We're in the Money!

It was becoming increasingly apparent that if we wanted to get to our goal of El Nido we would have to go back to Manila and fly. Some parts of the Philippines are not, as we have already experienced,an easy place to travel around. That is perhaps not a bad thing. It means that yip really have to make an effort if you want to get to some of the nice places and of course many people do not want to do that.
I had quite enjoyed the island of Mindoro. Many adventures and many good photos and memories that I will dine out on for years to come....

We made a plan!
We would leave Puerto Galaras on the boat to the port of . We would then get a bus to Manila and a flight to the island of Palawan. The only flights went to the 'City in the Forest' Puerto Princesa although not ideal as it in Central Palawan and El Nido was in Northern Palawan.
We were going to attempt to do the whole trip in one go.

The second motivation to leave the island of Mindoro was none of us had any money left. There were very few ATM's in Mindoro and therefore very few opportunities to get cash.

As we left White Beach and onto the main road to get a tricycle into the port town of Puerto Galera, I looked across the road to see a master card sign at a Money Changer. I quickly checked if they did cash advances on credit cards and 'ding dong' they did. There was a charge of 7% but needs must...

Wallets recharged we headed to Puerto Galera proper and to get some overnight accommodation. Of course it was 'beer o'clock now we we were all relieved to that we were no longer destitute and would not have eat any more 'Pot Noodles'

Sabi and Liz had taken their passports into the immigration offices a couple of days previously and were due to pick them up on Wednesday at two. If they could do that a little earlier then there was a chance we could get to Manila airport in time to catch the 3.50pm flight. The original pick up time was two in the afternoon but it was agreed that they could collect at 11.00.

in a small bar on the quay side we got chatting to a welsh guy (and his girlfriend). He was busy getting pissed. He had come of a motorbike a few days earlier, lost a toe (in that it had been removed, not that he didn't know where it was) today he was having then stitches removed and as he had a very low tolerance of pain he decided that a few rum and cokes would do the trick! It did bring it home that, beautiful as it was, you need to be careful as the healthcare is not what we are used to.

Puerto Galera seemed to be a popular place for old guys and their young Filipino girls. Mostly westerners and Aussies...

While we had a beer Kipp went on a the search for somewhere to stay. Success, a really nice room just on the front.
It seemed to be a one horse town, closing at 10.30. That was perhaps a good thing.We had a relatively quite night in our dry clean accommodation before the rushed journey to Palawan....



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Location:Puerto Galera,Philippines