Arriving in a town in the evening has a certain feeling to it - there's the excitement of what might be there, there's the uncertain feeling that the whole town is "toeten hosen" (German expression - dead pants, equivalent to dead's ville), our experience tells us that there is always action, but the first feeling is the opposite. Arriving in Talisay was like that. A strip that took about 7 minutes to cover in a tricycle. How much action could there be? This is a town that is on Taal Lake. In the middle of this lake is the world's smallest volcano with a beautiful emerald green crater lake. The last time it erupted was in the early 80's; we should be fine hiking it.
Following the advice of our host, Emma, we were up at 5:15 to watch the sunrise - ' the best sunrise in Philippines.' We watched the sunrise with the ridge of a volcano and fishermen in small kayak-like boats in silhouette. The sky changed from dark blue to orange and eventually into a bright white yellow. This was indeed a beautiful way to start our day. We were told that Filipino people believe that when you see the sunrise, you will be lucky in business and blessed for the day. Works for us!
Our exercise for the day was an 'easy' hike (really, everything is easy after the Pinnacles) up the side of the volcano to it's top. First, we took a bangka across the lake. These are Philippine 'long boats'; a boat that looks Ike a really long and wide canoe, it;s ends tipped up like a Groucho Marks moustache. They are usually painted bright colours and have a small flag hung from a pole at the front. They are very romantic in appearance. The boat ride was 30 minutes. We then passed through a small village where ALL business is related to tourists hiking up the mountain. There are people selling water, masks (it's gets rather dusty on the trail) and small horses for hire. These poor animals are made to schlep up the tourist with too much money up the volcano. Of course, it is likely not expensive, but I can't imagine why you would think this is apporapiate. The horses are really hot, you can see them sweating and the heat is oppressive, little shade and only an occasional breeze. If PETA saw this, they would be outraged. We make it up in a mere 45 minutes, taking it easy and stopping to admire the incredible views ot the lake.
Once you reach the top, rather then heading to view the lake, most people head for shade. It was hot, and we were there just after 10:30. We walked around the rather short walkway and took pictures. It was easy to see steam escaping from the surface at the sides of the lake, around the shores of the lake and we even saw bubbles in the lake. It was pretty neat. We headed back down after a short visit. We were both interested in heading back to our hotel and hanging out in the pool. We also had a lot of planning to do for this part of our trip, it remained unplanned. The walk down was also really hot. What made it more uncomfortable was the dust created by the horses. The pathway is volcanic sand, very fine sand that is easily kicked up by the horses. We made it done pretty quickly and found Alvin, our boatman waiting for us. I can't reinforce how nice everyone is - he greeted us with a full smile, asking "How did you enjoy your hike?"
We headed into 'town' for dinner. It really is a small areas. There is a Main Street and several small streets run off that road. It was hard to tell what was happening down those streets, Jon was not as adventurous as I - I would have strolled down a street but he preferred to stay on the main drag. We did find a restaurant, called Milan's, but contrary to the name, it served bypical Filipino food. A nice dinner with lovely staff. A great end to our day.
Wednesday would be our travel day. We had decided that somehow, yet to be determined we would head to Boracay. A tricycle (10 mins) followed by a Jeepney (30 mins) and then a bus (1h, 45 mins) brought us to Batangas pier. We waited for an office to open and then purchased tickets aboard 2Go - a direct overnight ferry to Caticlan. (We would then need to go on a Batanga to Boracay). After buying the tickets, we had 6.5 hours to spend in a city for which we had only read about as tout filled and merely a port town. We ended up at A&M Village Restaurant for lunch. We quickly met Tina, one of the daughters of the restaurant's founders. She welcomed us into her restaurant as if it were her home. We had lunch and then she joined us for coffee (which she treated us to). We chatted for hours, it was as if we had known each other for quite some time despite having just met one another. The lunch crowd came and went, then the dinner crowd started to arrive. Having spent the entire afternoon cool and comfortable, we were feeling like it was time to leave. We didn't want to overstay our very generous welcome. We went for a walk to buy treats for our 'cruise' and then came back ready to catch our tricycle for the pier. That's when we met some more family members, Tina's sister and brother (we didn't get their names) had now arrived. We were offered some tamarind, and then I mentioned that we have to try Halo-Halo. Next thing we know, we are being served their homemade Halo-Halo. It is a typical Filipino drink. Their version has corn, evaporate milk, sugar all on shaved ice. (I know, you are thinking this is weird). It was a great combination of flavours. It reminded me of a cool version of corn soup that my mom used to make for me. Before we left, we were also given some Empanadas for the trip. Turns out that Tina's mom found out we had visited and she wanted us to have some food for the road. How sweet!
Tina arranged for a tricycle to take us to the pier. She secured a fair price for us and sent one of her staff members with us. The three of us hopped on a tricycle and away we went. It is such an odd experience riding in one of these vehicles. In the side car, you are (what feels like 6 inches) very close to the ground. Street level action is passing by as you zoom through the streets. This time both Jon and I were in the sidecar - that 's nothing, it is often three in the sidecar! At the pier, we disembarked and said goodbye. I really felt like we had become part of their family. Such a very lovely experience. The open armed nature of the Filipinos that we have met so far has exceeded that of other counties. That is saying a lot, we have repeatedly met people who have gone out of their way to help us. I 'heart' Philippines!
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