Wrecks in the Rainforest and Snakes in the Sea

I suspect that today was so horrible in order to underscore how wonderful yesterday was.  At least, that’s the idea I’m going to go with, since any other would make me just cringe about the suckiness that ended up being my day today.

I’d planned to get up early-ish in order to get to the main island of Bohol in time to go to the Tarsier sanctuary.  They have relatively early hours.  Still, since I’d had a big day yesterday (more on that soon), I slept in a bit.  When I woke up, I picked up reading the book I’d started last night – a really good Australian book called Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey.  I ordered eggs and bacon – my favorite! – and had a leisurely breakfast, since I really couldn’t put the book down.

When I finished both breakfast and the book, I set out on my scooter for my planned adventure to the see the tarsiers and the Chocolate Hills.   I was less than 10 minutes into my ride when the rain came.  It was torrential.  Zooming along on the scooter, the rain felt like needles on my chest.

I stopped by the side of the road under a tree, hoping to wait it out.  There was a little naked boy enjoying himself immensely, playing in his front yard nearby.  It was cute to watch…for a while, but I was getting wet and going nowhere.  Just when the rain would look like it was letting up, it would start again.  Finally, it seemed to be easing a little, and the dark clouds overhead truly looked like they might be passing, leaving only slightly lighter ones.

I decided maybe I could continue.  I was already soaked, and wouldn’t get much wetter, so as long as the rain stayed light, I might as well keep going.  Two days before there was a rainstorm, and it had ended after less than an hour, so I was hopeful that it’d do the same today.

However, as I continued along the island, the storm seemed to be getting worse.  The wind picked up, and I could see that the trees were being buffeted by gusts.  It looked like the pictures on the news from before cyclones and hurricanes came.  Since my glasses don’t have windshield wipers on them, I couldn’t see as well as I’d have liked.  Finally, I had to turn back.  Of course, just as I got back to my hotel, the rain stopped.

Regardless, I was drenched, and needed to dry off.  By the time I was warm and dry, it was after 2:30 in the afternoon.  I still thought it might be worth a try to get up to the sanctuary again, so I gave it another go.  I arrived at the sanctuary entrance about 15 minutes after it closed.  However, even when I realized I’d be late, I had thought I might be able to swing past the Chocolate Hills on a loop back home or go to the Sikatuna National Park instead.  It soon became apparent that it would be getting dark too early to make it all the way to the Chocolate Hills, but I turned off for the national park, as I’d heard there were tarsiers there as well.

When I got to the park entrance, the gate was open a little, but there wasn’t anyone there to collect entrance fees or anything.  I asked some guys nearby who were apparently working on the streetlights and they seemed to think it’d be okay for me to go in.  I didn’t want to get locked in all night, that was my main concern!

So I went in with my bike and started up the dirt road.  I’d seen some video footage of the park filmed from a vehicle so I didn’t think there was any reason not to take the road, but as I continued up it, the road deteriorated.  Since it’d been raining so much, the road, made of rocks and dirt, had become slippery.  At one point, where it turned sharply uphill, the wheels slipped on some rock and skidded out from underneath me!

Although I’d been accelerating to try and get up the incline, I wasn’t going too fast as I’d been going uphill on a dirt road.  So when the bike slid and fell, I managed to (mostly) hop off.  The bike seemed okay and was all in one piece.  I was a bit shaken up, but was all in one piece. When I righted it, I parked it on the side of the path and hiked the rest of the way up to the park station.  The whole place was deserted.  I didn’t see any tarsiers up there, either.  I got the bike back down the hill (carefully) and started back towards Panglao.

The sun had set and as it began to get dark, it started sprinkling.  The scooter was running just fine, but I had noticed that the entire left side of the bike was scratched up – I suppose that’s what happens when you drag a scooter across rocks….  (I’d noticed I was a little scratched up too!)  So I was riding home in the rain, in the dark, having just crashed my bike in the mountains.

I was driving pretty carefully, when some guy driving his tricycle (covered scooter with sidecar, kind of a Filipino rickshaw) came onto the road from the intersecting road.  It looked like he was merging onto my road, but instead of turning left into the main road, he just cut across the road instead, driving directly in front of me.  I slammed on my brakes and yelled, “woah!” He saw me and did the same and we both stopped mere inches away from one another.  He immediately began apologizing, saying he was sorry and hadn’t seen me and was I okay.  I was fine, just annoyed.

When I got back to the hotel, I had to tell the owner that I had laid out and scratched up his bike.  He was mainly concerned about whether or not it was running, and once he was assured that it was still okay, seemed pretty cool about the whole thing.  I’ll probably need to pay him a little to just cover a new paint job.  Actually, the scooter is pink – NOT my favorite color, so if you ask me, that’s going to be a good thing!

Anyway, aside from some bruises and scrapes, I’m alright.  Seeing the tarsiers or chocolate hills was a total wash, though.  Basically, I accomplished none of the things that I’d planned today.  Luckily I know that tomorrow will be good, since I’m going diving again, which is what I did yesterday.  And, as I mentioned, yesterday was as awesome as today was awful.

I have heard only good things about the diving around Bohol.  I signed up with a dive shop on Alona Beach called Piratas.  It seemed to be run by Spaniards (based on the name and the clientele I’d seen while signing up) and the local girl who signed me up seemed cool too.  So I showed up at the shop yesterday morning and met a girl named Maya from Israel and then another girl from Taiwan named Erin.  Maya and I dove together with a divemaster named Zandy.  There was another staff member diving with Erin, who doesn’t dive as often as Maya and me.

The first dive we did was at Snake Island.  This submerged island is known for having many underwater sea snakes.  Although there was a rather strong current, which made the visibility not quite great, we saw many snakes, as well as a four-legged frogfish, which was crazy-interesting.  I also saw a snakeskin underwater.  Apparently, sea snakes shed their skin just like land snakes!

The second dive was at Pamilacan, and was beautiful, and then the third was at a place called Arco Point, back near Panglao island.   Neither Erin nor Maya had planned to do the third dive that day, so it was just to be me with my guide on that dive, but the other divemaster came as well.  I think he just wanted to go because the dive was so awesome.  The dive was quite relaxing, as it was mostly a drift dive, where we dive down along the wall and then came up through a bit of a tunnel, and then along the top of the reef before returning to the boat.  The guys showed me lots of cool things.  Zandy has this amazing skill at spotting scorpion fish and must have pointed out four or five on that dive alone!

Erin and Maya and I had made plans to get some fruit smoothies after returning to Alona Beach.  Since it was only the three of us on the boat all day, we had gotten the chance to talk and bond a bit that day.  We ended up getting drinks and nachos at a reggae bar on the beach.  Erin mentioned that she had gone the day before for a great massage.  There are people offering massages along the beach, pretty much constantly as you walk along, but Erin had found a place doing Thai and Swedish massage near her hotel which was fairly priced.  After we all parted ways, I went there, as I’d been wanting a cheap, deep tissue massage.

After my delightful massage, I was going to head directly home, but I realized I was hungry and went up and down the main drag, looking for something tasty.  Just as I was about to turn around again, I saw a busy, rather inviting looking Italian restaurant on the edge of town called Giuseppe’s.  I decided to give it a go.

The special that night was eggplant parmesan – one of my favorites.  I asked if there was any left and the waitress said it wasn’t ready yet!  It was almost 8pm, so I was a bit surprised.  I was going to get something else, but she came back a couple minutes later, saying it was just finished.  I was so glad it was, because it was delicious!  There was stringy, melty mozzarella all over, just browned on the edges.  Perfect.

Tummy full, I headed back to my hotel having had such a wonderful day that perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised that the next day was so abysmal!  Luckily, I’ve made those plans to go diving with Maya again.  We have similar air consumption and are at such an equal skill level that we make great dive buddies.  Plus, she’s an awesome person.  I’m looking forward to our dives tomorrow.

Maybe I’ll be able to squeeze in a trip up to see those tarsiers and the chocolate hills on my last morning in town before I leave for Boracay day after tomorrow.  Otherwise, I won’t get a chance to see them.  Regardless, I don’t plan to go diving in Boracay, and I’d rather spend more time here diving than seeing some tiny monkeys.  Bohol has been pretty great, even if I have been a bit of a clutz.  I know I’m just lucky I didn’t get myself seriously injured.  Tomorrow will be better again!