Philippine Trip: Day 9

I love the place we are staying at. Simple accommodations but right on the beach. It is owned by a lovely LDS member named Sister Wilma whom Sierra got to know when she served her mission in Baler. I asked what it is called, so I could refer people to it, and she didn’t have a name for it. It is a guest house she has for visiting family that she later converted into a rental, upon encouragement of the government tourism department. So if you are ever in Baler looking for lodging, look around for the cute beach house to the south of the SMART hotel and that’s hers. 🙂

The guest house is a cute stucco, with a little lighthouse tower and fun accent colors. Two rooms with two single beds each, one room has air-con and an exhaust fan that links to the other room, to spread the cooling effect. Slept comfortably there for the night. Turns out Sierra left her air-con room to sleep on the sofa to the sound of the surf rolling all night.

So at 5:30 a.m. this morning, Sierra asked me if I wanted to run and I said, yes. What fun. Eventually, I took off my socks and shoes and just ran barefoot in the shallows. The sand is a dark gray, very fine and wonderful under the feet. As I run, I watch the powerful waves crash over swimmers’ heads. This is why this place is considered a surfing paradise.

There are strollers and runners – some earnest, running in proper shoes; one woman fierce in her expression as she ran with wet hair, Bermuda shorts, blouse and flip flops, returning to her vacationing group who was taking pics with their selfie sticks.

When the girls and I got back from the run, Sister Wilma had brought over a hot fragrant pot of champorado (chocolate porridge), milk and sugar. We had this on one of our earlier days in Coron, and the kids have been craving it since. It is their favorite Philippine breakfast. No small feat for Sister Wilma to prep the porridge – she would have had to cook the malagkit (sticky) rice for a while to soften it. It was so yummy. Watching my family eat their favorite Filipino breakfast on a porch overlooking a surfing beach made me so happy.

We made two stops after breakfast. First, we took a 1.5 k hike to Mother Falls. Along the way, there were lots of food vendors. I saw palitaw on a vendor’s sign, but they didn’t have any yet. On the way back, they promised. The trek wasn’t long, but it was a little tough with flip flops, or maybe because I haven’t been working out hard lately, so I am out of shape. At any rate, it was a fun little hike, and I tried to lower my expectations, but yowza, did the falls impress.

At first, I was like, what, that little spray? Then finally, we reached the real deal. You see it past a little cliff, and it is magnificent, its spray misting everything. It was probably at least 100 feet tall. In recent times, there has been rock slides, so unfortunately, the bottom and surroundings were covered in rocks, but it was still swimmable. The cool water felt good as I dunked my head. I could not stop smiling. And as I looked around at the other tourists who had arrived after us swimming in the falls, I could tell they felt the same way. I was so glad that my family can do a hard hike like this so we can enjoy the waterfall.

As we made the return hike, I had palitaw on my mind. It is rice flour formed into a patty, boiled until it floats up (thus the palitaw or “pop-up” term), topped with grated coconut and sugar. Mmm. After getting sick, I had already sworn off street foods but they looked so good on that bilao (woven tray) that I bought one for me, one for the family to try. Oh. My. Just the right sweetness and so fresh. The kids liked it so much we bought more. They were 10 pesos, or a quarter each. Then I saw they offered banana-que so I had to try that, too. It is a special kind of banana (saba) rolled in brown sugar, then fried. I was so giddy that I nearly impaled Drew with my banana-que stick as we posed for a pic. 🙂

Fun times. It has been a food fest all day, and I refuse to feel guilty. I will probably feel yucky next week when I try to do the Crossfit workout, but oh well.

At the Millenium Balete tree, where the kids climbed to the maximum height allowed, nine feet, and we had our pic taken where we looked like lizards plastered on these giant roots, I bought some suman de lihiya (sticky rice with flavoring). On our way out of town, we bought snacks from the Baler grocery store, NE, like chips and cookies. The ube ensaymada looked great, but somehow I resisted. I love the food, but at a certain point, you just have to say, no more. At a construction delay at Nueva Vizcaya, we bought green dalandan (green oranges that are ripe, not as sweet as navel oranges, but good) from a man hawking it along the road – 18 oranges for a little over three dollars.

As we left Baler, Sierra turned to me with glowing face and said, “Now do you see why I love Baler so much?” And I told her yes.

We drove south because the north roads were under construction, the same way we came from Manila, then went north on the only operating highway again. I had Mang Bernie our driver pull over for a bucket list – a pic of a water buffalo. He was a handsome animal, tied to a tree. Unfortunately, as I approached, I startled him, and he jumped and tugged, looking at us uneasily. I couldn’t convince the kids except for Wesley to pose by him, so I took a couple of pics and left him in peace.

Mid-afternoon, when I was sure outside our air-con van was a sticky, muggy heat, these farmers with cloth covering their heads, faces and necks, in long sleeves, worked the rice paddies. The paddies were a beautiful patchwork quilt of glassy smooth water with bright green seedlings poking through, alternating with thick carpets of green seedlings, water buffaloes still being used to plow them. All these led up to forested mountains. I took a million pics and maybe a couple turned out good, capturing a fraction of its beauty.

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Tonight, we had dinner at Chowking, at Solano, on our way to Banaue. I had their mami soup, siopao and halo-halo. Sierra had kangkong with bagoong, and oh, the bagoong (shrimp paste) was so good. I would have eaten more of it had I had something other than rice. Sierra thanked me for sharing my food with the family. But of course! I am always excited to let the kids especially try the foods that I either have missed so much or loved as a child.

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It is 11:30 p.m. and I am in the common area at Bogah Home Stay in Banaue.

I woke as we got nearer by van, to darkness shrouding winding streets, even narrower than other cities we have been before now. We first checked out Banaue Hotel, and it was nice enough, but the room was double the rate than what we had been getting, so we checked out Bogah. It was perfect – a family room with a full bed and two twin beds, plus room for an extra bed, for 2100 pesos.

In the common area, our driver gossips with the home stay caretaker over cigarettes, and the rush of the river nearby tries to out shout the chirping of crickets. A dog wanders around, poking its nose into crevices on the ground. On our screen upstairs, fireflies attempt to breach the window screen. There is a view here, Mang Bernie says, of the rice terraces, and tomorrow, we can ride on top of the jeepney to the terraces. The kids are excited about that. And I am, too. It is like I am waiting for a show to begin, for the curtain to rise, and the orchestra is playing a lead-in intro. The anticipation is delicious.

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