Leyte - Part One

There are 7107 Philippine islands. So far I’ve been to Luzon, Corregidor, Mindoro, Negros, Siquijor…and this past weekend, two more, Leyte and Samar, in the Visayas.

I took an early-morning flight – always rough for me, but nice to have a full day. I landed, took a jeepney into the town of Tacloban and then took another jeepney to Basey, in southern Samar. There, I was quite a novelty – many stares and hellos. I went to the tourist office and arranged a boat ride to their national park – turns out it was eight Sisters and me. Nuns in full habit make for some great photographs! They were very nice, too.

Lonely Planet says that the boat ride is one of the highlights of trip to the park, and I felt that way – going up the river first in a houseboat and then a small boat, past mostly jungle but also the occasional village, was both exciting and relaxing. In high tide you can go to a natural bridge and a swimming hole, but our low-tide destination was Sohoton Cave. We were fitted with headlamps and shown stalagtites and stalagmites of various shapes and sizes. Something different from what I’ve already seen here!

Back in Tacloban, I went out for Mexican food. What is it about Mexican that makes you want it if you can’t get it? I craved it in Morocco too. The owner of the restaurant lived in California and gets all her spices from there. Megan, A PCV on a nearby island, was in town and met me there – it was her idea that I visit in the first place, and it was nice to see her.

The hotel I found was an old colonial home with a new addition containing rooms with air conditioning, hot showers, and a newspaper in the room. On the balcony of the original home, there are cardboard cutouts of Douglas MacArthur and Philippine President Sergio Osmena, below the words, “I have returned.” Of course I had to stay there! The hotel is decorated with lots of WWII photographs, and my evening’s entertainment was looking at all of them. I also started a book – as if WWII history weren’t absorbing enough – Tony Horwitz’s “A Voyage Long and Strange,” about the European explorations of North America before 1492 and between 1492 and 1620 – subtitle: “on the trail of Vikings, Conquistadors and other Adventurers in Early America.” Fun book.

One other note – Pepeng (international name Parma) did not reach Manila, but it did tremendous damage up north, with major floods and landslides, including one in the town near Baguio where I had stayed a couple of weeks ago (the volunteers I met there were both out of town). The road to Baguio was cut off! I almost went north this weekend; I may not be able to go up north for a while.