Currently Reading: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R. R. Martin

Currently Listening to: “Oh, What A World” by Kacey Musgraves, “Accidents” by The One AM Radio, and “Nana” by Polo & Pan

Happy New Year, Chickadings! I’m back on my island and ready to jump into school, but let’s rewind! Before the dawn of 2019, I spent the last few weeks of 2018 in Hawaii and Panglao, Bohol. Very sosyal (posh), I know, but going to Hawaii was an opportunity to see my entire Filipino-American family at least once during service.

A Quick Note About Annual Leave

Volunteers accumulate 2 days of leave per month of service, and we’re not allowed to travel the first three months at site to aid with our integration in our community. Since I swore in on September 13, my travel ban was lifted on December 13 and I had 6 days of AL to use. Traveling within the country is nice because weekends and public holidays don’t count as annual leave, so you could travel for 9 days (Saturday-Sunday) and use only 5 days of AL. International travel is different though, and you use AL for each day you’re abroad. Personally, I used all 6 days of AL to see my family (2 were spent traveling, 4 were spent with them), because again, I may not have another opportunity to see the entirety of my Filipino-American family (who live in Idaho, Texas, New York, California, and Massachusetts) before I Close of Service in 2020. Most people who visit their family will accrue AL so they can stay longer, which I would highly recommend if you can swing it.

12 Hours of Flying Later

Following my Christmas trip to see my family, I spent New Years in Panglao, Bohol with a bunch of the other PCVs. The day I was meant to fly out of Honolulu, I went ziplining then straight to the airport. I met Steven in Manila after 12ish hours of traveling, and we hung out in the terminal from 11 PM – 5 AM (if you can avoid that… I wouldn’t recommend it… but we didn’t think it was worth it to find a place to stay for only a few hours). After three months apart, it was nice to be reunited with everyone. We spent our days on the beach, getting drinks, and dressing less conservatively since we’re in a touristy area that’s used to less moderate clothing. We did a few tours, and a lot of hanging.

Cue Owl City

One of the tours I did was a firefly kayak tour with most of my friends in the Education sector. All I could think about while on the river was “Oh, What a World” by Kacey Musgraves, because the world is amazing. It’s full if magic. And they’re real things!

What’s not so amazing is the fact that the number of firefly species that reside on the river has significantly decreased in the last decade due to increased tour traffic on the river, and climate change. Fireflies are an indicator of the health of an environment, and the fact that the firefly population has decreased from over 25 species to 8 is extremely concerning. Nonetheless, it was an incredible experience to witness. I didn’t take any photos because 1) they wouldn’t have looked as magical as it felt and 2) I didn’t want to scare the fireflies with my flash. If you ever get a chance, do the KayakAsia Bohol Firefly tour. They’re the first company to do a tour like this, and they don’t use motorboats which disrupt the environment! Furthermore, they will provide you with a delicious dinner (I’m still thinking about the pumpkin lentil soup we had…). I dunno, life is magical. Take advantage of it.

Touring Panglao and Ethical Tourism

The day following the firefly kayak tour, my friends and I rented a van (6,000 pesos for the van – we were a group of 6 but the van could’ve held 12) to tour Panglao. We visited a historic church that was holding mass, so we chose to stay out of it. We followed our very short visit at the Church to the Shell Museum, which was actually really cute. I picked out a personality shell! We popped over to check out the Hinagdanan Cave (a spot that allows you to swim), and spent our lunch at the Bohol Bee Farm. For some reason, we had 3 of our meals at the Bee Farm and the Buzz Café they have on Alona beach… There actually was a day we had brunch along the beach and then immediately went to the Buzzz Café. Don’t @ me. It just happened. Anyways, the Bohol Bee Farm has a cute shop with their natural honey, a tour of the facilities that occur every 30 minutes, and of course a restaurant along the water. It’s also a really cute resort if you’re ever on Panglao and are looking for a place to stay. I ate my weight in carbs that day. OH! If you’re on Bohol, definitely stop by The Buzzz by Bohol Bee Farm! You can get delicious ice cream made with all natural ingredients in local flavors like ube, durian, malunggay, or buko. I had the salted caramel (highly recommend).

Following our tasty lunch, we had some time to kill before we made it to the Chocolate Hills at sunset. Since Bohol is known for their tarsiers, we asked our tour guide to take us to see them. Though we knew that some places are better known for their conservation efforts than others, we didn’t do thorough enough research on the best places to go, which led to us to making a pretty unethical choice. We left Panglao, drove through the Man-Made Forest, and ended up at the Loboc Tarsier Conservation Area. Just to say it now, I would not recommend this stop, for reasons outlined in depth here. Long story short though, this conservation area is not an official tarsier sanctuary, and the environment I witnessed did not seem to be the best for these anxious little creatures. Tarsiers are notoriously shy, nocturnal primates, famous because they are so incredibly small. They can commit suicide when exposed to too many stressors (such as loud noises and flashes), and the Loboc Tarsier Conservation Area didn’t seem to regulate these stressors when we were inside.

Walang Sunsets, pero DALAWANG Rainbows!

After leaving and realizing that we need to be more proactive about being ethical tourists in the future, we left to see the Chocolate Hills for sunset. Truth be told, some of us in our group were told beforehand that the Chocolate Hills were not as impressive as people make them out to be. When we approached the lookout spot for the Chocolate Hills though, I was actually in awe of what was presented in front of us. It’s like the Grand Canyon to me, photos don’t do this UNESCO-recognized site justice. It was sprinkling a little bit while we were there so the clouds obscured the sunset, but we were given two rainbows. It was another “life is magical” moment for me.

Take a Breath

Touring such beautiful islands was nice, but as I said earlier, what I truly appreciated was the time to spend with my family and friends. It’s easy for me to love this country and the people that surround me, because its aesthetically pleasing and there’s a strong sense of community (at my site and with my fellow volunteers). There’s so much value in taking a moment to soak in everything around us.

To my fellow PCVs and the Philippines herself, thanks for making 2018 a good one.