Anilao Travel
Pacificklaus the scuba nomad is in a different top diving location now: In Anilao, a macro diving top spot just a few hours by car south of Manila. I’ll be with Aiyanar, perched on a hill above the ocean. Yesterday was my travel day, and what a travel day it was. Travel in the Philippines seems to be always more entertaining and just short of twice as long as expected.
What is actually expected was a delay of the Cebu Pacific flight I took. Yeah, very cheap fares, goddess-pretty flight attendant dolls, but you need an extra hour or two. Which I spent in lovely Dumaguete airport. And the lovely here is nit cynical. There are no useless shiny stores of consumer goods and status symbol-handbags, but a blind dude playing Beatles classics on his guitar. Other than the late John Lennon few people can sing Imagine with so much heart. I also got a back and neck massage and ate some sesame cookies. Airports are also of course a good place for people watching. Dumaguete always has a nice mix of locals and tourists. The tourists usually have the better tattoos.
Finally we made it on the plane and I had a good conversation with a Dumaguetino architect traveling to a convention.
Next stop: Manila. The airport there is named after Benigno Aquino, Jr., a great man and political activist who worked to oust the dictator Marcos. Wouldn’t his memory be served better by organizing the airport a bit better? It took 90 minutes of lining up in the tropical summer mid-day heat, between a few construction sites, to get a cab. Yeah, there were more nice ladies to look at, but the wait got a bit long in the end. Interestingly, the cab drought seemed to have caught the attention of a local TV station which was shooting a special on it. You might see me on Manila local TV, sweating and looking a bit annoyed.
After I finally sat down in a cherished taxi, I made it through the chaotic traffic over to the bus terminal and boarded an air conditioned liner to Bantangas City. Lots of snack salesboys came through and I stocked up on nice juicy oranges. A movie in Tagalog with lots of beatings and explosions entertained the bus riders. The movies in Tagalog always seem to be these hard assed action flicks. The main protagonist had one of these thin mustaches which only tough guys in movies and 70s porn actors wear. Too many boobie traps and not enough boobies in the flick, for my taste. I had a nice chat with the really interesting young lady on the seat next to me, and within about two more hours I was in Bantangas.
From there I got picked up by the resort van, and it was another hour to Aiyanar. I got to re-watch “Predators” in the van, which is a really cool movie. Bantangas lookedalready pretty rural even though metro Manila isn’t that far away at all. I arrived at the resort just to see the clouds lit by the setting sun reflect in the infinity pool. Good times. More dives coming up soon!