I got to swim in the ocean!
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
It was so amazing! It was gorgeous! We went to 100 Islands down by Dagoupan and we took this little small skinny boat to one of the Islands. 100 Islands is exactly how it sounds, there are a bunch of small islands all clustered together. Some have sandy beaches and some just have rocky shores. Our boat captain went around until he found us an island with no one else on it. We floated up to the sand and hopped out into the ocean. The water was so clear blue and the sand was a light brown. It was beautiful. We stripped down to our bathing suits and plunged into the water.
It was so warm and amazing. They brought snorkel gear as well and we went snorkeling. We saw the coolest sea crabs, hermit crabs, fish, and sea anemone…. you know the stuff that Nemo hides in. Just simply gorgeous. We just lazed around and dunked my mother a bunch of times. It’s so funny because Ryan will dunk her in like waist high water and she flounders, splashes and sputters around like a floppy fish while screaming, “I can’t swim1 I can’t swim, HELP!!!” We just tell her to put her feet down and stand up. She’s so funny. It’s quite comical. I love the ocean! I just lay on an inner tube and floated out to the ocean. When I got too far out away from the island I just swam back. The kids ran around and picked up seashells off the beach and played in the sand. They also swam around in the water and floated on tubes. The day was hot, gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky with a light breeze blowing. It was sheer paradise. I didn’t want to leave. I could totally live here.
After we went to this restaurant and they had live monkeys in a cage. Their cage was over the water. I felt sorry for them because it must get so hot during the day. We had an awesome dinner. We ate raw milk fish and tones of awesome food! They also had live singers.
We then stayed at this gorgeous leisure coast resort in Dagupan. It had 3 waterslides and an amazing kiddy pool with mini water slides and waterfalls. There was a wave pool, a lazy pool that circled all the other pools and a big main pool. It was gorgeous! We had an amazing room for only 70. We would have paid 175 or more to stay in a place like this in Canada. It was just heavenly….. can I just say that they have amazing TV here! Their cable is phenomenal. Every channel is good! There is no channel that doesn’t suck! We stayed overnight. The room had air conditioning so we slept we comfortably. We had breakfast outdoors in the grass restaurant hut, then we went swimming for the entire day until 2pm.
We went to Agoo where my Grandmother grew up. We watched a teenager climb up a coconut tree and throw down coconuts. We drank fresh coconut milk and ate fresh coconut. It was sooo good! It’s pulp is very sweet and soft not like the dried stuff we have back home.
Then we drove back to Baguio. It’s amazing. I asked my brother-in-law if there were any speed limits. He said no. I asked him if you had to wear seatbelts… nope again. Everyone seriously drives like a bat out of hell!!! It’s SOOOOOOOOO much fun! I feel like I’m constantly on an amusement park ride! It’s just a blast. The only speed limit is determined by how fast your vehicle can go! LOL… Life’s great… but you know for the amount of crazy driving there are no car accidents. no head on collisions no fender benders. I have not seen an accident yet. In Calgary there are at least 10 or more a day. We finally came upon an accident as we were heading back to Baguio. A bus lost it’s brakes as it was coming down the mountain and it crashed into a barrier. It killed 28 people. about 1/2 the people died. But other than that it’s the only accident that I’ve come across and then that’s not even colliding with another car! Amazing. I need to video tape the driving here just so you will understand!
Well, I’m exhausted because I’ve spent the entire day in the sun. I’ve got a tan, Ryan and the kids are a little red. But we’ve had a blast. Ryan doesn’t want to go home. I wish he could stay!
I hope all is well!
Have a smurfalicious, spankalicious day! loves ya! jo