Next day, I rigged a longer antenna for the radio so I could get the one radio station clear on FM and it worked till I left for the US. I realized later how burned my face was from the sun on the motorbike. Meanwhile we found a better hotel next door that was US standard and the same price. The hideaway hotel on the south side of the beach Station 3. 00 63 [036] 288 3261. Dante and Vicky Pagauguiron e-mail
dvhideaway@hotmail.com. In the morning I had the best English breakfast I have ever had just around the corner from the hotel. They know to fry the tomatoes and good tea, 120 pesos each, it was owned by an Englishman who was on vacation and had to young girls trained to make a good breakfast. The white sand was the best I have seen in the Philippines and if you go into 6 to 7 feet you can snorkel in reefs with the colored fish. No one was wearing helmets on the motorcycle which made it more comfortable. We met a lot of English German, Austrians, Belgium’s, and Dutch no Americans. Koreans were everywhere and mostly owners of some business. Japanese came for diving and taking pictures. Some Europeans were living there for over 3 years with their gf and mostly not married but with kids. With the motorbike we went high on the mountain roads and found nice cottages for rent for 2,000 peso per month. I talked to the Englishman who was living there for 3 years and he told us his rent was 5,000 peso per month but that included air, cable and running water. Some hotels on the beach were charging over 2500 pesos per night [$50] Night life was discos and guitar singing on the beach, all languages had a song to sing. Day time was snorkeling and going on tourist snorkeling boat trips the bat caves. There was a lot of diving shops with diving package tours I found out later that it is the diving enthusiasts that keep the economy going when other tourists don’t come. To be continued: page 11
