Filipino Frolicking & Facing Fears

One of my closest friends from Rice, Kristin, and Madeleine, who is spending her junior year in China teaching English, have to leave China every 60 days to renew their Chinese tourist visa, and it just so happened that while I was visiting them in Beijing, the time was up! So we packed our bags and ventured over to the Philippines. Hello Southeast Asia! :)

Local Culture...

Our initial thoughts were that Cebu felt just like Central America: the streets, smells, people, smiling culture, bakeries, fruit stands, houses, everything felt like we were back there. It made me reflect on my time in Guatemala with extreme nostalgia. What a beautiful place! We drove out of Cebu to a small town called Moalboal, which is essentially a tiny fishing village. We enjoyed walking the main street of town to buy fresh fruit and baked goods from the local bakery. Filipinos radiate loving kindness; their English is superb and they're incredibly friendly. Also, Filipinos are gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

View from our patio.

The tricycle we used to go in and out of town.

Snorkeling... 


One day we took our resort's boat out to a Marine Reserve to snorkel with Dexter who worked at the Blue Orchid where we stayed. The water is incredibly clear in Cebu with loads of corals and fish to see and swim around. We had to wear wetsuits since many of the waters are full of jellyfish. The first spot we explored was full of tiny jellyfish. Mad and I both were stung on the hands, which Dexter fixed right up with vinegar! There was so much to see and do that day. We enjoyed diving down low until we could no longer handle the pressure on our ear drums. What a blissful day!

My favorite fish.

Can you see the jellyfish?

Kristin and Mad

Stargazing...


One evening we sat out beside the shore and watched the sun set over the mountains in the distance - far out, so very far, lightning was dancing along the peaks. That night, the stars at our place in Moalboal took our breath away. Besides the stars in the Sahara Desert, I have never layed eyes on a more spectacular night sky. We sat up on our patio and looked up for what felt like hours.

Facing Fears...

Canyoning. Yes! Let's do it. We signed up for a trip out to Montaneza Falls outside of Moalboal. This is one of the many reasons for going on trips; to experience the unknown and push yourself out of your comfort zone. What better than facing fears? We took an hour jeep ride out to the jungle where we geared up with our two-person crew, two Danish guys, and a guy from Seattle.

We made our way up to the top of the mountain by hiking quite vertically through forested farms. The hike was worth it all; the view was breathtaking - another realization of how purely beautiful the Philippines is. We tested out how to rappel on a wooden contraption on the top of the mountain and started making our way to the river ravine.

Once there, we hopped in and started making our way to the first waterfall by climbing up and around rocks, through small cracks in the stones, hopping over ledges into lower pools...it was like we were explorers in the middle of an exotic rainforest. Well, besides the explorer part, we were doing just that. We kept on looking up and around in disbelief of where we were; it was so purely gorgeous.

On our first rappel we made our way down the expanse of the waterfall letting the water guide our descent. It was quite exhilerating; the first of any rappel I have ever done in the real outdoors.

From there we went under the water into a small rock covered area and hopped up and around a rock into an open pool to make our way further down the river.

It looks like they are sliding but there were huge rocks in that area!

From there we encountered a small 20 foot rappel where we got to go completely inside the water to get to the bottom!

Kristin was IN it!

Our biggest descent was next...a 98 foot straight drop with about half of it being a dropoff. I had to go first; there was no other way of doing it otherwise. Have you ever been so consumed by a moment that you just sat there in awe of life? That's what canyoning was like for me. More precisely, after rappelling down a 98 foot waterfall, I waded out of the water, sat down on the pebbled shore, took off my helmet, stared up at its expanse, and wept. Yes, wept. Some moments like those are so moving there is nothing else that makes more sense than to cry. And it was one of the most impactful experiences of my life. Yes, it was only a rappel. But it was what it meant to go down it. To trust that it would all be ok to step out over the 90 degree drop-off and work your way down as you hear the rushing of the water to your right and see the rocky wall to your left. There is nowhere to go but down and you yourself must get there with your own two hands and feet. Trust in what you are capable of. Trust that it will all be ok. And it will.

Small, yet tricky, rappel to a tiny pool that led to the rock for the big rappel.

From there, we went to face fear #2: free jumping. Yes, jumping into a narrow river ravine with rocks below you. Prior to jumping we had to place our feet in two different leveled areas while holding onto a rope for balance. The jump was 23 feet; I couldn't believe my eyes. My heart was beating out of my chest. My thinking was becoming incoherent. Everything was incomprehensible. I was the last one to jump. The last by fear of course. In life, leaps of faith have to be taken; otherwise, what kind of life are we living? On the count of three I jumped. I couldn't stop smiling for quite some time after. It was liberating.

Jumping!

Later on we had one more 12 foot jump which we all did with ease and in no time we were back at where we started laying in hot springs in the creek looking up at the sun glowing off the palms. Our guides prepared a BBQ feast for us which we all ate with vigor and enjoyed eachother's company thoroughly.

Resort Relaxation...

We stayed at the nicest place I have ever been to for two nights. This 7 bed resort treats everyone like royalty and our 3 party group kept on being waited on in disbelief. Every second we turned around they were handing us complimentary nightcaps, snacks like sorbet, fruits, & breads, cabana foot massages, poolside lemon water, sparkling wine, etc... Whenever we left our cabana for a dip in the infinity pool or sea, they would rush over and tidy up our area. Needless to say, we loved our time there. It was a little slice of heaven and another view of the good life!

Welcome drinks.

Our room.

Nightcaps.

Breakfast.

Back to China!