Carlos' Dogs Monty and Bogart
Our temporary home in Manila
A Jeepney...Manila's Mass Transit
The other transit option...the Pedi-Cab!
Fast Food Manila Style
After a short 45 minute flight we landed in Busuanga where we were met by a van to drive us to Coron. The bus took us down a dirt road for just over an hour before we arrived at the port to meet our boat.
Check out how happy that guy is!! An ad from the airplane magazine on the flight to Busuanga.
The flight to Busuanga and bus ride to Coron
We arrived at the boat around 4 and enjoyed a peaceful 2 hour ride to Mangenguey, completed by a beautiful sunset as we arrived at the island. Upon arrival we were greeted warmly by Helena and Richard and escorted to our “mud” hut. Helena has appropriately named it “Rosa” and we have ditched the term “mud” hut since it is really a nice 3 room bungalow with two bedroom/bathrooms on the sides and a common space in the middle with a 3 person desk, refrigerator, sink and small camping stove. We showered and changed before heading to dinner. Lucky for us since the island is so remote and far from land or fresh standing water no bug spray is needed. We joined Helena, Richard, Geoff and the 4 guests for an amazing Spanish meal. Helena had prepared some of her classics: Gazpacho, Chorizo and Chicken Paella and Churros con Chocolate for dessert. Normally we do not eat with the guests but since it was our first night and the guests were 2 younger couples Helena had asked if we could join them to celebrate our arrival. After a very tasty dinner filled with great conversation we headed to our room to rest up for our first day of work on the island.
We started our first day in Mangenguey with a beautiful sunrise that we can see from the foot of our bed. After sunrise we enjoyed a brief walk and got to see some of our potential climbing sights. We slathered up before the walk but were happy later when Helena told us that if we are careful and follow the example of the natives (stay out of the sun unless necessary in the afternoon) we can skip the sunscreen and will slowly build our tan
People got up and got to work a bit later since it was Sunday (around 8ish). I started out with Helena in the kitchen while Trevor bounced back and forth between helping Richard with various construction projects and us in the kitchen. Helena got me started on inventory and familiarizing myself with the kitchen. Ane, our Sous Chef, is very skilled and very helpful and showed us around as needed. We place food orders from various vendors in Manila which are based off of the inventory and we needed an order for Monday to last thru the next week. Helena had also asked us to prepare the dinner for Monday evening so Trevor and I got to work planning a menu based off of the inventory.
In addition to the days tasks Helena began briefing us on her future plans for Mangenguey and some of the obstacles and problems we need to solve to reach her goal of doubling occupancy to 24 guests. We definitely have a lot of projects ahead to keep us busy!!
Our long day was broken up by a nice lunch, a late afternoon swim/beach walk and a nice tour and chat with Richard and Helena in their home. All the staff meals are eaten family style and prepared by Ane. For lunch we had Chicken Adobo, a Tomato, Cabbage and Red Onion Salad and a torta prepared by Helena. We finished the day with a candlelight dinner on the beach (also prepared by Ane) and were ready for bed after a long, information filled day.
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