When I went to Singapore to meet my family I had a layover in Mexico and another one in Tokyo. Considering the timing of the purchase of the flights and where I was coming from, it was already a very good deal. The downside of it was the total duration to get to the final destination (not the movie, please). Layovers included, it was 44 hours and 40 minutes. One-way. Yup, no typos there.
For having only two bottles the night before after our El Nido island hopping, we were on the road and back to our senses before seven o’clock and in around 25 minutes were already parked to start the hike to Nagkalit-kalit Falls. The entrance fee and tour guide cost us ₱770. Doing the math necessitates the counting of our heads in the foregoing post or carrying on.
After securing a Telcel SIM card at MEX airport—which I thought cost 129 USD until I checked that “$” is also used for Mexican peso—and making sure it was gonna keep me going in the city, I booked an Uber to Biblioteca Vasconcelos for $91.96 and stepped out in ~23 minutes, muttering the palabra one has to know in the Spanish world: Gracias!
It was already 37 minutes past three in the morning when I did a final check if all the plugged gadgets were charging, ensuring we have enough juice for our El Nido island hopping activity. Following firefly watching in Iwahig (where I have no proof of the sightings because I was too busy dramatically thinking if a croc was gonna attack our boat in the dark), we flew from Puerto Princesa to El Nido in a van. It was one of those moments where you get to be thankful for an nth life, where n > 1.
I may not look like it, but I’m actually someone who likes to keep things in order. As if being drunk, I could no longer recall the particular instance which drove me to start a travel packing checklist but it’s pretty darn obvious that it was to avoid forgetting something moving forward, especially in times when there are only a few more hours left before departure and my shit’s not yet together. Mind you, it has never failed me ever since.
Bucas Grande has always been under my radar due to its proximity to my home province. When I fin’lly (wow, twang again) had the chance to visit it, what I actually had in mind was a typical island hopping activity. Apparently, you can also swim with stingless jellyfish in Sohoton Cove. (The use of “stingless” there may have been unnecessary. Who wants to get hurt, right?) My GoPro was still alive back then and the nasty little devils sure did a very good job in showcasing how much wonder there is beneath the surface.