We had to be downstairs for the cab at 5am (on my vacation I may add, and still jet-lagged). We are traveling to one of the thousands of islands called Bohol, a place that takes a
half hour cab ride to get to the ferry
that takes 2 hours to get to the island
in which we take an off road tour (so bumpy that our driver funnily (or sadly) calls it the Philippine free massage) for an hour to reach our final destination.
I know someone is laughing at the pain of this side trip.
Getting to the fortress I am pleasantly surprised. The location is remote and gorgeous, the vistas are amazing, and we got quite a few pictures of how the rural people live. Unfortunately the people here are very poor, they are living in huts. Children are barely clothed and barefoot. It is my first time in a third world country and the poverty is so sad.
At the caving tour building we are offered refreshments before we begin our hike to the site, a coconut with a straw and plantains. The coconut milk is gross (at least I tried it) but the plantains which are fried with sugar are SUPER yummy. We are given spelunking helmets with lights and walking sticks and off we go. The path they say is a bit difficult and we are handed walking sticks. We are then shown the CLIFF we need to descend to get to the cave. The rocks are slick with moss, the temperature is a million degrees and we are constantly worried about getting bit by mosquitoes and getting malaria. Needless to say the journey is hot, sticky, and uncomfortable.
Once we get to the cave I learn that we have to climb up a lip and lower ourselves with a rope to the cave floor 25 feet below. AH WHAT! We all manage with a little bit of difficulty and I am so proud of myself for getting this far. The cave is cool and a blessed break from the heat outside. Once we are all in I learn we have to walk through water on most of the track through the cave and some parts the water gets waist high, OH and one part you have to completely submerge to get to the end of the track. But I have come this far so we plunge ahead. Unlike an American treck like this we were allowed to touch everything. There were no velvet ribbons singnalling a look and see policy. That part was glorious, like seeing it on the discovery channel and actually being able to touch it.
Midway through we encounter the bats - oh don’t worry they are just baby bats and should not be HUNGRY. WTH if I had known about the bats I may not have agreed to get into the water, If I had known about the water I may have not climbed into the cave, if I had known about the 45 min decent down the hill and the conditions I would have to suffer I may have not left the building at the top of the hill, if I had known about all this I would have skipped the 3.5hour journey and still been in bed at this time. What we learn in hindsight. At least they are humane and after the track back up the building they have showers and a decent meal of fried chicken and rice YUM.
On the way back down the hill we stop at the teaching farming station and learn how the Philippines earn their living off the rice crops and how they are attempting to show them how to diversify their crops with spices and other vegetables, we stop at a fortress where islanders were protected from war and where they took an 85 year defiance of power, we stop to see the chocolate mountains perfect mounds of land sprouting from a flat plane carved long ago when they were underwater,
and we get to see the Tarsier the smallest monkey in the world.
Sometimes I still wish I was a kid where I could work myself up to the height of excitement, expend all energy and collapse wherever the hell I am. Instead I turn to Mr. Rogue I am exhausted please put me to bed.
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