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Nov 11th Philippines Part 1: Hard Start

My travel friends and I decided to do The Philippines this year, I was excited for scuba and I think they were excited about street food and tropical sun. My flight to Cebu had some delays and some last minute changes, I ended up flying Edmonton, almost to Vancouver then to Calgary for fuel, then back to Vancouver after a wait, then through Tokyo rather than Hong Kong… despite delays and flight changes, I somehow ended up in Cebu three hours earlier than intended, only to find that my luggage had not made the trip. The belief was that it was somewhere in Tokyo. My whole body hurt from being wedged in the small seats and I knew I couldn’t get an check in for my hotel. I was all alone in Cebu sans luggage. The airport had a hotel that rented bunks by the hour, I went down for 6 and got some sleep hoping to sort my problems in the morning. I awoke to find my problems still in good condition so my carry on and I went to the hotel bright and early in the morning. My meager remaining luggage was checked and I went for a long walk. The city was vibrant, full of life, and extremely hot. Magellan’s cross was something I had wanted to see and I was able to take it in while waiting for the museum to open… yes I was THAT early in the morning walking around. Many people visiting the cross were buying thin candles tied together at the wick and throwing them to the cross as a form of prayer. I had seen something similar in Nepal at the Kalika Bhagwati Hindu Temple on my motorcycle trip. In that instance people were buying baskets of flowers to put down around the statues and inside the buildings. It is my hope that the candles and flowers of these temples are then picked up and resold with the proceeds going to the church, the people, or the poor, and not just profiteers. There wasn’t anyone there I could ask and its not my business anyway.

In the afternoon I was able to check into my hotel and I had a record setting afternoon nap. Late into the night I went on a quest for a snack and ended up getting a donut that upset my stomach to the point it could probably be classified as a cleanse.

I had a full day before Cole and Natalie showed up so I went out and bought some toothpaste and a fresh T shirt. I was able to wash my underpants in the sink and let them dry overnight… good thing I had a private room. My friends arrived but my luggage still had not. We explored the city a little and had some good food. At one point I dipped into a Royal Enfield shop expecting them to be a little more excited that a foreigner was there but I looked around a realized that was all of their clientele. The airport informed me my luggage would be at the hotel overnight, likely around midnight, which was ideal considering we had a ferry to catch the next day. Throughout the night I went downstairs and checked with reception and my bags never materialized. The airport luggage department didnt respond to my texts. I had a feeling if I left the island I would never see that luggage again. So I took matters into my own hands and took a taxi to the airport and left Cole and Natalie with instructions to grab what little luggage was left in my room, check me out, and meet me at the ferry terminal. At the airport everyone there seemed really confused by what I was trying to do and just informed me I had to wait until 3pm when the luggage department clocked in. I explained I had less than an hour to round up my bags before I left the island. A woman took pity on me and very slowly walked me down to the luggage area where she thought my luggage might be… it wasn’t there… so she called the delivery driver who assured me it had already been delivered to my hotel… I called Cole who confirmed it wasn’t, and was even kind enough to check the neighboring hotels incase of error. Eventually the driver admitted the bag was still on his truck and agreed to come back to the airport and hand it to me. In 15 minutes I needed to leave to get my ferry, I was told he was 5 minutes away. Pacing angrily near the taxi pick up area for 10 minutes really gets security interested. A young guard came up and asked what I was doing, I explained and he called the number I was given… with minutes to spare the delivery driver pulled up and ever so slowly got out of the truck, walked around the back, climbed in and proceeded to grab every bag but the one I was pointing at. Eventually I just got in and grabbed it myself, he then slowly fumbled through his phone to get a picture to confirm delivery. The security guard had meanwhile secured me an unmarked taxi, which I didn’t love, but I was in a hurry. I dove in the back and he hit the gas. I arrived with minutes to spare. We took the lengthy boat ride, then a lengthy taxi to our hotel in Panglao. After a long hot shower I was excited to have fresh clothes. A strange, sweet smell, wafted from by bag as I opened it and immediately I remembered the three chocolate bars I had brought for my friends. Evidently they didn’t like tropical heat. I emptied my bag and took it into the shower with me and rinsed it until I couldn’t smell cocoa anymore. What was left of the chocolate was put in the freezer and enjoyed later.

Vanessa and Renata joined us, they had been traveling together up north before I got to the Philippines. It was great to see them, especially after the rough few days I had. Cole and Natalie and I decided to do some scuba in the following morning.

We had picked what seemed like a good outfitter and got our gear in order. I was very excited, this is why I came, diving in the Philippines is legendary, every divers bucket list… I did two dives the whole trip. Allow me to tell the tale.

In the morning we piled into a truck and were driven to a beach were we loaded onto a big catamaran style dive boat. There were a few Americans I chatted with on the boat and a polish man named Patrick (probably spelled differently) who ended up diving with us as part of our four person group. The first dive had very little briefing, the instructor just told us the name and we jumped in, unaware that there was a current we would have to contend with. As soon as we got in the water, Patrick was having problems, trouble sinking, trouble staying neutral, he looked a little tangled in his gear. He got leveled out with some help and we carried on. We were making our way along a cliff face and stopped to see a turtle, at which point I looked over and a saw Patrick in a situation. He was holding one fin, and waving the other arm, as best I could figure, he dropped his camera and was asking the guide to try and grab it. Unfortunately it was a small gopro dropped many meters below on dark sloped sand, it was about as gone as gone can get. Cole went to Patrick to help with his flipper, and they slowly drifted away in the current, while Natalie and I stayed somewhat stationary. The guide waved us over and Natalie fought the current to get there, I’m more of a go with the flow type and also wanted to keep an eye on Cole and Patrick who were fast disappearing from sight. Eventually I lost sight of everyone. Cole and Patrick were somewhere downstream and last I saw Patrick had both fins off and was signaling to surface while Cole was ramming fins onto his feat like and unruly toddler, Natalie and the guide were somewhere upstream. No worries, I’m a pretty confident diver and at this point in the trip I was welcoming the peace and quiet. Eventually Natalie and the guide caught up to me, Natalie looked a little worried since her boyfriend was missing, but I flashed her that everything was OK, the guide on the other hand didn’t seem very worried about losing two people. Luckily, there was a group ahead of us from the same outfit and when they stopped to surface, Cole and Patrick joined them, as did the rest of our group. It was a boondoggle, but it all worked out.

The second dive of the day we were all a little more tuned in and closer together, again no briefing, just the name and into the water. As we descended, my ear wouldn’t equalize, I did what I was supposed to which is go up a bit and try again, and as I came down, it equalized quite loud… then I felt cold in my ear, way in my ear.. then a stinging sensation. I knew fairly immediately that I had ruptured my eardrum but wasn’t entirely sure what the implications were. I finished the dive with the logic of “well, its already broken” thought it was terribly painful, and when I went to equalize again, bubbles came out my ear, which is a fun party trick, I guess. Other than that the dive was good, we did see more turtles. Upon surfacing I asked some divers on the boat and everyone seemed confident it wasn’t a big deal, like a sprained joint they said. Once back on land, I talked to the dive shop owner and opened with “you have a lot of diving experience right?” “yea” he scoffed arrogantly, “ok, well I got some serious ear pain and now this” and I held my nose and went to equalize my ears causing air the whistle out my left ear like an angry cartoon character. Suddenly the owner was less cocky “you should go to the hospital immediately, there’s one on the main road by the 7/11”

A lovely doctor stuck her scope in my ear and informed me I had perforated my eardrum, and that it would heal to 100% in six weeks but in that time I had to keep it out of the water, no scuba, no surf, no snorkel, no waterfall jumping… Naturally I was quite sad, and on top of that I was told there was a chance I wouldn’t be able to fly for those six weeks which started the ball rolling on the horrible experience of dealing with my travel insurance provider who really struggled with the idea of me being outside the country and not having my phone.

My next stop was Siquijor where my luck was bound to turn around, right?

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