Tracy Carolyn Photography

Honeymoon – Part Three

“I’m pretty sure I could bike that faster,” John stated, after discovering that it would take us 7 hours by bus to go approximately 50 miles.  30 minutes into our bus ride to Sagada, he was singing a different tune.  The roads were absurdly windy, taking us up narrow dirt roads with incredibly steep hills.  It was a smidge terrifying, but at least the ride came with stunning views of the rice terraces that the Philippines is famous for.  And he definitely could not have biked it faster – far too hilly :)

In Sagada we spent a little time hiking around, enjoying mountain views and fresh air.  And then, for some odd reason, we decided that spelunking sounded kinda fun.  There was a 2 hour version and a 4 hour version, but being the hard-core people that we are, we opted for the 4 hour version (what else were we going to do with our day?)  Even as our van pulled away to take us on this caving adventure, all we knew about what we were about to do is that it involved a cave and would take 4 hours.  Seriously.If I had known more, I probably wouldn’t have done it.  The adventure involved crawling through tiny spaces, being lowered down ropes (with no safety equipment whatsoever), climbing up slippery rocks, wading through underground pools of mineral water, and serious rock climbing.  The rocks were incredibly slippery, and I did 90% of it barefoot, wearing only my bikini bottoms and a t-shirt.  And honestly most of the time I was sliding down rocks on my butt because I was terrified of loosing my balance and falling 20 feet.  Only when we got through the harrowing trip did we realize that the 2 hour version only involved walking up and down a somewhat steep set of stairs to visit a few of the underground pools.  We definitely did it the hard way, and I must say we scored loads of badass points for doing so.  I have no photos of the inside of the caves, seeing as we were too wet and wobbly to stop for photo ops.  But you can see the outside of the caves, and the light at the end of the tunnel as we began to ascend.

After surviving that caving adventure, we enjoyed a more relaxed afternoon (including another cheap massage for John), and allowed our bodies time to heal.  Unfortunately, healing would become the theme of our last week on vacation, but we wouldn’t discover that until we reached San Fernando…More tomorrow :)

Honeymoon – Part Two

Manila had little to offer.  Our first impression of the city reminded me heavily of Panama City, only far crazier.  People everywhere, abhorrent air quality, and masses of fast food restaurants that blew me away (a McDonalds, KFC and Dunkin’ Donuts on every corner.  Literally.)  So when our flight from Boracay landed in Manila, I had no interest in staying 2 or 3 days in the hectic capitol city as we had initially thought.  Instead, we went straight from the airport to the bus station and high-tailed it to the mountains.  Tagaytay sits on the ridge above Taal Lake, which is home to Taal volcano.  Most of what this small city boasts is incredible views of the lake below, and after one night here we opted to visit the smaller community of Talisay, right on the lake.

During our two day visit, we hiked Taal Volcano to enjoy the beautiful views of its sulfurous crater lake and the surrounding lake area.  Excellent views.Taal Lake has consistent winds and warm water, which made it perfect for taking sailing lessons, which we did.  The area truly was stunning – the light had a quality I’ve not seen before that made everything look pastel blue.Because of the lack of tourists, however (we saw none), food in Tagaytay and Talisay was truly Filipino.  Apparently, we don’t enjoy Filipino food much.  Nearly everything has tons of sugar in it – even the butter.  As a vegetarian, I had an especially difficult time finding good food, or even food at all.  At one restaurant a dish specified as vegetarian turned out to be noodles with liver.  Another restaurant brought me a “vegetarian” dish full of chicken.  (Keep in mind that English is one of the official languages in the Philippines and every menu was in English – this was not the result of a language barrier.)  Good thing John was willing to taste my food first to identify meat products so that I wouldn’t get sick :)  The one food we did enjoy was the Buko Pie, pictured above, which we only found in the Taal Lake region.  It’s essentially a flaky pastry full of tender coconut meat and a light custard, and it quickly became John’s new favorite dessert.  Before we left Tagaytay he bought 3 pies for the road, and enjoyed them for the remainder of our trip, often on long bus rides.  He’s such a nerd (and I totally love it :))

After another hop through Manila, we headed further north into the Cordillera Mountains.  More on that next!

Honeymoon – Part One

Travel books often call Boracay the “Pearl of the Philippines,” and I can certainly understand why.  Perfectly soft white sand, crystal clear warm water that’s as calm as a swimming pool, beautiful sunsets, and lots of cocktails.  It’s island paradise.  We spent the first three days of our honeymoon just relaxing in Boracay, splurging for a change on a nice beachfront resort.  (Ok, really the first three days of our honeymoon were spent in transit as we followed this path: 2.5 hour flight to LA, 4 hour layover, 13.5 hour flight to Seoul, 2 hour layover, 4 hour flight to Manila, overnight stay in Manila, 1 hour flight to Caticlan, 20 minute boat ride to Boracay.  We left Denver on Tuesday night and arrived in paradise at noon on Friday.  But the three days after that were spent in Boracay :) )

Here I went scuba diving for the first time (I’ll own up to being pretty freaked out – my Italian dive master had to hold my hand through most of it), enjoyed super cheap massages ($8 for an hour long amazing massage on the beach), and watched the boats sail by at sunset with a couple of beers.  By far the most relaxing part of our trip, and quite enjoyable.  Boracay is easily one of the most spectacular beaches I’ve ever visited (and I’ve seen a lot), but it’s quite a bear to get to (see the itinerary above.)  However, if you happen to be in Southeast Asia, I’d recommend making a stop :)  I didn’t take too many photos in Boracay simply because I was too busy relaxing.  Trust me, it’s gorgeous.

Paradise is lovely, but after three days our adventurous sides longed to explore.  Boracay hardly felt like the Philippines, so John and I transitioned into backpacker mode and hit the road to explore the less touristy side of the country.   But more on that to come!