Today’s our last day in Siargao, but I have some unexpected free time on my hands to tell you all about yesterday.

Martin and Joss invited us to join them for a beach walk to the Cloud 9 surfing area. We gladly came along and enjoyed seeing a part of Cloud 9 we’d missed on our previous visit. I opted out of the highway walk back and took a trike instead.

When we arrived at the hotel, our room and the one next door were being cleaned. Then we were informed that we were being moved from the Casa Grande room to the Casa Duo. I called bullshit and began to throw a fit, but Swan insisted I calm down while she sorted things out. Of course, the room maintenance folks had no say in the matter, so we marched to the front desk. Swan told me to let her do the talking, so I kept my mouth shut.

Now, here’s the thing. When I booked the room, I had to make two separate reservations: one for our Tuesday arrival with a Friday checkout, and the other for a different room from Friday through our checkout tomorrow. But when I checked into the hotel, I specifically asked whether I could keep the same room for the duration of my visit, and was assured that it would not be a problem. Alas, it was not to be. Now, why this was occurring on Sunday, I have no idea. But the front desk receptionist told Swan our Casa Grande room was reserved for an arriving guest, and we had to move. What makes it even worse is that the Casa Duo room is shit and also half the size of our prior room. Well, nothing to be done but suck it up and move. I let Swan handle the logistics while I calmed myself with a beer and a chicken burger next door at Barrel.

Later in the afternoon, Jeff messaged that we should meet at the hotel bar at 5 p.m. and then proceed to dinner. I went down at 4:30 to escape my crap room, but there was nowhere to sit at the bar. So, we went next door to the hotel where Martin and Joss are staying and found a comfortable place to sit. Martin and Joss were lounging on the beach and came over to join us. I messaged Jeff to let them know where we all were.

When it was time to leave for the restaurant, Swan and I opted to go elsewhere. I just wasn’t in the mood for a fancy, expensive dining experience (1000 pesos each, according to Google). So, we said our goodbyes and headed up the road in the opposite direction.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we got hit with a “brownout” (power outage) earlier in the afternoon. The resorts all have generators, but I was surprised to see so many small businesses also equipped with an alternate source of electricity. The worst thing about generators is that they are noisy, which diminishes the joy of basking in the venue’s ambiance.

Our quest for a pleasant place to chill and eat was fraught with setbacks. Our first option was a nice-looking place on the beach, but it didn’t open until later. Then, there was an open-air second-floor joint that looked good until I saw the sign that only bare feet were allowed upstairs. Now most people wear flip-flops in these parts, but I’m an old-school shoes-and-socks kinda guy (unless I’m on the beach), so I said fuck that. The next place we tried told us they closed at 7 pm (it was already 6:30), so that was another no-go. We finally settled on a little streetside diner. They didn’t offer any alcoholic beverages except beer, so Swan joined me in a San Mig Light to wash down the shawarmas we ordered.

After we finished eating, I wanted to pick up some ice cream to take back to the room, but the shop we’d used before had the freezer closed and locked, apparently to keep things cold during the brownout. I suggested we go check the dessert menu at Barrel and Swan was down with that, saying they have wine there. Win-win! No ice cream at Barrel, but I brought back a tasty slice of carrot cake for my dessert.

And then the rain came and stayed all night. Our new room has a metal roof, and last night felt like being inside someone’s drum with the constant pounding overhead. I guess the generator ran out of gas or something, because for most of the night, we were in the dark with no aircon.

It is still raining this morning, and we were advised that the island tour hop has been cancelled due to the weather. That’s probably for the best, and it gave me time to write a longer-than-usual blog post. Sorry about that!

Pictures from the day say it better than I ever could:

That was how the next-to-last day went down here.

It’s November 2015 in the LTG archives, and in this post, I write about how crazy Itaewon gets on Halloween. It was just seven years later that 159 people died in a Halloween crowd crush. I could certainly understand how that might happen.

For today’s YouTube video, let’s travel back in time and observe Filipino family life in 1956. In some of the backwaters I hike, it doesn’t appear to have changed all that much.

Time for a smile:

Okay, time to get on with making the best of my last day in Siargao. At least I’ve learned how to spell Siargao now.