Sunday morning I was back in action, this time heading to the central Visayas, to the island of Bohol. Arriving mid-morning I made my way to Alona Beach (on the nearby island of Panglao) where I had a surprisingly easy time finding Allan and Andrew. An afternoon of sunbathing ensued (and the boys' delicate Canadian skin frying...similarly to their bacon I'd imagine). Andrew will tell you the beach wasn't that nice (they just got back from Boracay), but I still insist it's one of the prettiest beach I've been to, you just can't swim. By no means horrifying. The boys had found some delicious BBQ on the island and we tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour. Amazingly we managed to get up in time to catch the tour van headed to Bohol. The island is historically known for being the site of the blood compact between Magellan and the natives. We stopped at a monument, an old Spanish church, a butterfly sanctuary, a small zoo with a python and a river before we finally came to what we were waiting for - the Tarsier Center and the Chocolate Hills. Tarsiers, with their saucer eyes and suction cup fingers, were the inspiration for ET (but a less creepy, more cuddly version). They're nocturnal but we saw a few with their eyes open. The Chocolate Hills are a compilation of over 1200 unusual mounds sculpted from limestone and coral in the middle of the island. It remains a mystery as to how they were actually formed. Pretty bizarre and when they're dry they resemble chocolate drops. I think I found my birth place!
The rest of the week passed alternating beach, reading, cable TV!, entertaining conversation and 40 peso ($1) rum & cokes... And nearly every meal we ended back at Alona Hidden Dream, despite our insistence that the food was just horrifying and it was definitely not the only restaurant in town. The boys, having spent 7+ months traveling SE Asia together, took a hiatus from bickering to crack some American jokes. Poor Toronto won't know what hit it when I come to visit...!
Thursday afternoon we finally made our way to Cebu by ferry. It turned out to be a smaller, dirtier Manila (just horrifying I tell you!) and we decided there was nothing useful here aside from a way to get home. So yesterday I headed back home, back in time for my class this morning. The boys head back up later this week and spend a few more nights in Manila before continuing their trip in Indonesia. It was a great week, but right now I'm wishing I was up at Donner right now to celebrate with Mom and Ryan! I'll be sticking around Manila this week, getting some real work done and getting excited for Chelsea to arrive!
Thanks for all the concern, but we actually didn't even feel the earthquake - I found out about it from Mom!
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