Pain in Paradise
Trip Start
Feb 18, 2010
1
18
93
Trip End
Ongoing
Candanay South, Siquijor, Philippines
Friday, March 5, 2010
We packed snorkels and fins and bathing suits in the day packs for our short trip to Siquijor (pronounced Sih-kee-hor) and are leaving our big heavy backpacks at Harold's. We're only going to be there for 3 or 4 days, how much could we possibly need?
The ferry is small and it is a bumpy ride, but we are prepared with our motion-sickness bracelets. Somehow I end up falling asleep and Jon is stuck talking to this old guy from Washington state who lives on Siquijor now with his new family. He is 65 and has a 2-year old and a 1-year old, with a Filipino wife of course. Hey, we're not here to judge, but no one said we can't be intrigued.
We arrive about an hour later in port and find a woman named Joy who rents motorbikes. We got her name from Harold and because of this we get a special price (350 pesos/day for a very new bike. This is like $7-8 USD). She writes down Jon's name and the date, and that's it, no deposit or anything. It takes Jon a couple minutes to figure out how to drive it (shifting gears with the pedal, trying out the brake) with a bunch of local guys standing around laughing. We're thinking, oh man there is no way she is gonna let us drive this thing away, but no one stops us and I hop on the back and we're off. The ''highway'' or main road is just one coastal road that goes around the whole island and it's great because there are almost no cars, and only a sparse number of other motorbikes and trikes. The air is warm and the wind blows our hair back as we take in the view around us.
Within 10 minutes we are at the beautiful Villa Marmarine, a nice cluster of cottages spread out through gardens run by a very nice Japanese couple. It's just a few steps down to the completely empty beach which is covered with shells being washed to shore by gentle waves. We take a long walk and get some good collecting done. We even come across a live starfish that has washed up and toss it back to sea
Then disaster strikes. While frolicking through the water I trip on a big piece of jagged rock or coral and gash my foot open. I'll spare you the gory details, actually no I wont, check the pics. The blood isn't too bad but ohhhhhh is it painful!! Jon carries me back up and of course everyone is looking at me and I laugh and say I'm ok, but I am not. :(
Great way to start the trip D, but Jon just keeps reminding me how much worse it could have been.
After cleaning it out and feeling like I'm either going to vomit or pass out from pain, we eat some dinner in the hotel restaurant. The tables out on the deck are just too beautiful to pass up. We get sisig, kinilaw (filipino ceviche), and chicken Gordon Blue <--that's how it was spelled on the menu, i swear.
Maybe I should have let that starfish die.
Comments
I hope you're piedpied is feeling better!
Looks nasty! Did u get some of God's natural herbal remedies?