body-aching, feverish cold of sorts quickly gifted Kim with her first tears and feelings of homesickness. As it turns out, a big fluffy blanket, hot bath, and comforting Luna snuggles (aka the best sickness cures) are tough to find in the Philippines. Despite the tough nights, we were determined to make the days count in this beautiful place!
The Highs
One visit to the Tubod Marine Sanctuary just wasn’t enough. We had to come back for another swim with our fishy friends. Less than $1.50 gained us entry to a soft, white sandy beach with stellar snorkeling right off the shore. We saw what felt like the entire cast of Finding Nemo and couldn’t help but giggle watching nervous-looking clownfish poking their heads in and out of their anemones. The vibrant parrotfish, rather large butterfly and angelfish, purple starfish, baby barracudas, and plentiful schools had us quite mesmerized. Time spent exploring in the ocean is incredibly easy to love.
Our lifestyle here became quite simple: eat, beach & repeat. After getting our daily swimming fix in, we enjoyed a week’s worth of beachin’. We know this much time spent reading, listening to new music and podcasts, and watching sunsets might make someone antsy or bored (you know what they say…if you’re bored, you’re boring. ;)), but really this time spent soaking up new knowledge felt like such a luxury.
Kim faced her newly unlocked fear of motorbikes so that we could enjoy our vehicular independence and scoot around the island. We hit the open road up to the eastern side where we (sort of) gained access to Olang Marine Sanctuary. Really, we just asked some guy there if we could snorkel. 99% sure he did not work there and the park was maybe closed. Minor details.
Having our scooter rental for 48 hours, we decided to head towards the center of the island for a different batch of escapades. The first being Cambugahay Falls. A little ride plus a short hike soon found us arriving at our own tranquil, sparkling freshwater pool. How accustomed we had become to the salt!
Our second excursion of the day was going to the observation tower of Mount Bandilaan. We were momentarily disheartened when upon climbing up the watchtower we found ourselves completely surrounded by low clouds. After a few minutes, the clouds began to float away majestically revealing the stunning 360 degree view of the whole island. Ultimately the clouds periodically floating by greatly enhanced the beauty of this experience.
A stand out theme of our time exploring the Philippines has undoubtedly been the unmatched kindness we’ve been greeted with. There seems to be such a genuine care for others that shines through in each interaction. For example, when walking down a street with our bags, multiple people have stopped their motorbikes to check in and make sure our destination isn’t too far away.
Eats & Drinks
BBQ is the name of the game here. The most common meal for dinner out consists of walking up to a restaurant and picking out which sticks containing different meats you would like grilled. In general most meals have consisted of rice and grilled chicken. The basics are good for a reason!
While dinner has become synonymous with barbecue, lunch has been reserved for trying new traditional dishes. Small restaurants line the streets with small bathes of a variety of home cooked dishes. We have loved getting our veggie fix in this way while also enjoying lots of stews and middle dishes, too!
Balut – Usually when Jack orders eggs, over easy is the default. A runny yolk just really rounds out a breakfast dish, ya know? How about fertilized and then boiled? Now we’re getting…different. Typically a fertilized duck egg that’s allowed to incubate for 2 – 3 weeks before boiling or steaming, balut was a bit of surreal encounter! Only having it seen it on an old season of the reality show Survivor (shout-out to our fellow fans), Jack was surprised to have come across this rather unsightly delicacy, let alone crunching down on it. Taste? Decent. A hard-boiled egg with a splash of chicken soup flavor. Texture? An egg mullet. Typical rubbery, chalky hard-boiled egg in the front, but crunchy in the back. I’ll leave it up to your imagination or a Google search to figure out the crunchy part.
Next stop: Bohol!