cliff jumping in paradise

here it is, the blog you all get to be jealous of... our trip to club serena resort, which was incredible as expected :)

It was almost a three hour drive to moalboal, and I got well into The Kite Runner on the way to the resort (I just finished it today, great book!)... when the bumps and curves of the road became so frequent they interfered with my reading, I spent the remainder of the drive taking in the view out the window: gorgeous ocean vistas fit for calendar pages, interspersed with the poverty of the small communities we passed through. the scenery of the Philippines could be mistaken by some as repetitive, same ole same ole, but that is most certainly a misconception. when i stare out the window it is like watching a captivating movie: I can't peel my eyes away. everything is new and unique; sometimes surprising, often sad, from time to time funny, occasionally unbelievable, and I laugh to myself in shock at whatever absurd thing I have just seen.

we were greeted at the resort with glasses of sweet lemon grass water and plenty of "hello m'om"s.... (when Filipinos say ma'am is sounds like mom, and on one of our first days here in Cebu I actually asked Gina why everyone called her Mom... they're saying Ma'am she explained :) seated in a comfy cabana, with plenty of fans to keep us cool, we waited for our room (cottage 1) to be ready. it was a small one bed, one bath cottage with high ceilings, a beautiful sun room at the front, and air conditioning!! (as Lo would put it "give me AC, or give me death!!")

It didn't take long for us to find our way to the beach. the resort is very small (maximum guest occupancy is only 30 people I believe), so basically everything is beach-front, including the restaurant and the amazing beach beds we would daily fight tooth and nail to claim in time to watch the sunset. We enjoyed the pool, walked the cement path out into the ocean (used by the scuba divers when they dive just off the beach), and collected sea shells. About the time we were ordering lunch the wind started to pick up, an afternoon storm not so unusual on that part of the island... I really like the tropical storms because it usually doesn't rain, just brings lots of great clouds that add to the beauty of the breathtaking sunsets. and the lightening was almost as reliable at night as the dark, with flashes illuminating our nightly scrabble games.

we made fast friends with the majority of the staff, most of whom are about our age: Joffel, Richard, Jessy, John Ray, B -one of the few young girls (who told me on the last night that I'm so beautiful she would turn lesbian for me... Lauren and I couldn't stop laughing. B later introduced us to her husband), Dennis, Mark, and Irene were a few of our favorites (I basically just listed the entire staff :) and I can't forget Cherry, the 9 year old daughter of one of the cooks who ran around the resort with us - she was so adorable, and her English impressive, I'm gonna miss that girl. By the first night we had convinced Joffel and John Ray to let us teach them how to play hearts. Though they caught on to the card game relatively quickly, we beat them all three nights we were there.

I'm going to talk a little about the desserts, because they were amazing... the food was good, the desserts were great!! we basically started off each day with desserts, mango pancakes!! I've decided that Jack Johnson was a little off when he wrote the song "banana pancakes" because seriously, mango pancakes are wayyy more worthy of singing about! We'd have Ube ice cream at some point during each day (well, Lauren had bubble gum, I had Ube). On our second day there we convinced Joffel to invent a super chocolaty milkshake for us, coaxing him as he blended it to add more chocolate syrup :) when there was leftovers from a guest's watermelon shake, we asked John ray if we could try it - Cherry, Lo and I raced to suck down the sweet drink through straws. And at night, during our hearts game, we would order the native hot cocoa, so thick and chocolaty it was almost better to eat it with a spoon than drink it. yeah, we enjoyed the food :)

Our first night at the resort, just as we were finishing dinner, we overheard some of the other guests talking at a table behind us. We had noted earlier that day that they were American (we'd always guess by language and accent where the other guests were from), but we knew nothing more than that. "did they just say Santa Clara?!" Lo asked me... I confirmed that I thought I had heard it earlier also, so we interrupted their dinner and introduced ourselves. Turns out they're Jesuits and used to teach at Santa Clara University!! talk about a small world! John something and Jerry something (I did a nice job of remembering their last names). We chatted for a while, took turns explaining what brought us to club serena, exchanged some names and feigned surprise at those in common - once you get past the "wow" factor it can be a little awkward. Then it was off to bed, because we had an adventure planned for the morning and we were eager to sleep in an air conditioned room :)

Kawasan Falls was our destination as we left the resort early Thursday morning. 40 minutes away was the trail head, where we were greeted by at least a dozen "travel guides" for the 2km walk to the falls, ha! we started the trek with our driver, his wingman, and two young Filipinos who had declared themselves our guides (I guess everyone waits at the trail head for foreigners to arrive, then they take turns leading the visitors for tips). On the hike in, our guides proved to be useful, not only did they point out a HUGE (I'm talking bigger than my hand) black spider camouflaged in some leaves of the forest, but they also found us a monkey high in one of the trees above the trail. a real wild monkey! they told us that judging from the cracked and eaten coconuts scattered along the trail, there had been many monkeys there earlier that morning feasting. We passed pigs tied to trees (lechon for the next occasion that warrants a party), women doing laundry in the stream, and people selling ice cream and snacks to those in pursuit of the falls. After paying the Php10 fee to see the waterfall we crossed a bridge with a nice view of Kawasan falls (along with the eyesore they built nearby - an Inn you can actually stay the night at, right next to the falls), then made our way to the water for swimming!!

Seconds after arriving we were in our swimsuits and jumping into the cool, turquoise water. Our guides claimed a bamboo raft and instructed us to climb on. using ropes tied across the huge pool at the base of the falls, they pulled the raft over to the rocks on the left side of the crashing water. As we neared the rock cave behind the thundering waterfall we were told to lay flat on the raft. obediently we dropped to our bellies as our guides proceeded to maneuver the raft under the huge rock that separated us from the waterfall. there was hardly 2 feet of space between the water and the rock! there was screaming and uncontrollable laughter, but despite the tight squeeze we made it though unscathed. we were now behind the waterfall! what next? obviously, stand, lay under, and run through the pounding water of the falls, cascading from 50 feet above. the force was incredible, and a lot more uncontrollable laughter ensued. Our guides would hold our hands to stabilize us and then lead us under the heaviest part of the falls - your knees practically buckle under the force of the water. They had us lay down and held our feet, soles up, an amazing foot massage that made me laugh even harder. Then, laying down, we were dragged through the pounding water, practically enough to knock the wind out of you!

Obviously the next part of the adventure was to find something to jump off of (sorry mom, I know we were advised not to jump because people occasionally die there, but really, I've been cliff/rock jumping into water for a long time, and we made the guides go first!! - plus, if you're gonna do a drug it might as well be adrenaline, right? :) We were helped up a rock beside the waterfall and took turns jumping off, so fun!! after "again!!"-ing about 5 times we decided it was time to find a new waterfall to explore. We knew there were more upstream so we set off with our guides to the next set of falls.

The second waterfall wasn't as impressive as the first, but the fall was bigger and you jumped from the middle of the falls, which was cool!! After our second jump there our guide managed to sneak up on me under the water and grab my ankle, I let out a genuine scream of terror then couldn't stop laughing because he really got me. we high fived (they do love to high five here), and then laughed some more as he made this odd noise by hitting the water with his cupped hands. I think our tour guides were getting just as much a kick out of us as we were getting out of the paradise we had found deep in the jungle. After exhausting the fun of the second falls we continued upstream to the next and final waterfall of our adventure.

More places to rent for the night, believe it or not, built so far into the jungle! More rafts at this pool too, and several incredible waterfalls cascading from dense forest. We floated around in the pools (nowhere to jump at these falls) and enjoyed being cool and relaxed after so much excitement. We finally decided to head back down, but couldn't resist stopping at the first falls (Kawasan) to experience the waterfall one more time. Out on the raft, jumping another half dozen times (all the tourists that had gathered by the late afternoon looked on in shock at the crazy American girls :), back under the rock and behind the falls, and then playing in the pounding water some more. what a blast!!

Back at the resort we recovered with some ice cream then walked the 10 whole feet to the ocean and relaxed in the afternoon sun. When we got hungry we asked John Ray to drive us into town on his motorbike. He obliged and the three of us made our way to Julie's Bakeshop in the most Filipino fashion, all crammed on one tiny bike :) the motorbikes here are no Kawasaki Ninja, but they're fun just the same and a good way to cool down. Reluctant to get back to work, John Ray stalled in town, taking us around to buy mangoes and out on a jetty to see where all the young kids hang out at night. presently there were only fishermen there, getting drunk on coconut wine (which turns to vinegar in just about a week of fermentation). All the people speckling the shore of the ocean collecting crabs and shells and clams made for some great pictures, and then it was time to return to the resort to beat the boys at hearts yet again :)

Great first part of our trip, in fact, we couldn't have asked for better! A much deserved break, but I do miss the moms and babies at the clinic!!