Super Typhoon!

The howling winds and torrential downpour finally came to a stop after several (slightly nervous) hours. I seized the opportunity to wander down to the beach to survey the damage and get a look at the skies.

Despite the terrifying power of mother nature, people were out and about in abundance; I passed people walking with umbrellas, riding motorcycles, and a child calmly riding his bicycle down the street in an aimless fashion. I passed entire trees that had been pulled over, blocking the road. At the beach I found Filipinos casually going about their chores, making sure that they’re precious pumpboats were properly anchored and possessions safely stowed.

According to the online news I looked at before the storm hit, Typhoon Pablo (typhoon is another name for hurricane) was going to be one of the worst in recent years—labeled a super typhoon. Despite this, the filipinos had no worries and took no precautions before the impending storm arrived. Whenever I mentioned the idea of ‘evacuation plans’ or ‘safe rooms’ I was met with shrugs or blank stares. No one seemed to care.

While the storm was pretty scary to me, I was lucky and the strongest part of the typhoon hit several hundred kilometers to the south in Mindanao (where I was two weeks ago). The island of Bohol, where I’m located, was hit relatively mildly. Unfortunately, it sounds like the effect of the storm was much worse in Mindanao.

The typhoon lasted for a day and a half. I am very lucky that there were lots of great people in my guest house that I could pass the time with. After the typhoon ended the sun came out.  My new friend Ariel and I went down to the beach and soaked in the sun, waves, and beautiful clean white sand.

Ariel is from another island in the Philippines that I won’t have time to visit this trip, but I hope I will return to the Philippines some day in the future and visit his town.

Me enjoying the view after a thrilling drop

Before I became typhoon-stranded on the beach, I had many fun adventures in the islands’ hinterlands.

One day was spent ‘plunging’ off a cliff; this involved free-falling about 40 feet and then swinging out over a gorgeous canyon. It is similar to the 'giant swing' experience I had with James and Jordan in Ecuador last year.

Beautiful Spanish architecture, beside my favourite vehicle -- the Jeepney

Bohol has an interesting history because the Spanish, who held colonial control of Philippines for around 300 years, had great difficulty taking over this island. The people of Bohol staved off the Spanish for 87 years before they finally lost the war.

One of the oldest Spanish churches in the Philippines is standing in the town near my hostel, and was quite a beautiful sight.

View atop one of the chocolate hills

The island is covered in unique tear-shaped hills whose view I took in after a short, sweaty hike. Apparently scientists are unable to explain how the hills formed, and the locals believe they are the result of two giants fighting.

I think the hills are symbolic of the sadness of the Spanish and Filipino war that lasted so many years (the two giants).

Angry tarsier, because I accidentally used a flash for this photo (this was my best photo though ;)

I also went to see Tarsiers, the smallest primates in the world. They only live in Philippines, Borneo, and Indonesia. They are very tiny – about the size of a rat, but have big pretty eyes.

My last stop before the typhoon started was a proper Filipino sabang (cockfight). The coolest part about the cockfighting was how excited the Filipinos get. The people in the crowd have special sounds and hand gestures they make when they want to make bets with each other (which is pretty much all the time). It reminds me of some sort of tribal/voodoo ritual sounds.

I got into the betting and had a lot of fun.

I’m really excited about my next stop, but I won’t give away the reason why in case I jinx it. Keep tuned.