Once Jessie and I returned from grabbing lunch, we knew we had to find some help with our luggage, because it was just too heavy. We called on our Filipino friend Raymon who brought some of his friends along and they heaved our bags for us for a very little charge. We were soon at the waiting area for the Banka boat to take us to the mainland.
The next scheduled Banka wasn’t for another 30 minutes, so we made ourselves comfortable in the sand and waited. A little while later, we noticed a few kids around who were playing with each other, but were obviously poor. Jessie remembered that we had some pencils and goodies in our bags and so we started giving them out to the kids. They were ecstatic! I guess news travels fast on a small island because in a short amount of time, there were probably 30 more kids who arrived for some free stuff. We also gave out little Canada flags. There were adults around who were also asking if we had extras and we remembered we had some ‘Million Dollar Bills’ from our Christian friend Kelly. These bills are pretty neat because there’s a picture of Obama on the front (who everyone knows) and on the back, there’s a gospel message.
We started handing these bills out and they were a HUGE hit. Everyone wanted one and it was amazing how more and more people were coming. At first, I think that the people thought that the money was real, but we explained that it was pretend and even so, they were still pretty amused with it. It was charming to watch two little girls who had gotten one of the bills go through and read it aloud with one another. They were so cute.
When our banka was finally ready for departure, we were told that we had to pay another 40P to take a separate boat to get to it. Jessie and I had experienced numerous times being ripped off by stupid extra charges, and we thought this was another of those times. We were arguing with the captain, who couldn’t give us a reasonable explanation for the extra charges and I was becoming very frustrated. This was when we met a nice man named Erwin, who calmly explained that it was high tide and so the Banka could not come all the way in, so we needed a little row boat to transfer us into it. He explained that this was a customary charge. This made perfect sense, so we agreed. I felt slightly foolish for arguing with the captain; however I just didn’t understand the reasoning for the extra charges.
When Jessie and I were put into a tiny little rowboat with our two huge suitcases bobbing in the middle and two large backpacks, I though the boat would sink. It took us to the large Banka and we literally had to hoist ourselves up on the front plank of the Banka in order to get on. Keep in mind that this took some coordination because the waves were making the little boat move from side to side and there was quite a height difference between the row boat and the Banka. Thankfully the crew loaded our suitcases on because Jessie and I would have definitely dropped them in the ocean.
The Banka took about 30 minutes to reach the mainland. In that time, we had a nice chat with Erwin, who gave us lots of information about traveling in the mainland. He was also heading to Cebu City, and so he told us to stick with him and he’d look out for us. We have been so lucky with the helpful people we’ve been meeting. We’d be so lost if it weren’t for the kindness of others.
By the time we got to the mainland, there was no place for the big Banka to park. This meant that the captain pulled close to another Banka. The method of exiting consisted of walking up the plank of our Banka and jumping onto another bobbing Banka. At that point we’d walk to the plank of the other Banka and walk along a (splitting) narrow wooden platform that was leaning against a pile of costal rocks. I felt like I was on a deathly dangerous obstacle course, but somehow we both made it to the other end alive… horary!!
Again, we had some very agile and strong crew members bring our luggage for us, as we found our way to the bus. We’re beginning to learn that our luggage is an important contributing factor of the Filipino economy… it’s a win/win for everyone!
Erwin suggested that we take an air-conditioned bus to Cebu, which was just slightly more expensive. It was an excellent idea and even better was the fact that the driver wasn’t a maniac. For some reason, I did get quite sick on this trip. I medicated myself with a strong dose of Gravol and fell asleep but I wasn’t at all comfortable. To further the discomfort, the bus played two VERY violent and disruptive movies with full volume. This was not something one would want to be surrounded by when feeling dizzy and nauseous.
When we finally arrived in Cebu city, Erwin waited for us to get in a cab and waved goodbye to us. We were headed to the large SM mall in Cebu city, where we would pick up a few items and have dinner before boarding another bus to the town of Moalboal.
The mall had a Travel Lounge where we could cheaply store our luggage for a few hours while we walked around. We bought some supplies for the week and had a quick dinner at a cheap Chinese restaurant (not good food!). Then it was back into a taxi cab and heading towards the south bus terminal.
By the time we arrived at the South Bus terminal, it was around 7pm. The sky was dark and the terminal was quite large. There were people everywhere. We were told that there were no more air conditioned busses running but that a bus would arrive shortly to take us to our destination: Moalboal.
While waiting for our bus to arrive, we witnessed other busses filling up with people. This was an insane sight to watch. There were so many people crowding around, and not enough space on the busses, so in order to get seats, people would run towards the bus as it was still driving and throw their backpacks or themselves into open windows to reserve their place. People were pushing, shoving and even punching each other in order to get inside. Jessie and I were just appalled.
We stuck out like sore thumbs because we’re not Filipino and we both were carrying lots of luggage. A little while later, a young man came up to us and asked us where we were headed. His name was John Paul. We told him and he said that he was getting off at the stop right before hand, so he would help us. He even went and got a terminal employee to help us put our luggage on the bus when it arrived.
The terminal employee told me to get on the bus as quickly as possible and that he would put my luggage on the bus but I declined and said that Jessie would get us seats, while I ensured that our luggage got on safely. This was not a good idea. Even before our bus had finished pulling into it’s parking space, people were throwing themselves into the windows to get seats. There were probably a few hundred people trying to get on. As I looked over at Jessie, I noticed that she had not made any progress with her Canadian politeness at getting close to the doors of the bus. The man sternly suggested that if I wanted to go to Moalboal, I needed to get onto the bus now.
Even after being warned about pick pockets, I trusted him with our luggage and made my way shoving and pushing until I had gone onto the bus. Our friend John Paul had been quick and had gotten two seats for us however another guy was trying to steal them. In my sternest teacher voice possible, I quickly said “Excuse me, those are my seats. You will have to get out of them now, please!”. He looked at me a little shocked, and then he moved… I was so surprised! Eventually, Jessie was able to get on board and I couldn’t see our luggage anymore, so I hoped that they had been put on board.
Our friend John Paul was standing now, because he wasn’t able to reserve a seat for himself while he was saving two for us. I offered him to have my seat, but he refused and kindly said that he would stand (it’s a 3 hour bus ride). I also tried to give John Paul some money for his kindness, but he refused that as well. He was such a nice guy and so helpful.
Throughout the bus ride, we were able to chat with John Paul and get to know more about him. We also met another older Filipino man named Dong. Dong was getting off at the same spot we were and so he had offered to help us find transportation to our hotel. Dong also told us that it may be difficult to find transportation, and if we couldn’t, he offered to let us stay at his house for the night. Such kind hospitality from a stranger—it’s really a warm place.
Jessie and I wanted to get to our hotel, so we hoped it wouldn’t be a problem to find transportation, but it was nice to know that we had a backup plan.
In the end, John Paul skipped his stop to go home and drove the extra way with us, so that he could personally help us find our hotel. We said goodbye to Dong when the bus dropped us off with the hopes that we would meet up in the upcoming days.
John Paul found us a tricycle because there are no taxis in Moalboal. A tricycle is a motorbike with an attaching carriage where people can sit (and luggage can be stored). Most of the tricycles are old and the carriages have rust spots and holes in the metal which made me a little nervous, but we arrived in one piece. John Paul came on the tricycle with us until we were checked into our hotel and then said that he would go home. I was overwhelmed with his kindness and shocked that he didn’t want anything in return for his help and trouble. I paid the tricycle driver enough money so that he would drive John Paul home afterwards and we made plans to hang out tomorrow.
(this photo was taken the following day, but it shows what a tricycle looks like)
Jessie and I were so relieved to finally reach our hotel. On a positive note, the hotel seemed to have forgotten about our reservation and they didn’t have any of the budget rooms available for us, so we were bumped up to a superior room that included a fridge, plasma TV, hot shower water and air conditioning! How lucky was that!!
When we looked back on our busy day, we began traveling at 10am in the morning and didn’t reach our hotel until 11:30pm that night. In total we rode on a small boat, a large Banka, two busses, two taxi cabs and a tricycle… it was a long day of adventure. We were glad it was over. We both slept very well that night.
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