El Nido is tiny beach town nestled in the soaring limestone cliffs that characterize the Bacuit Archipelago, which is fitting because the name El Nido means nest. The town actually gets its name from the local swallows that live in caves and build their nests out of saliva (made into a soup and eaten). Neat fact. Thank you Lonely Planet.
El Nido’s beachfront
Water buffalo (carabao) and heron near El Nido
Our accommodation, the family-run Cliffside Cottages (because they’re next to a cliff, smart) was super cheap if a little (OK a lot) bare bones, but it did the trick nicely and had a sweet little verandah where we could watch the little kids and dogs play.
Our abode at Cliffside Cottages
Electricity is scarce in El Nido and so from 6am-2pm everyday the power is shut off. Because of this, we never needed a clock to tell us the time in the morning, we knew when the fan stopped blowing that it was 6am. The streets are mostly small and narrow and so the predominant vehicles you see are “tricycles”, small motorbikes rigged up with a cab to take 2-3 passengers, and the occasional jeepney, albeit much smaller ones than we saw in Manila.
First ride in a tricycle!
Since it’s off-season, there were very few tourists around, and we savoured it! It’s still not a major tourist destination (compared to say, Boracay) as it’s quite a mission to get here, but it’s definitely up and coming and little hotels, resorts and pensions are going up quickly.
We spent our first evening drinking beer, eating pizza and playing scrabble (I kicked Ryan’s butt BAD) at the Art Cafe, a cafe/restaurant/bar/souvenir shop/tourist info place all rolled into one that had totally uninterested staff, but the fastest (still slow) and most reliable internet in town.
The first of many Scrabble losses for Ryan
The next day we got acquainted with El Nido and decided to take a tricycle to Marimegmeg beach, a beach we had read about, a bit out of town. Unfortunately, we got an incompetent driver and were dropped off nowhere near it. Fortunately, this provided us with a nice little adventure for the afternoon. First we walked along the beach at Corong-Corong village and got to see a bit of village life (pigs on the beach = fun).
Beachfront along Corong-Corong village
Hermit crabs feasting on coconut
A water bottle that has spent too much time at sea.
Negotiating a few rocky outcrops brought us to nicer and nicer beaches, until, after about an hour, we finally reached our destination. Ahhhh, paradise. The water was warm and inviting and we swam there along with a few Filipino tourists before catching a tricycle back to town and enjoying a sunset dinner at a beachfront restaurant.
Marimegmeg beach at last! Where we decided to have a swim.
Swimming goodness.
Paradise!
Sunset dinner on the beach
THINGS CORI LOST TODAY
-Ryan’s camera case (that was actually just a skimpy cloth sunglasses case – what a crybaby)
Red, White & Lost 