Sunday, January 18th – Palowan to Taglibaran
Kathy and Alberto pick us up at 8:00 A.M. to take us to the neighboring Bee Farm. We have a brief tour of this organic vegetable, bee and raffia farm. There is only one demonstration hive of 60,000 bees because they buy the honey elsewhere and process it and sell it here. The short tour is far from inspirational and ends at the usual gift shop and Joe buys a bottle of honey wine.
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| Bee Hive |
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| Bee Hive |
Our next stop is at the island’s shell museum; an extensive, interesting and dusty collection of shells displayed in rickety wood cases with grimy glass tops. John and Art are fascinated by the scientific presentation but to me the most interesting of all the shells are the species, xenophora. These species of shells collects detritus and other bits of shell and seaweed to attach to their shells for camouflage
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| Xenophoridae Shell Species |
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| Example of Xenophoridae Shell |
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| Shell Museum |
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| Giant Tridacna Clams |
When we arrive at the port we find that the morning ferry to Dumagete has been cancelled because of the hurricane. It is doubtful if the 3:30 ferry will sail but we choose to find a hotel close to the port so that we can check easily on the ferry status. Kathy drives us to a nearby resort hotel but we balk at the $90 per room price and we go instead to a very sweet backpacker/local hotel with double rooms for $1300 pesos. (About $30 including breakfast.) It is 11:00 A.M. and our rooms will not be ready until 2:00 P.M. so we set out walking in the noonday sun to have lunch at the Buzz Café operated by the Organic Bee Farm. We have not thoroughly checked on its location and the day is blazing hot. We cool off at a Chinese restaurant and drink Calamansi Juice, quite similar to lemonade. (In the interim, I walk back to the hotel to get better directions to the Buzz Café.) We take two tricycles a few blocks further to the Buzz Café and enjoy an excellent lunch of organic lettuces and stir fried vegetables, fresh baked breads with herb spreads and a vegetarian pizza. Art orders a shrimp and noodle soup which unfortunately is not as good as our meals.
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| Ferry Ticket Pricing |
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| Joe at the Ferry Terminal |
Our simple hotel rooms are ready at 2:00 P.M; each with a harbor ocean view and we rest for the afternoon. About 4:30 Art, John and I set out to explore our port city, (not highly recommended in the guide book.) We take a trike to Rizal Plaza where on this Sunday afternoon, families and friends are gathered to picnic and relax. The adjoining cathedral is having its afternoon mass and with standing room only, people congregate outside the open doors and archways to listen to the music and hear the mass. We are all rather bored and Art and John get haircuts and shaves to pass time on this lazy afternoon.
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| John getting a shave |
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| Bohol Park |
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| Art getting a haircut |
We wander several gloomy malls and find a K.T.V. bar at the top level of one. The tinted windows are grimy but with a birds eye harbor view and we order inexpensive (and terrible) drinks. Had they been decent we might have moved on to share a pitcher or a tower of margaritas. There is a basket ball game on the television and oddly enough, John identifies the stadium as our Santa Cruz stadium.
It is dark when we walk back to the Sun Avenue Hotel stopping first at a Chinese Restaurant for dinner. We order spicy fried tofu, stir fry noodles, pineapple fried rice and sautéed broccoli. The servings are generous and reasonably tasty; especially when washed down by a can of St. Miguel beer. Joe has not joined us for dinner and we find him on the internet in the lobby of our hotel and turn in early.
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