Friday, September 26 – Monday, September 29
The weekend of September 26 we went to Siargao for the
international surfing competition. We
had no idea that it is one of the top places in the world to surf! We took Cebu Pacific from Manila to Cebu and
had another flight from Cebu to Siargao.
Our ride from the airport was this van which is normal, but I wasn’t
sure this van was going to make it. We
were sharing the van with another couple staying at the same place, and the man
spoke Filipino. He kept asking the
driver why we couldn’t go a little faster.
At one point we were going so slow, these kids were on the side of the
road and they were hanging on the side.
They were having a blast!
We finally made it to where we were staying. It turns out that it really was a resto bar
that had two villas for rent. The place
was really nice with a bar / restaurant, a sitting / hanging out area with a
pool table. We felt like we were in the
middle of the jungle because the grounds were lush with vegetation, beautiful
flowers and coconut trees. Being in our
villa was like being in a treehouse. It
was quite organic for lack of a better word as the entire bathroom was
outside. It wasn’t like an outhouse; the
door from the bedroom opened to the bathroom which was really nice all done in
stone and tile, it’s just when we looked up we looked up into the sky! The evening brought bats and all sorts of
outdoor sounds, but it was nicely lit, so even in the middle of the night it
was fine.
We ate dinner each evening at the resto bar, and the food
was delicious! We only had breakfast the
morning we were leaving because the surfing competition began at 6:00 A.M. each
morning, so we got up early and watched the competition opting to eat at the
Loka Café during the break. The one
morning we did eat at the resto bar, we had fresh coconut water, and when I say
fresh, I mean really fresh. This guy
actually climbed the tree and retrieved the coconuts. Minutes later we had the coconut water in
front of us ready to drink.
The Loka Café was a little café on the beach that had just
opened. A couple from Australia who owns
a resort down the beach opened it.
Everything we got was really tasty.
It had tables “inside” nothing is really inside. It also had beach chairs and a couple of
benches right on the beach if that is where diners wanted to enjoy their fare.
The people were really nice in Siargao. We bought a few things from local crafters
and even had a homemade ice cream cone from this older gentleman and young boy
on a bicycle ice cream cart.
The surfing competition itself was fun. The waves were cooperative most of the time
and there were surfers from different parts of the world, even the USA. A local won the competition, so that was nice
to see. Mostly we viewed the competition
from the viewing tower which offered shade – it was hot! – but one afternoon we
wandered out among the rocks / coral when the tide went out – and it went way
out. It was nice because we could feel
the refreshing water between our toes but could still see the surfers out in
the surf.
Of course just being able to take a dip in the sea and be a
part of beautiful sunsets each evening made the trip totally worthwhile!