When the little PAL flight landed at the Busuanga Airport, I said, “It’s not raining, it’s a good omen.” It is raining now. But we will still take that as a good omen of good things to come.
We had some turbulence on the flight to Busuanga. They gave us a Goldilocks chicken bunwich (not peanuts, yay) which we all saved for later. Nice to come to rural Coron, so excited for my kids. We found our driver by mentioning the Palanca Guest House, which is Kawil Tours’ accommodation partner. Robert of Boyet Tualla’s van for hire piped up, “Golda Allen?” (my legal name) So we knew he was really sent for us.
Passed fields with water buffaloes, lush forest, mountain tops kissed by the mist, crowing roosters, gravel quarries, tindahan stores. Guys on motorcycles carrying weed whackers.
Then we entered Coron proper. It seemed more crowded then when I first went in 2007, but still felt rural. There is a delicious barbecue smoke smell, and lots of motorcycles and tricycles zipping in narrow streets. It feels like a place that has gotten a lot of tourism in such a short time. A little choppy in city design, with bright buildings standing out amidst more nondescript ones, building out fast. Narrow streets with lots of stores, enterprising folks selling all sorts of things – glow in the dark toys and Tupperware of all sizes. Made me wonder what a major grocery store could do to help and hinder them here.
Our van service dropped us off at Palanca Guest House, which has a subtly colored façade that blends against the stucco (so much so I will miss this building at least a couple of times as I got my bearings in the city) with tropical accents. The hallways were charming, not walled in, with colorful steps with homey touches of carved wood décor and shells.
Our family room has two beds and a little fold out sofa, perfect for our family of five. The bathroom is your basic Filipino bathroom, with a shower (that can be switched to hot water, but we don’t bother, it’s nice to take a cool shower in this weather), a bucket and tabo.
Our hotel arranged a trike to take us first to Mount Tapyas, then to Maquinit Hot Springs. Our first stop, to climb the 700ish steps up Mount Tapyas, didn’t seem like a lot, until we ran it, which is what Sabrina did, as she is participating in a running program for school this summer. When she was done, she declared that it was torture.
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- Steps to Mount Tapyas
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- View of town & sea behind us
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- The cross on top
By the time we returned to the hotel after eight, we were all so tired, but we showered and felt infinitely more lively, enough to last through our first meal in the city, which was a Filipino sit-down at the end of the street. We had kangkong, sisig, Sierra’s fave Bicol Express (mild version).
Coron at night has lots of trikes still cruising around, billiards games at the local hangout, some stores still open. I think I pay a little more attention because I wonder how things look like to my family. Downtown isn’t the prettiest, but if you are a tourist looking for something to buy, no doubt, you will find it eventually. The kids were so tired we didn’t coax much feedback on their first impression, but they look at everything with wide eyes and look very pleased to finally see what the town is like. Not sure what he expected, Wesley said, but not this, in a pleasantly surprised tone. Mount Tapyas, I think gave him a good intro to Coron and how neighboring islands are laid out.
The rain held out until after we got back, a brisk but brief downpour. I listened to that familiar staccato of my childhood, happy to be snug in bed where it was comfortable.
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