Andrea, Milena and I at Sunken Cross, Camiguin, Philippines.
Just don’t go during Holy Week! It’s crazy packed there. I read during Holy Week there is a tradition called Panaad where Catholic faithful walk the Stations of the Cross up the mountain and around the circumference of the island, 64 kilometers, intense.
We visited the famous Sunken Cemetery – an old public cemetery was overcome by the sea when one of the volcanoes erupted in 1870 and it fell into the ocean. Today, the cemetery has an awesome large cross rising from the waves – we decided to snorkel around it. No, we didn’t see any graves, actually the waves were aggressive getting out there. Quite possibly we were in danger, but I mean this is two girls who are living on their own in a foreign country – and a third girl we adopted for the weekend that is a Canadian teaching English in Korea – so it’s hard to tell us what’s “normal” amounts of fear vs. something that we’re all like, “Hey think we can do that? Yeah, sure, why not?”
We went to gorgeous hot springs, we ate good meals, we bought cheap rum and found the one and only disco in the main town. We talked Kiva, microfinance, about our placements, nuances, just an opportunity to talk to someone else going through similar experiences, it was incredible and really, really needed.
Snorkels in hand, ocean here I come!
Moral of the story, R&R was much needed and I feel amazing. Heading into another amazing week in the Philippines with Kiva and ASHI.
For more Things to do on Camiguin Island, look here
