Going Back to Danao City

After our delightful stay at Nonok Beach House, it was time to head back to our "Home Sweet Home" and be poor again. Yes, true because only rich people deserved vacation like this. But this way of thinking should change. Everyone, regardless of their status in the society, deserved a break to relax, unwind and be stress free even for a short period of time. After all we are all humans and we all need a moment to rest.

The photo above and below was taken at the terminal in Consuelo. Yes, the place was so green, clean and quite for a terminal. Most inhabitants of Camotes Island left to pursue their education or luck to some major cities in the country. They settled there and returned to the island on special occasions only. That is why the island was not crowded just like some other small islands in the country. So if you want to live in a quite place there were lots of affordable spaces in the island.

The terminal fee was 5 pesos per head. Did I mention that the boat fare cost us 180 pesos each? Now I did. The hired driver was very kind to offer to wait for us until the boat arrives. He wanted to see to it that we did get the ride. He said that if we cannot catch the boat here, he can bring us to the other port. How thoughtful! 

Here comes the boat and it's boarding time. Most passengers ran to get the best seats inside the boat. Haha, I checked if we were that many and if we really needed to compete for the best seats. I scanned the people and noticed that there were only few people. I was pretty sure that there were enough seats for all of us. So, no need for me to hurry and time for perfect picture moments.

Good bye Camotes!

Once the boat left we all took our final glimpse of the island. We enjoyed our stay but then we may not be able to come back again. For now our curiosity had been satisfied. Before all we heard were stories about the island and it's people but right now we already saved its picture into our memories. We now have stories to tell,experiences to narrate and places to recommend to our dear friends who also wanted to visit this island someday.

Danao City, here we come!

We arrived home safe and we were very thankful. Some will not want their whole family to ride a boat or a plane. They worry about the "karma". What if the boat will sink or the plane will crash? But for us, as long as we are together there is no reason for us to fear for we have each other.

There is no place like home. We may reached so many places but we will always come back to Danao City. You may asked about natural attractions, places to visit or famous delicacies of Danao City and my answer will be none. And then you will wonder why I still love my home place. The answer is simple, I love the people, I love the Danawanons!!

By the way, remember the drama we had at Timubo cave? I mean the chicken tinola. We bought the pail so that we can bring the soap with us. That pail was at the center of the above photo. It became a perfect prop in our photo shoot.

Japanese Games at Camotes Islands

Japanese Game was a famous game we played when we were still children. This game could be based on the drama during Japanese occupation in the Philippines. We decided to play it while waiting of our departure time.

We grouped ourselves into two groups. That was easy and right away we agreed that it was going to be "boys vs girls". The boys jumped for joy as they will be joining their uncle, their idol, the chosen leader of their team. We, the girls, gave them a smug look. We will not allow them to beat us. We may not be able to outrun them but we have the numbers. Let the game begins!

Mechanics: There should be two bases located opposite each other. The goal of the game is to touch the base of the other team. A successful touch on the opponents base means one point. The team that gets the higher points shall win the game. 

The bases should be far enough from each other. The middle ground will serve as the battle ground. The first member to attack to the other base will be chased by any member of the opposing team. When someone from the other group catches him he shall become a prisoner. He will have to stand at the opponent's base and spread his hands to the side until his team mates rescue him by touching his extended hands. If he can outrun everyone and touched the base without being caught then his team will get one point. After every score, the game will go back so square one, meaning prisoners can go back to their respective bases and start all over again.

Each team has to guard the base from intruders. When an opponent runs toward the opposite base, someone from that base should chase him to protect the base. But once you chase your opponent, you should be careful because someone from your opponent will chase you back. When you are chasing and then someone also chased you, your team mate will protect you by chasing the person who was chasing you. When chased all you have to do is to go back to your base and touch it. Upon touching your base the role switches so that the one chasing you can no longer catch you but you can chase him back if you want.

The prisoners should hold hands together and make their lines longer so that it will be easy for their team to save them. Once saved they can go back to their base and help their team get a point. But if almost all turned to be prisoners, the opponents can surround your base. The outnumbered member will not be able to protect the base and one of your opponent can touch the base uncaught and get a point.

During the first round, our team was able to get three points easily. The boys ran faster than us but we were just too many for them to beat. When some of us became prisoners, we will just have to make our line longer and longer. We did it because we were so many that we could make the prisoners' line almost reached our base. In this way, saving our team mates with no sweat at all. They tried to transfer their base as far as they could but the result was still the same. Haha, looks like our numbers could win this game!!

But then my sister-in-law's cousin volunteered to help them. And with that they were able to surround and confused us. They were able to trick us and touch our base when our formation became disoriented from chasing them every now and then. Plus, they were quicker and we got tired that some of us left the game. When they tied the score we decided to end the game and prepared for our way back home. To their dismay, they chanted that they were winners and we were losers. But we were already breathing hard to insist that it was still a tie.

Dancing Oppa Gangnam Style

After fishing and sightseeing that morning, we decided to shoot our family dance number for this travel. Yes, we did prepared one. Dreamily, I told them that we will dance it on the whitest sandbar of Camotes Island. That they will be dancing the famous "oppa gangnam style" with the bluest sea as their background. We even bought with us a portable music box so that we can dance anywhere we wanted.

They were excited and practiced for a week. My sisters, their mothers, supported and willingly joined the dancing fever. The preparation was not that easy because they always turned out to be incomplete. They tend to change their dance steps from time to time. The rest had a hard time catching up plus the fact that our family were not good dancers. Haha, but the spirit was there and we loved fun which was the equalizer.

Unfortunately, we were not able to get the desired beach. We ended up in a rocky shoreline, remember? But as you can see, the greens were equally beautiful and lovely to look at. The background was perfect and cool for the eyes. The area was not exposed to the sun rays but still bright. This scenery still shine on video so we were not that sorry.

Oh, how we end up dancing again and again. Since mastery was always a question, we all agreed that we needed to have a final practice. But every time the music ends, we still feel the need for another round of final practice. This had happened continuously just like forever  until we ran out of battery. So after all our efforts we were not able to record the final video of this dance. All we had was the funny videos of all our final dance practices.

But it did not matter at all. Dancing alone was already fun. We were experimenting actions during our final practice and most of it showed the individuality of each in the family. This was a major turning point of our relationships as a family. Clearly, we are now comfortable with each other. We can now express ourselves freely to the family. Our travels together had made us closer and we can now understand each other better.

Our dance steps now looks like an exercise but we were in the mood like that of great entertainers. Though the series of final practices we had consumed our energy, enthusiasm and strength to carry on. But the young ones were winners because they were able to sustain this activity longer. Evidently, they still had the power to jump and put up a showdown. We were not good dancers but we still manage to pull this activity to a success. 

We are so proud of our family!!

The Passersby at Nonok Shores

We live far from the beach so the sights at the shoreline that morning were somewhat special. Looking at the horizon where the sea water and the sky united was always a wonderful sight. It was like a food for my soul. It calmed my spirit, relaxed my mind and brought joy to my heart. 

My thoughts wandered looking upon those sailing objects. It looked so small from afar but I know how huge they were and that there could be lots of people inside. They should have been eager to land somewhere after their long stay over the seas. I know the view from there were beautiful but people were not destined to stay on the water forever. We, too, needed to cross this body of water again to go back home. Do you think that ship could be our ride home? I think so.

Those group of fishermen caught our eyes too. We were guessing on what they were doing. A few of them dived into the water and after a few minutes they landed ashore. They were just few meters away from us so we were able to spy them. We found out that their boat was full of large "suwaki" (an edible sea urchin). And then their wives and children came with rice in their baskets. To our envy they were having a family picnic before our very eyes. If only we had the boat and goggles, we would have dived too to get those "suwaki". There could be plenty of them beneath as it took them less than an hour to fill in their boat. That mouth watery sight made us all hungry.

Another sailor passed us by. He was alone. His hat was intriguing so my sister-in law took a closer view. And there it was, very unique indeed. 

There were plenty of white birds in the island. They could be wild ducks or heron. I am not sure but what do you think they were? It was so faraway for us to know. Like people, they were fishing for food too. They could be having a fest over there. Some sailor said that if you wanted to know where the school of fishes were, all you needed to do was to follow those birds. And this happens to be your clue for the day!!

The Rocky Shoreline of Nonok Beach House

Good morning Camotes!

The first thing we did when we woke up in the morning was to run to the seashore. The water was so clear and the rocks were not able to stop some of us from swimming. Though we needed to be extra careful because these rocks could hurt us anytime.

The children wanted to swim but it was not safe for them. We tried to convince them that anytime sharks could appear as they were living somewhere near the shore. Their grandfather, too, told them that Camotes was known for schools of sharks and that somewhat discouraged them to do so. Haha!!

We were not able to buy some fishing rods so they had to improvise. They patiently waited for the fishes to bite the bait but it just took so long. We also had a hard time finding a bait for the fishes. We decided to try any meat we could get from the snails living in those rocks. The snails were scarce to find and I even tried to help.

Another issue was that we had a hard time keeping the bait attach to the lure. The meat we've got was not that strong and can be teared into pieces easily. The bait kept on falling out from the lure and they had to checked the lure from time to time. When your lure seemed untouched that simply means that your bait was gone. Yes, catching fish is a difficult job!

Fishing equals patience. One needs to be patient and wait for the fishes to bite. When you feel the bite you get excited and your first reaction is to withdraw your lure from the water. But most of the time you find it empty and it breaks your heart. Sometimes you can feel the fish is already in the lure but after raising it from the water the fish wiggles and twitches and all of a sudden it jumps back to the water celebrating the sweet escapade.

But in spite of countless failures, we were still able to enjoy fishing. We were not able to capture them but we enjoy playing with them. I realized that these were the kind of failures that we enjoyed so much. This feeling comes naturally and you will just love it!

Even watching them fishing gave us joy. We laughed at their misfortune and even wish for them to miss more. We were cheering for the fishes so we were not that bad, okey. Once again we were amazing for we were still able to find ways to enjoy this rocky shoreline.

Trees We Met at Camotes Islands

These trees were new to us so we were quite amazed with their beauties. They were not that tall and they were easy to climb. We did took our chances and tested how strong their branches were. These trees should be sturdy enough to survive countless storms, heavy rains and the violent sun. They survived our weights and that should be proof enough.

And look at those roots. Can you believe that they were pandan roots? We grow pandan in our backyard but I never thought they can grow their roots as high as those. Pandans at home never grow half of my height. Maybe because a merchant used to visit them every month to collect their young tops.We, too, used their leaves when cooking rice to make it smell delicious. Or this can be another species of Pandan. I mean a giant one, just like coconuts have dwarf varieties.

And here comes the Pandan fruit. The color is green when it is not ripe. I research the net and found out that they are edible. They can be propagated by their seeds or through their branches. Yes, they can multiply so easily but they can be scary to look at especially when they stand in groups. Seriously, if I am alone I will not bother to go near or even stare at them. 

Another variety that catches my attention was the "BITOON" tree. I cannot find it on the net but then my father told me it's local name. It was a common variety in the past but due to some improvements made on our shoreline these trees were no longer standing.

What attracts us the most were the flowers scattered on the ground. They were beautiful that we picked them up and pose for a perfect photo. And then wen we looked up we saw heart shaped fruits with prominent edges. There are fives edges that made it look like a star from afar. That should be the reason why old folks called them Bitoon. "Bitoon" is a Visayan dialect which means "star". I am "bisaya" so you can trust me on this translation.

Accordingly, these trees used to lined at our shores. Their mature fruits used to flock the seas. From color green, it will turn yellow when it's ripe and then it will turn brown when dead. They can float and they are unbreakable. They can survive the seas and I can attest that you cannot crack it open no matter how hard you throw them on the ground. I had tried it once when one of my cousins challenged me into it, taking advantage of my innocence.

The Greens at Nonok Beach House, Camotes Island

Good morning Camotes! Greeting this place with a wide smile on my face. Why not? I love green and the place was all green. I felt like meditating in a solitary place. All I can hear were the waves crushing against the solid shore while the birds were joyfully singing somewhere over those trees.

This is where I want to spend my morning. A tea time would had made it perfect. The beach house had a vast yard and with trees proudly standing all over it. We seldom encounter those species so I planned to do some research and blog it here.

This was like my dream house in a way. I dreamed a house that is not so big just like this one but I wanted it in a middle of a flower garden. Yes, I want flowers all around and not just ornamental trees. I love trees but I prefer fruit bearing trees like mango, jack fruits, avocado, star and sugar apples and the like. Obviously I want to eat fruits that is why I wanted them around.

Overall, I still love the outside of this beach house. The environment was relaxing and stress reliever. If only I can afford to have a home with large gardens just like this one... One day, we'll see!

Nonok Beach House, Camotes Islands

You may wonder what this beach house looks like. Photo above was the main house offered to families and at the back there were building with standard rooms. I forgot how many were there but then that was almost three years ago. You can actually search it on the internet if you are interested. We discovered it online and we choose it because it had wifi and the connection from there was actually good.

The house had only one room but our headcount was around thirteen since the other five occupied the two rooms at the back of the house. So how did we all fit in? Well, we were amazing. First we discovered that the bed had two foams plus they provided us two extra bed sheets which we placed at the living room. That was how we were all able to fit in that house that night. 

The bed room was air conditioned but not the living room so we did not close the bedroom door so that those sleeping in the living room can feel a little bit of cool air. How I wish I could find the bathroom pics and post it here too. I apologize for that miss. I know that was the most important.

There was a piano at the house but I wonder if you can see the whole picture. I uploaded it twice but the result was the same. Maybe it did not want to be posted nor want to be trending all over the net. None of us knows how to play but both ladies were brave enough to key in some unknown notes.

This was taken in the living room. It was quite comfortable enough. There was a table where we put our food and other things. There was a television but I cannot remember anymore if it had a cable subscription.

This girl just loves to be in photos. She seems to be very comfortable in the living room. The house was clean and the furniture was good. We were not that choosy and besides we were there for the tour and the beach. A comfortable place to stay for a night was a bonus.

The kitchen was also big. But water was a problem. They may have conserved the water since they take it off and only had the supply back after talking to the administrator. The same with the drinking water. They only had one gallon free and after that we need to buy from them since there were no stores in the area. We end up concluding that they cut the water supply because they wanted us out. Doing so would avoid overstaying. We were bad to think that way but then how can you be good without water?

 We cooked our own food and ate them outside. The kitchen was functioning well and the utensils were excellent. I mean far better than what we had in our home. All I can remember was how hungry I was and how good was the food. The food runs out fast and I wonder why. Maybe we underestimated our numbers plus dining as a family should had increased our appetites. 

Hmmp...still looking for food? I guess we need to inform the cook. Our stay there was not convenient at all because you cannot buy if you need something and you have no neighborhood to turn to. Should you choose to stay at this place be sure that you are bringing everything that you need. The good thing was that they had someone who watched our safety during the night.