I had another adventure this weekend to Bohol! It is about an hour flight from Manila (our flights weren't too terribly delayed this time, yay!). Once we arrived, we had a half hour drive to our hotel, Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa. The resort sits on approx. 15 hectares of land and is set up like a village. When you check in at the front desk, your eye is immediately drawn to the infinity pools that lead out to the ocean and the private island the resort has where a wedding was happening. We arrived pretty close to sunset, so as soon as we found our room we put down our bags and headed for dinner. Afterwards, we enjoyed the view by the pool. But holy mosquitos! I put on so much (environmentally friendly!) bug spray and still felt like I was being eaten alive! Consequently this led to a huge mosquito landing on my arm looking for a snack, me trying to kill it before it took all of my blood, and hit the arm that was connected to the hand holding my phone (over the pool). Splash and into the pool went my phone. Being in the Philippines, luckily there is no shortage of rice here so I ran to the restaurant to ask for a bag of it to put my phone in to begin drying it out. After that small disaster, I went to the spa where I got a massage that was included in our package. (Not that it made me feel too relaxed since I had just submerged my phone in a swimming pool - although it was a very good massage!)
We had a day tour scheduled for Sunday, which included:
Blood Compact Shrine or Sandugo (meaning "one blood") - Monument commemorating the blood compact between Spanish explorer, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, and chieftain of Bohol, Datu Sikatuna, to seal their friendship as part of a tribal tradition where they drank a cup of Spanish wine with drops of blood from both of them
Tarsiers - Small, nocturnal, insectivorous primate with a species that is endemic to the Philippines; Fun facts: their eyeballs are the size of their brain and they can leap up to 40 times their body length!
Chocolate Hills - Geologic formations with many Filippino folk tales surrounding them; my favorite is a story of two giants that were arguing and eventually made up but left the island before they cleaned up their mess!
Habitat Butterfly Garden
Loboc River Floating Restaurant
Baclayon Church and Museum - Founded in 1596, elevated to a parish in 1717, and the present coral stone church was completed in 1727, it is the second oldest stone church in the Philippines (it is currently under restoration and repairs, similar to many other churches and old structures around the Philippines, because of the earthquake that happened in 2013)
We flew back to Manila on Monday morning so that we would be back for the London shift (3pm to midnight). There is only a little over a week left in our internship. This weekend we are planning on going on a tour of Manila and Corregidor Island. And then August 7th I will be heading back to the US!
We had a day tour scheduled for Sunday, which included:
Blood Compact Shrine or Sandugo (meaning "one blood") - Monument commemorating the blood compact between Spanish explorer, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, and chieftain of Bohol, Datu Sikatuna, to seal their friendship as part of a tribal tradition where they drank a cup of Spanish wine with drops of blood from both of them
Tarsiers - Small, nocturnal, insectivorous primate with a species that is endemic to the Philippines; Fun facts: their eyeballs are the size of their brain and they can leap up to 40 times their body length!
Chocolate Hills - Geologic formations with many Filippino folk tales surrounding them; my favorite is a story of two giants that were arguing and eventually made up but left the island before they cleaned up their mess!
Habitat Butterfly Garden
Loboc River Floating Restaurant
Baclayon Church and Museum - Founded in 1596, elevated to a parish in 1717, and the present coral stone church was completed in 1727, it is the second oldest stone church in the Philippines (it is currently under restoration and repairs, similar to many other churches and old structures around the Philippines, because of the earthquake that happened in 2013)
We flew back to Manila on Monday morning so that we would be back for the London shift (3pm to midnight). There is only a little over a week left in our internship. This weekend we are planning on going on a tour of Manila and Corregidor Island. And then August 7th I will be heading back to the US!