The last month went by so quickly I haven't had much quiet time to pen down my travels, thoughts or taxes. This trip to Cebu came about when I was in Cambodia emailing my old buddy, Carlos, who used to live in the SF Bay area. We'd become instant buddies from when we met on Dave's dragon boat team in '00. Then about 5 years ago, from his corporate burnout at Genentech, he packs up, heads back to his hometown, opens a pizza joint, gets married and has a kid. There you have it!
I knew my trip to visit Carlos was going to be a grand one when I was treated to a manicure and haircut at one of his salons on the day I arrived. Right, the pizza joint has been long gone. I kind'a like his new business venture better. For the rest of the week, Carlos took me around Cebu, one day snorkeling with whale sharks and actually standing under a cascading 100ft tall waterfall (something I've dreamed of doing in a long time) to chilling out on an island that took not even 10minutes to circumnavigate! We had many lovely meals at his house with the family. Maddie, his two year old gal loved strumming the guitar while Nani sang to her. Adorable!
Swimming with the whale shark was probably the most unreal experience...these huge gentle fish would glide by and seemingly not bothered by the many snorkelers abound. They were so close by I could easily reach out to pet them. Ok, yes I did, and yes, I got scolded. So, I didn't do it again, even when my fisherman pushed me right over the top of one I could just about see what each gill looked like... The thought of getting whacked by this gentle giant did cross my mind, but thankfully I returned to shore safely, only with lacerations from jelly fish...
I'll be going back in a heartbeat!
