Day 1 in Coron

I was  recently invited by my friend Sarita to spend six glorious days in her hometown of Coron in Palawan. Naturally, I did not refuse. I had long wanted some rest and recreation and this was the perfect opportunity. I found myself on a Bombardier with my friends flying off to Busuanga at 1:45 in the afternoon.

The  Calamianes group of islands

The Calamianes group of islands comprises about 160 little green masses of land with incredible white -sand beaches, excellent dive spots, colorful sea creatures and crystal clear water you would want to dip into at all hours of the day.

Sunset at the port

The minute we walked into the door of her well-appointed ancestral home, Lia, Sarita's sister welcomed us and showed us our accommodations. The home was warm and inviting with groups of furniture in wood just asking for casual conversation. 

the Jovellanos' home

We spent a couple of hours getting a load off and then Lia invited us to visit the family-owned resort. Sarita, Fides, Joy, June, Tom and myself packed into the pick-up truck driven by Lia and we drove to Maquinit to luxuriate in sulfuric hot-spring pools that drained off into the ocean. The resort is popular among tourists who frequent the resort specially in the afternoons until ten in the evening to relax in its soothing hot waters and give their skin a good algae treatment.

Maquinit Hot Springs Resort

When we were about to doze off from the springs, we were dragged off to have dinner at Santino's Grill where we feasted on fresh seafood, lato ( a type of seaweed) salad with salted eggs and barbequed meat and chicken.

Tuna Kinilaw

Tuna Salpicao

Fully sated, we went back to Sarita's home for cups of coffee and conversation amidst raucous laughter. Then we all went to sleep after a long day of travel and discovery. The next few entries will be filled with more photos as Coron is such a magical place filled with ecological wonders. Sometimes words would not be enough to describe it. Photos will be more appropriate. Look at some of the photos and see for yourself. Don't you wish you came along?

Manila Vanilla!

The hospitality industry is getting a shot in the arm with the new Mabuhay Restop. It's a restaurant cum activity cum tourism hub as they offer a variety of ways to entertain visitors to the city of Manila. Who says there's not much to see and do in the capital city?

Billie de Jesus, marketing manager of Mabuhay Restop invited a couple of tourist guides to their spot nestled in the Rizal Park to watch their self-produced musical review entitled "Manila Vanilla". The show runs for about an hour or two and it is an interesting and entertaining hodge-podge of music and dance that "orients" visitors on what to expect among the Pinoys.

The show comes with a buffet dinner of yummy Filipino flavors: Bangus Belly ala Pobre, Prawns, Pancit Sotanghon, Soup served in Coconut shell, Calderetta and for dessert... luscious Halo Halo! The show does come cheap considering you can enjoy second and third helpings. Their appetizers of garlic peanuts, nachos and shing-a-ling (crispy puffed deep fried noodles) are tasty enough to whet your appetite.

Of course, the laughter helps get you hungry enough for more servings. The first half starts of with two actors talking about Pinoy English... Even as we proudly tout how well we speak the language there are  certain Filipinisms where our use of some of the idioms don't quite exactly sound right. We, as Pinoys, understand it though. Some of the lines are a bit too self-deprecating for us Pinoys. It can still be tweaked to soften the dig. But knowing Nestor U. Torre's acerbic sense of humor, he will keep the runs as is.

Don't bring the  kids if  you plan to see this show. Some of the humor can be off color. Too adult for the kids to comprehend. Besides, for kids it would be best to take them to Tita Beauty's story-telling But that's another blog post...