The Philippines – the country that I love

After the last 2 weeks, I fell in love with the Philippines even more than before. On January 21, Edytka (friend from Poland) visited me with Kasia, her sister. They spent 10 days here. I planned 2 trips to show them what this country is all about!

For the first journey, we started our trip by bus on Jan 21 at 10pm to Banaue - a place which is famous for its Rice Terraces. We also visited Batad where we got to see outstanding Rice Terraces and a tall waterfall upclose and personal! We trekked on the walls of the terraces, and swam in the cool waters near the waterfall. It is even hard to describe… maybe when you look at the pictures, you will understand what I felt.

During that trip I almost didn’t feel like I was in the Philippines. The fauna and flora were completely different than what that I have seen so far. Also, it was so cold in the evening! Yes I was really cold, but maybe it was also the fact that people from the area were not smiling so much unlike in Manila.



From Banaue we travelled by jeepney through an extremely exciting road to Sagada… which was made more exciting by sitting on the roof of the jeepney! :) We spent 3 days in Sagada, which is famous for Caves and Strawberries. The highlight of my Sagada exprience was caving - for the first time in my life I was really caving, not like in Poland where one was walking around on a well-lit path to see what is there. I was barefooted hopping from one rock to the other, with only an oil lamp to guide our way for around 3.5 hours. You really needed to watch each move that you were making. It was very slippery and you could get hurt (maybe even killed!) with one mistake. It was a great experience because you could learn a lot about yourself, especially being in an extreme situation while seeing something unforgettable. I wish to have more of such adventures.

Those full 4 days became something that I was looking for a long time! Spending my time with best friends in a beautiful place, to enjoy my time, to completely relax and not think about work, and to discover the Philippines day by day. Sometimes I can’t still believe that I’m so lucky to be here!

The second trip was only 2 days. I took Edyta and Kasia to Puerto Galera on Mindoro Island, which is around 4 hours from Manila. I wanted to show them the beaches here because this is something that this country is famous for. Of course they were not the nicest beaches in the country, but it was enough for us :) For them, it was great to sunbathe on the white beach during January :) For me, it was nothing new :P because it’s always sunny here! We spent as much time on the beach as we could so that in the evening we go to bars and try some drinks :) And of course, we loved lying on the beach and enjoy the view of a million stars on a clear night sky!

Next day I went diving! Finally I can use my licence! Ah I love it! If there is anyone who had ever went diving, the person will understand what I mean. The underwater world is completely different, so colorful, peaceful and unexpected at the same time. You can see so many different fishes and corals that sometimes it is even hard to recognize which is which… Yes it was amazing time! Now I’m full of energy to go to work and looking forward to the next trips. Already have something in my mind…