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Dispatch # 4: The Early Days in Coron, April 19-22, 1997

Coron is a small, remote town on Busuanga Island in Northern Palawan, often referred to "the last frontier" of the Philippines. Coron is out of the way. The only way to get there is to take a 14 to 18 hour ferry ride or to fly there in a nine seat puddle-jumper airplane. Once you are there, you can only leave when the weather is good and planes are flying or boats departing. Coron is short on amenities: there are few phones, few autos and the electricity is iffy at best.The stores stock few luxuries, most shelf space is reserved for necessities and cheap hard liquor--a favorite pastime. If you are looking for luxury, look elsewhere.

What Coron does have is a quiet, simple life and lots of natural beauty. It is surrounded by hundreds of small islands, some the perfect picture of a tropical paradise: palm tree-clad hills, ringed by white sand beaches and turquoise waters. The waters around Coron, are home to a large fishing industry, the jungles to the north are filled with cashew trees that are harvested for their nuts and the harsh, rugged limestone cliffs on the neighboring islands are home to the swallows that produce the birds' nest used in Bird's Nest Soup. And for the natives, harvesting Bird's Nest can be a very lucrative--and dangerous business.

After arriving in Coron, I settled into the Bayside Lodge, a guesthouse on stilts over the water. The room was small and rough, just a bed with a thin foam mattress, a table and a fan--the bathroom and shower was down the hall. The walls were bamboo weave and let the breeze--and any noises through. The floor was crude boards and in the cracks you could see the ocean below. It was beautiful. And at P150 (about US$5.75) a night it was cheap.

After Settling in to the lodge, I found Thomaz and we started to explore Coron. We asked around about the nightlife and the consensus was that there was none. We bumped into Sweeny and Natalie (English and German), who had rode the ferry to Coron with us. I also ran into Stephan and Tomomi (A Swiss and his Japanese girlfriend) whom had recognized me from Sagada. We also met up with Steve and Alex (two Americans). We wound up sitting in Marie's a small restaurant, where we ate dinner and drank San Miguel, Tanduay and Ginebra until we were all very drunk.

We decided to all chip in and hire an outrigger boat (locally called "banca") for some island hopping the next day. That is all of us but Sweeny and Natalie. They decided to rent a small outrigger and paddle around the islands for a few days. So at 9:00 the next morning , the rest of us met with at the pier at Bayside with out lunches, our snorkeling gear and we headed out for Coron Island and Lake Cagayan, a large freshwater lake on the island that was heated from below by a geothermal spring.

The banca is the main mode of transport in Coron. There are a few jeepneys and cars on the island and a few more motorcycles, but every fisherman and most families owned a banca. Bancas are outrigger boats . The smallest ones are 3 meters long and half a meter wide and are powered by rowing. Most are about 5 meters long and a meter wide and have a 8-16 horse two-cycle motor. The largest ones are owned by fishing families and are 10 meters or longer, 2 meters wide and have hammocks and cooking facilities--because the family lives on board.

The weather was slightly overcast, with brief showers interspersed by bright sunlight, but the waves were small and the boat ride was smooth. We rode for about 20 minutes across the bay and pulled into a gorgeous secluded cove on Coron Island.

The cove was filled with turquoise waters and rimmed with gray limestone cliffs covered in lush vegetation. The lake was a short hike up a steep trail and down into the valley. We trudged up the steep trail lugging our snorkeling gear, stopping occasionally to look at the beautiful cove behind us.and take a few pictures. We got to the lake and waded into the shallows to put on our fins. The water was deep blue and barren, except for a few small pipe-like fishes. All of a sudden Stephan let out a yelp. An instant later I felt something crawl over my foot and I jumped to. I look down, there were a half dozen shrimp crawling over my foot. For some reason, the shrimp were attracted to our feet. whenever you stepped in the water, the shrimp swarmed your feet and gently brushed the skin, feeding on something. It wasn't unpleasant, just weird. For an hour or so we swam around the barren shores of the lake in the hot waters. It was pretty in the same way a desert is pretty, but after a while there was little to see. A family from Coron showed up with kids and relatives in tow and took over the small bay, so we decided to pack up and head elsewhere.

After lake Cagayan, we took a short trip over to Banolol Beach a few kilometers down the coast. Banolol was like something out of a movie set: crystal waters, a blinding white beach isolated by steep jungle-clad cliffs. We ate lunch and spent the next couple hours lounging in the sun and snorkeling. About 50 meters off the shore, there was a coral garden that started at 1 meter deep and dropped off to over 20 meters. I spent most of the time snorkeling and watching the beautiful neon fish:parrot fish, wracks, Moorish idols flit through the bright corals. There were occasional periwinkle starfish sprawled on the rocks and every now and then a large lapu-lapu (grouper) could be seen darting into the depths.

After lunch we headed off to wreck island, named after a small, badly salvaged wreck in the shallows off the beach on the small island. We dove the wreck for a little while (like it said, it was badly salvaged, almost everything of value or interest had been taken off the ship long ago, leaving only a rotting skeleton.

For the rest of the day we just lounged on the beach, talking. Steve, who was the veteran traveler, told stories of his adventures. Steve had spent most of the last 10 years either travelling, or working to save money for travel. Over the next few months I would find there are a lot of people out there like Steve, living to travel. That night we regrouped at Marie's and went through the same ritual. We drank--heavily. After a few hours, we wandered down the street and found a dingy little Karaoke bar filled with Coron natives and sat there for a few more beers before we headed back to our lodges to pass out.

The next day we all set out separately and just walked around Coron. Thomaz and I met up with Steve and Alex and we walked to the Maquinit Hot Springs about 10 kilometers east of town through jugle trails. It was sunny and hot as hell. There were a few "sari-sari" stores (small general merchandise stores) along the way. We bought cold cokes and hot mineral water to stay hydrated as we walked in the sweltering heat.

We walked through dense jungle and mangrove swamps, past small villages of Nipa huts,fish drying on racks and women hand washing clothes on rocks in the streams. Children shouted "hey Joe" as we walked by. After while we got into the spirit of things and started dropped our regular names and just referred to each other as Joe. We laughed and played with the little kids, exchanging names, gesturing and speaking broken English.

The spring was nothing much: two small rock-rimed pools of hot sulfurous water and a small shrine to the Virgin Mary built, no doubt, to increase the perception of the springs as a source of healing. If you wanted to bathe in the springs it was P5. The best part of the walk was buying coconuts at 5 pesos each (about US$0.19) and having then split open to drink the juice. After the juice has been drunk, you use a chip of the coconut husk to scoop out the soft, creamy fresh coconut to drink. It was delicious, I had three. On the way back we disturbed a small (two foot) monitor lizard--the smaller cousin of the legendary Komodo dragon--sunbathing of the trail almost under our feet.

After returning to Coron, I showered and headed up the hill behind town, Mt. Tapayas. Along the way I ran into Thomaz, Stephan, Steve, Alex and Natalie--all whom had started out independently but with the same goal in mind: climb the mountain.

The view from on top was spectacular. You could look out over the e town and for kilometers out over the dozens of islands that dotted the nearby bay. The sunset was worthy of the setting. Deep blues, and purples highlighted with fiery reds yellows and oranges. I was hooked and in the months ahead I made many climbs up Tapayas at sunset. But I am getting ahead of myself

We wandered down the hill in growing darkness, almost losing the trail in the deep underbrush lower on the mountain. I parted from Thomaz and told him I would meet him at 7:30 at Marie's for dinner and ritual drinking. I went to my room, showered and decided to take a walk west of town, the only part I hadn't been to.

As night approached I walked past a small, cute bar and restaurant with a native theme. I stopped and looked at the sign: Blue Ridge Tree House Bar and Ihaw-Ihaw Restaurant. I was at the end of town and decided to turn back. I thought "nice place, we'll have to come here to drink later."

Just as I past the bar, I turned back to look and there she was: sitting on the edge of the table I saw a beautiful young woman. She was like one of those pictures you see on a postcard featuring an south-seas native beauty. She was short, with long, curly brown hair, warm brown skin and a beautiful soft face. I was stunned. I turned around and went into the restaurant. Fuck Thomaz, I was eating dinner here.

That's how I met Carmelita.

Well, I think this is definitely a good place to start another chapter...

Almost Leaving Manila April 24, 1998

Good Friday Crucifixions, San Fernando Pampanga April 10, 1998

Return To Coron, Palawan, Philippines March-April 1998

Old Travelog Dispatches from the Philippines (1997)

Dispatch #4; The Early Days in Coron

Dispatch #3; The Boat Trip To Coron, Palalwan

Dispatch #2, Northern Luzon and Manila Yet Again.

Dispatch #1, Arrival In the Philippines and Third World Culture Shock