the beginning of an adventure that i would have to hold on to dear life.

so we took the tricycle from the town of san antonio to a much smaller town called pundaquit. i sat on the back while ben sat on the car together with our packs. the ride getting out from san antonio was boring, we passed by large houses, small paved streets and so on. but as soon as we got out from the town of san antonio, it was amazing! the little tricycle drove through mountains and large amounts of ash fall from the volcanic eruption 20 years ago were still there! fascinating! and whats amazing, there were scattered pine trees everywhere! very unusual, as its so hot and humid in thes part of the philippines, only in the mountains that you can find pine trees here  in the philippines and above 1500 meters in the region called cordillera.

i wish i could see ben's face while driving through, but i was seated separatey from him. we were the only ones in the tricycle, some people who are also going to our direction have cars and vans with them, but i dont care! this is the bliss of commuting and using public transportations, uncomfortable but adventurous and tasting the culture!

after more than 30 minutes of tricycle ride, we finally arrived to our destination! the small town of pundaquit. i really have no idea what to do and what to expect because i havent been into this part of the philippines, i dont know how the attitude and the mentality of the people will be, would they cheat us? was always on my mind.

when we got to our stop, it was a little bit weird, because i was expecting a beach with lots of boats, but the tricycle driver drove us to a small path, and i asked how much he said IT WAS ONLY SIXTY PESOS FOR THE TWO OF US! sixty pesos?! thats nothing! not even 1 euro!

so i paid him and asked him, that if this is the right direction to go to anawangin, i was a little bit nervous because the situation was a bit odd and i have to take care of course ben.

the beach of pundaquit.

i asked the tricycle driver again to bring us to the boats where they sail to anawangin. but he said he knows a boatman, uh oh. this is getting to be a rip off episode.

he called the boatman from a little hut, there he came. he introduced himself and he and the tricycle driver were having conversations, im my heart was beating faster because i could understand them, the tricycle driver was asking a commision from the boatman, and i elbowed and told ben that! that its gonna be a major rip off!

then the boatman asked if there are only the two of us and i said yes, and what are our plans, i told him that we plan to stay overnight in anawangin and he named the price FOR ONLY ONE THOUSAND THO HUNDRED PESOS! thats fucking nothing! only 19 euros! and i asked him that we wanted to go to an island, camara island - and he said that all in all the price for the two of us is only ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED PESOS! thast really basically nothing! about 25 euros!

i told ben everything and we high fived! ahahahaha.

ben loading our packs.

so the boatman directed us to the beach full of huts to rent and it was really fascinating that instead of coconut palms, pine trees abound!

so the boatman and his helper arranged the boat while me and ben looked at the horizon and saw the islands of capones and camara! ahahaha! we high fived! not only that - the sky was so clear! and the sea so blue! where was that fucking typhoon they announced on the weather forecast?!

lots of people bathing in the beach were laughing and gawking at ben and shouting hey joe! ahhaa i just rolled my eyes. as we put our packs in the smallest boat i had ever seen, ben helped the boatman to push the boat into the sea! while i took pictures, it was so hot as it was in the middle of the day!

i rolled my scarf around my head to protect myself from getting sunburned inside the body because i already experienced that and i was hospitalized and it was not a pretty sight. we got inside the boat and the boatman started the motor and we sailed the fucking rough sea! good thing the boatman had lifejackets were we put them on, because the sea was really rough!

anawangin, youre almost within reach - so near near but yet so far! ahahaha.