Towards the middle of our trip, during the night I had an misanthropic visitor. I could feel the bite, but I didn't feel his disease fraught limbs crawling across my face. Waking up, I could feel that something about my eye wasn't right. It wasn't painful, but it was obviously swollen, tightened and tender. A glance in mirror begat an infantile scream. Not only did my hair stick out in all directions (as it usually does in the morning) resembling a Medusa do, but to add to that initial hideousness, my eye had swollen to resemble Quasimodo.
The friendly staff at the "Blue Mango" gasped in horror. I felt seriously disfigured, and self-conscious that it looked like our romantic honeymoon had gone violently array ending in my swollen eye. Immediately, after I insisted that my husband had not abused me, they suggested the culprit was a cockroach. I blew it off, until two other Phillippinos suggested the same thing. So I googled it. Cockroaches do bite. And they typically bite near the eye! Conclusion: Who knows, but I sure as hell have an increased fear of those radioactive-immune critters.
Every morning, as part of our package, a free breakfast, American or Phillippino style, according to our choice, was delivered to our room. A delicious breakfast, on a balcony overlooking the magnificent the great blue is a fantastic way to gear up the day, with or without a swollen eye that makes you look like the pitiful partner in a disparaging relationship. It sure beats seaweed soup, rice and kimchi in the school cafeteria.
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| You'll never believe the vintage shirts in Korea. Love them. |
The morning of my transformation from honeymooner to Quasimodo hiding behind my movie star glasses, we went on a island hopping trip. First stop was "Crystal Cove." An island with caves, coves and amazing views.
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| The wildlife was amazingly friendly. |
Someone was hungry so he bought seaweed flavored Pringles. They don't even offer that flavor in Korea, but if they did, you better believe we would be buying that delicious green chip everyday.
We stopped to suck on the juice of a coconut. It wasn't as sweet as I expected it to be.
One of the islands, boys surrounded our incoming boat as a recreational hobby. They were like fish, born to the water, but occasionally climbing on the arms of he boat. I especially enjoyed their entertainment when leaving the harbor. They climbed onto the outer balancing arm, sang a "K pop" song "Nobody but you" and backflipped into the water. It's on the video when we get it back up on youtube.
Our guide, stopping to allow us time for snorkeling dove into the aquatic blue to deliver treasures from the deep. This puffer fish surprisingly never showed his displeasure by puffing. We passed him around and were allowed to pet him. He was squishier than I expected.
Two different kinds of starfish were also part of the treasure collection. They were all thrown back to their homes in the end, alive and well.
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| This shy child sat taciturn watching the foreigners but refusing to speak. She was adorable though. |
After asking where the best place for seafood, we were directed to the wet market called "Di talipapa" Here you could purchase your seafood live or dead, depending on your wallet and desire, take it to any of the nearby restaurants and for a small price have them cook it for you. We choose a dead lobster. It was delicious both in my mouth and in my wallet.
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| the restaurant we choose was teeming with folks. |
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| sharing a beer that I could only stomach with three or four slices of lime masking the flavor. |
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