Backpacks and Flipflops

Travel Sweat

....the thin, wet sheen coats the skin, lubricates the lines and folds of the body....pores open and the liquid flows and saturates..

.....no amont of meditation, practicing stillness or yoga stops the creeping movement forward of the drip...

.....the clear drops bead and pool, following gravity downward, drops drip off the nose, run down the cheeks, the sweat, warm to the touch.....

....edges further down....past the neck, along the chest lines..sometimes, it appears, a water stain on a T-shirt...as the heat of the day builds..

....the sweat is a puddle...everything is drenched, coated in the body's nectar...bodies caress, slide over one another.....

........the sweaty streams descend into the nether regions...front and back make no difference....

...... in the end, there's acceptance, grudgingly, that this too shall pass...but for now, embrace the sweat...wipe it, rub it, feel it....cause it 'ain't' going away...until you head back home!

We leave El Nido...bound for Cebu City...then,

....overnight, and next morning...head south to the

...Island of Camiguin, Mindanao. These motorellas are slightly larger and more comfortable than many of the trikes on the other islands

...our cute, little cottage by the sea

We visit the crescent-shaped atoll, White Island, a short bangka ride offshore of Camiguin... the island of many volcanoes

Seen as we flew in...

...beautiful white sand in the shadow of Camiguin's tallest volcano Hibok-Hibok... the island has about 7 volcanoes, all dormant...nothing much to see, except for numerous bumps scattered around the 60+km ring road...

...a little snack of urchin...

Yum...those 5 little fingers of urchin meat...and a dash of spicy vinegar...

...another day gone in Camiguin paradise

...this is a pretty quiet island, hardly any traffic and few tourists... We push on to another part of the island to stay....

...we snorkel at the Sunken Cemetery... nothing left of the cemetery that was destroyed in an earthquake over 60 yrs ago...seems the land slid into the ocean taking the cemetery and all who reside there, further to a watery grave

.....sea life and coral are brilliant here....some of the best we've seen in the Philippines....

....Shayne finally ticks off something from his bucket list.....riding on the outside of a jeepney... these pints size versions of the chicken buses do the trick, transporting people...they do tend to get crowded, so room to stand is on the back bumper....next time on the roof!

...Camiguin prides itself on a clean island...some villages have banned plastic bags; only paper grocery bags available...

while everywhere, there are the blue bins for garbage collection and recycling...

....our stay at D & A Cottages...great little family run place with cottages that spill down the hill to the ocean

Has a great seaside trail to walk along and bamboo benches to watch the sunset from.

The cleanest pool we have yet come across in our travels.

...we snorkel off the rocky, volcanic shoreline that borders the cottages. Here, as elsewhere along Camiguin's coast, are numerous marine parks, protecting fragile sea and coral life..