Puerta Galera is a very nice place… Kind of.

Thing is, it is very quiet – which could be a deal breaker for someone, but I am personally thinking of pretending to drown just to bring some life and action into this sleepy village. The vibes remind me of Tuy Hoa in Vietnam, except Tuy Hoa had more infrastructure. There, I could stop by at a café and order a coffee with a mango smoothie. Puerto Galera is so quiet I have to wander around seeing if any of the families are making a BBQ on their porch and ask them to sell me a sausage (presumably made from one of the two-tailed cats which roam around here in abundance – but let’s not focus on the details!).

Right across the road from my hotel, lay a shoreline – it started as just a concrete elevated wall, from which you could dive straight into the sea during high tide, and it ended with a decent beach. I tried to walk along the shoreline (I can walk along the beaches for hours and miles), and in some places, rocks cut the sand abruptly, so I would swim over them to continue the journey.

Never ended up going too far because every time a thunderstorm would catch me midway and make me turn back!

The first days in Puerto Galera were so boring, and I was trying to come up with small things to entertain myself every day.  

I saw the Mangyan village, which really humbles anyone – very, very poor huts and a line of about a dozen of souvenir handmade tables. The local people mainly do weaving – mostly baskets, but also some earrings, other jewellery (of course!), coasters, etc. They tried to talk me into taking a tour in the village and seeing the Talipanan Falls, but… I cant imagine having a decent tour there. It took me 5 minutes to see their place, and I went back to my hotel, just to return again the next day and walk a couple more meters further to see the falls. As I said, I tried to entertain myself and was prolonging things that I could probably see / do in one hour. One of the locals really wanted me to take his “tour” to the falls, and then decided to tell me he does not know where the falls are when he realized I am not paying anything. So scammy.

The Falls are very small, but have a pretty clear basin. The small path leading to the falls probably saw me as the only tourist in 10 years. Tine and narrow, really dirty in some places, it was definite only Mangyan people use it.

As I mentioned before, I tried to get to a busy area called White Beach – with presumably more “life”, restaurants, shops, and an actual beach. Gave it two attempts. The first one I walked along the road I mentioned before, and the rain started right when I reached the beach, so I turned around to go back. The other time I tried to make it along the shoreline – mind you, some of it was absent, so I had to swim along those areas. Wonderful, picturesque trip along the beach – but again, rain and thunder caught me halfway, so I had to turn back. The sea is beautiful, though – that beautiful classical Polynesian sea color. Very warm, too. If you swim ashore for a while, you could snorkel along the coral reefs and dive in between the swarms of small, neon blue fish.

My room was depressing by the way – horrible WiFI (“outage” problem – yeah, of course! I am not so naïve), toilet did not flush, part of it never saw a duster, no hot water, no working shower, overall depressing interior with no windows… But I guess you get what you pay for.

Outside my place the tricycles drivers are sleeping in the vehicles, or day drinking, while in the evening they play pool in a local “bar” – they always said good morning to me (even if it’s evening) and tried to offer me a tricycle.

One of the days, I grabbed a beer, some spicy peanuts and settled down at the concrete wall, enjoying the sea and the view. A group of local Philippino friends were glancing at me as they were swimming nearby, and I guessed they wanted to talk to me. I love getting to know people and talking to locals – one conversation can tell you more about the country than a whole month of travelling. Not to mention the people are wonderful and you get new friends and experience local customs. However, by that time the lack of any interaction with human beings made me really quiet, so it took Kirsten, one of the girls, three attempts to get me into real conversation.

She is wonderful, though. Her smile broke the ice, if there was any, at all.

5 minutes later, we exchanged contacts, and another hour later, we were all sitting at Kirsten’s and Bryan’s (her boyfriend’s) store (small resto with AMAZING philippino food). I tried out some snacks, like dried pork intestine and fish balls, after which the dry pineapple juice was dissolved in a several litres of water and gin and poured from a pitcher into one shot. We each took turns, shouting “Tagay!” (meaning “Cheers”) and just talking till it was very late. Kirsten was not local in Puerto Galera, and used to live further away, but met Bryan at White Beach where she sang, and stayed. She has a very beautiful voice but gave up singing when her throat started hurting. Now Kirsten stays with Bryan and his two lovely daughters at their house across the road.

Next morning we boarded the bikes and set out to White Beach, where we got snacks (again! Haha, love them), some crackers and Nutella, and then Kirsten dropped me off at the butcher’s place where I got some bacon and pork meat for everyone. I could not wait to try the way they would cook the meat, and it was so worth it. We loaded all the food on the bikes again, and found a spot on the beach, where the boys made a barbeque. Two banana leaves were placed one overlapping another on a small beach table. Mangoes and watermelons went on the sides, while rice, seaweed chips, grilled meat and sauce were placed in the center. The seaweed chips are bent, then you put some rice (using your hands is the only true way of doing it), meat, and pour sauce over it.