February 26, 2016

OMG!  Spa last night was amazing and I can tell you that 2 1/2 hours of non-stop massage was enough to do me in for the night!  Lynda enjoyed the "full meal deal" and mine focused on low back and my injured knee.  Honestly, I have to say that I think it actually helped my knee a little and regardless it was well worth the $17! :)

Yesterday was a very lazy day.  Our hotel was so full and we knew (because they told us) they'd had 95 for breakfast the day before so this day was even more than that.  The reason that we know it was more is because they booked us into the 9-11 a.m. breakfast shift.  Every other morning breakfast service runs from 6-9.  It was just as well that we had a late breakfast as it meant that we could just roll over and go back to sleep in preparation for our upcoming travel day.  So we just poked around the hotel sticking our nose into rooms that were being cleaned and now we know why there was so much noise coming from one of them!  There were 10 beds in that one room!  It seems to be the way things are done here....everybody and their brother piles into one room. (The hotels charge per person when you have more than two in a room). When it was time to head in the direction of the spa...we just took our time and wandered down the pedestrian street shopping and stopping to visit along the way.  During this meandering trek we also learned that there is a 6 pm curfew for having tables on the street...that is....you can't have table and chairs set up outside your business until after 6 pm.  I guess it makes sense as the street is packed full of people and horses pulling those carts that we won't mention ever again. :)

After our spa was finished at 8 pm...Bert was there, ever vigilant, waiting to take us back to our hotel.  What a treat it has been to have someone we could count on like that!  It reminded us both of our first trek around Mexico when we met Jesus in Toluca and spent the next three days being toured by him.  This time though Bert's English was very good...Jesus didn't have a word of it!

This morning our bus to Baguio left Vigan at 3:00 a.m. so Bert was waiting for us at our hotel front door at 2:30.  He assured us that he'd had to get up with his 3 month old baby at 2 anyway and that now his wife was nursing so he was happy to come out to pick us up for this final drive to the bus station.  We caught the Partus line bus and the cost was 314 pesos each (less than $10) for the 5 hour trip.  I knew we'd be going into the mountains but....jeez....that was one long and wild ride.  Much of it felt like being stuck on a bad ride at the carnival that lasted for hours and hours and hours!  The winding and hilly roads (when I say winding I really mean hairpin turn after hairpin turn) were further complicated by the fact that my legs were absolutely awful. (I suffer from restless leg syndrome for any who are wondering what's wrong with my legs). I feel bad for Lynda as she had to sit beside me for the entire journey and I just keep jiggling around...I can't sit still. :(. Oh yes...and I guess I should also include a note about the fact that what you might think is a full bus isn't a full bus at all!  In fact there is an entire other section that is called the aisle and that section can be filled with a selection of upside down 5 gallon buckets that double as seats for the extra dozen or so people that need a ride.  Oh yes...and then there is the fact that the Filipino people are not very large so you put Lynda and I on a seat made for two much smaller folk...what you end up with is either a recliner lever or an arm rest jammed into something I won't even put into writing...I'll just let your imagination do the work.  And another thing...remember how I said that I loved the open windows on the buses in Pagudpud and Laoag?  Well....this bus didn't have open windows...it had air conditioning that was either all on or all off.  Grrrrrr.......  But....there has to be a silver lining right?  Hmmmmm....I know....it was just like being in the gym for 5 hours of non-stop crunches and weight training because ever stop/start/turn/brake/twist/shake was just like another circuit.  Jeez....I gotta stop doing this 0 to 100 thing.....I do nothing and then I do the equivalent of a 5 hour workout!

Baguio is much cooler.  Where it was 30'ish and humid in Vigan, it was about 15 when we arrived here this morning.  The high takes it up into the low 20's but that is about it and then it will cool down to 13 or 14 again in the evening.  This city (pop just over 300,000) is a bustling metropolis and it has the pollution to go along with the abundance of traffic.  Traffic isn't really even what it is...it is non-stop...it is like all the vehicles are stuck together in a train that has no end.  There are an endless supply of jeepneys and I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad to report that we haven't seen a tricycle since we arrived here!  There are plenty of taxi's though and so that will be our mode of transport for our stay.

We arrived at our hotel (Cosmopolitan Hotel) way ahead of check in (like 6 hours ahead!) but they had our room ready and signed us in right away.  We were both so happy to see our beds and could hardly wait to get the other half of the night's sleep we'd missed while getting here.  Our room here is AMAZING and kind of makes up for the bus ride from hell (which is what I'm calling it - truth be told it's not that bad of a trip...it was just me who had the problem).  We have a massive room with 2 queen beds, table and chairs, a small sitting area, a huge bathroom and shower and....we are at the end of the hall so there is no traffic passing by us and we have another sitting area in the hallway just outside our room.  As well, in the hallway outside our room there is a viewpoint that boasts some of the best city views there are.

After a short rest we located the Lonely Planet Guidebook's top rated restaurant for the town and discovered that it was within walking distance so....we were off to the Cafe by the Ruins where we supped on freshly baked breads, spreads (pate and cheese), and an amazing salad and tofu with peanut sauce instead of salad dressing.  The place lived up to its reputation and I'm guessing we'll see it again during our time here.

The restaurant has another location on the other side of the downtown from where we are and it advertises tables to view the street dance and the flower parade tomorrow and the next day.  We were all booked in for a table both days until we discovered that there is no way we can get there short of walking and it is too far - especially when you don't know where you're going and through the throngs of people that will be in the way.

Speaking of throngs of people...we've been warned several times to be careful with our bags here as so many of the criminal element come to town to take advantage of the masses of tourists.  Our hotel has a safe in the office so we're both planning to leave our valuables right here where we know they'll be safe regardless of anything that might happen while we're out amidst the masses.

Walking to and from the cafe this afternoon we passed by a couple of schools and as kids almost always do....many of them wanted to say hello and practice a little English with the only two people who look like us that we've seen since we arrived here.  There were two other caucasians on the bus with us (from Sweden) but they left town the minute we arrived.  They'd made arrangements for a van to take them immediately on to Banaue (rice terraces) which is at least 7 more hours in a vehicle.  I am 100% certain there is no way I could have gotten back into any vehicle right after getting out of that bus!

Hmmmm....it is just after 6 pm and although I know that's pretty early....bed is starting to look awfully attractive again. LOL. So...till next time,
L & L