February 21, 2016

February 21, 2016

Remembered at some point in the night that I'd neglected to include something about travel costs from yesterday.  The bus that we caught from Laoag to Pagudpud (you remember the one that Jeanette got to stop for us by chasing it and honking like a madwoman) was a grand total of 70 pesos each ( a little less than $2) for the two hour trip.  Our tricycles from the Pagudpud bus stop to our accommodation on Saud Beach, Arinaya's Beach Resort (a long 10 minutes is our best estimation) was 50 pesos (about $1.50) per tricycle.  Our drivers even waited while we made sure there was room and we wanted to stay and then carried our cases up for us.  These little vehicles are the most common method of transport but Lynda's description of how we got out of them pretty much sums it up perfectly.  "I think they had to pick up the trike, turn it over and shake us out!"

How nice it was to go to sleep last night knowing there was nowhere we had to be today!  We dined on deep fried pig knuckle, a vegetable dish made up mainly of okra, and a plate of chow mien noodles.  Not going to win any culinary competitions but not as bad as it sounds either.  Lynda just reminded me that I had to spit out some of the pig knuckle though as I couldn't get through the meat.  It was like I was chewing on a ball of string that just wouldn't go away!  Anybody want to visit Pagudpud yet? LOL. Seriously though....this really is a great adventure visiting another culture and that's what we were looking for....I know it's not for everyone but you can rest assured that we are well and having a great time.

Heh....just felt that odd sensation of the room moving again.  Hmmmmm.....this can't still be from the travel and I know I haven't had anything to drink today so am starting to wonder if there might be regular little earthquakes here or something.....food for thought as we head out for another day of exploring this corner of the Philippines.

Seriously...the people here are so lovely!  We just returned from an early lunch down the beach at Evangeline's where lunch was good and the dessert was even better.  We've met several other visitors who are Filipino but now live in either the US or Canada.  They come home regularly to combine vacation and family visits.  At lunch the table beside us was Angel and Aurora who are from California.  This is their first time to Pagadpud even though they're originally from this island (a town about an hour from Manila).  Tonight we're having drinks with another Filipino "family" who are from Canada (North Vancouver and Calgary) and the US (California and Virginia).  They too are combining vacations with family visits.

The weather today has not been great....in fact pretty much the whole day has been raining and tonight is no different.  So.....we're not walking anywhere for dinner....instead we're going to stay right where we are and order some garlic rice.  It's actually very good and what's even better is that dinner only cost us about 75 cents each!  Not to worry we had salad at lunch so our diet is being balanced out with these carbs and the Coke that we're washing them down with.

Interesting moments from today.....  Perhaps the one that will amuse you the most is the number of times we've been asked where our husbands are and right behind that is when we've been asked if we're here on a mission (a very common thing from the look of the region).  Or...maybe you'd like to hear a little more about our lunchtime experience...we sat there so long (avoiding the rain) that we decided on dessert.  Lynda had a banana crepe with ice cream and I had a fried banana with cheese and ice cream.  Lynda's crepe was green and both desserts were delicious.
Overall it was a quiet Sunday on Saud Beach.  We've enjoyed the opportunity to catch up to the current time zone and tonight are enjoying a glass of local brandy with our new friends.

Till next time....
L & L