Masbate

We then headed off on first of many boats, to Masbate Island. Lovely journey on a large banca-kind of a wooden catamaran- past lovely smaller islands and deserted beaches. This was more like it! We arrived in Masbate city, grabbed a spot of lunch at a random but totally delicious restaurant. Somehow we ended up with sizzling hotplates of steak, and fish in some caramelised sauce. So nice to have something good to eat!

after that we had some bad luck in trying to get to where we were going and took several tricycles (quite a funny way to get around and very squashed!) down a bumpy road, to a beach. The only place to stay seemed to be inhabited by about 20 rabid dogs, and a woman who just poked here head out to say they were closed, and when we looked around we were surrounded by gaping schoolchildren again. About 50 or so just staring...So disconcerting! Think we decided not to stay there then and had to walk back up the hill for a few km with our bags, and surrounded by curious kids. I don't know what they must think of these weird white people who carry giant bags up hills and sweat profusely. To be fair, I d probably wonder as well if I saw someone walking round bryansglen like that.

anyway, after another few tricycles, we ended up at bituon beach not far away. Now that was strange place. Apart from the fact that they had armed guards at the gate, there was funny giant Disney characters everywhere, a kids playground, a swimming pool, basketball court, and seriously- a bowling alley. And this was just a cove at the end of a dirt track, and we were the only guests. We camped by the beach, which was so nice- just weird to have all the other stuff there!

after that we carried on south to try and catch the boat over to the next island. When we arrived in esperanza we got pointed towards the accommodation, and it was fantastic. Right at the end of the beach, stunning white sand, clear water, and of course, no other people...The only problem was that the woman who owned it, lovely as she was, kept coming up to our balcony, sitting herself down and staying there for an hour or two. Even when I was trying to hide in the room, she'd come and sit down and wait for me to come out. Not very relaxing, especially cos we couldn;t really communicate as it was. It was quite funny, but it kind of drove me a bit nuts. We ended up having to stay for a couple of days to wait for the next boat but it was such a gorgeous spot we were quite happy...