Beach Trip Summary

Last week, since the office was closed for Holy Week, Andrey and I took a trip to the beach, 90 km (55 miles) away from Cebu City in Moalboal. With use of the office van, we decided to drive. Normally a 2.5 hour trip, it took us 6 hours. Lesson learned? Buy a map and don’t depend on the tiny Lonely Planet map that lacked a few very essential details, like the “National Highway” turning into a gravel road that really no one travels on. Needless to say, there were a few disappointments about the trip. If only I could get rid of ALL my expectations then I'd never be disappointed! At the risk of sounding negative, I'm going to list the disappointing aspects (because it's reality!) before I give you the highlights.

Disappointments:-The National Highway that we ended up on unexpectedly, aka “the rough road” -average speed: 10 km/hr (6 mph). The road was like this for ~2 hours taking us 20 km (12 miles) closer to our destination. -The last 4 hours of the 6 hour drive was in the dark which made it difficult to find our way.

-The few moments of marital tension during the frustrating drive

-Finally arriving at our destination but needing another hour to find our guest house in the dark at 10:30 pm.

-Waking up the next day to discover that the “beach” isn’t really a beach after all. There are tons of small guest houses and restaurants crammed into a very small strip of oceanfront property, literally built on the ocean so that whatever small amounts of sand existed, was totally inaccessible.
-Rain on both days
-The traumatic experience thinking I had lost Andrey forever when he went for a walk in the rain to check out the rest of the beach (I didn’t feel like getting wet). He said he’d be back soon. Over an hour later, after imagining his disappearance, drowning, and/or death, I found him talking to a co-worker he ran into on the beach. I embarrassed myself by crying like a small child who got lost in the mall and couldn’t find her mommy.
-Feeling sick from eating too many Cheetos. I learned that Andrey doesn’t like Cheetos, leaving more for me to eat. I have very little self control when it comes to Pringles & Cheetos. For this reason I only allow myself to eat them on trips like this. Next time I’ll get the smaller bag or buy Doritos so Andrey can eat at least half of them.

Highlights:
-Taking the “scenic route” actually was quite beautiful for the first 2 hours, as the road took us over the tallest mountains on the island.

-Smelling fresh cool air as we passed over the top of the mountain
-Getting out of the city for a few days
-Having the ability to travel to an actual beach nearby
-The sun finally shining in the afternoon on the last day

-Pulling over on the side of the highway, walking down a steep hill and swimming in the ocean for a few minutes at this spot in the photo. Originally there was no one around but as we swam about 10 local children came down to watch and laugh at the strange white “Joes.” It was nice to know we provided some entertainment on that day to some of them.

-Beautiful blue-green clear water

-The bucket shower in our “can’t get anything cheaper” cottage ($11/night). Some might see this as a disappointment but I have grown to love the bucket shower in hot weather. So refreshing!

-Several good meals including fresh mango, dried mango, and mango shakes - mango, mango, mango!!!

Meeting these cute kids on the beach. I shared my oreos with them and they let me take a few photos. They were local kids hanging out all day without any parents in sight.

Kawasan Falls – We visited some falls on our way back. We enjoyed a nice swim in the very refreshing cool fresh water.

-Learning how NOT to drive to Moalboal

-Taking the correct roads back so it only took us 2.5 hours on the way back.

-Overall it was a fun adventure. Despite the challenges we did end up having a good time and enjoying the time together.