Old Enchanted Tree
Due to having a late night, we ended up getting up pretty late. I’m not complaining though! We made our own breakfast this morning, some oatmeal and crushed Oreos, it went down a treat. Once we’d eaten and got ready, it was already past noon. We had a few bits to do, so we mounted our bikes and went into town. Gina headed to the ATM, and we also returned some glass coke/beer bottles to the shop. You get a small deposit back that way, works pretty well.
Once these few things were done, we rode to the Old Enchanted Balete Tree. It was only a 20-minute ride from our place, so not bad. We parked up, paid a tiny entry fee, and looked upon the allegedly 400-year-old tree. The tree was typical of the Philippines, and huge as hell, it’s easy to believe the rumoured age. At the base of the tree is a small pool, where it’s common to submerge your feet. The reason for this, is so all the little fish can nibble at your dead skin. These things always surprise me in Asia, an insanely old tree, and a natural foot scrub, who puts these things together? We met a couple of other backpackers there and spoke for a bit. They said the ferries out of here are apparently cancelled, but we had tickets, so I wasn’t worried.
An uncertain reality
After chilling at the tree for a while, we headed back to the hostel. It was almost time to catch the ferry. We chilled for a bit, then packed all our stuff up, and the hostel organised for a tricycle (tuk tuk) to take us to the port. It was loud as hell, almost deafening, but we got to the ferry port around half an hour later. Upon arrival, there was a gathering of people, mostly local drivers, who told our driver that the ferries are all cancelled. Surely not, I thought, we’ve got tickets! Mat and Gina spoke to the ticket office lady, thank god Filipinos speak good English. She told them that all ferries are cancelled until further notice…it could be one day, or one month. Nobody knows. So it looks like this joke ‘COVID19’ has stranded us on Siquijor!
Stranded on Siquijor. A small island on the other side of the planet, for who knows how long. It hadn’t really settled in, because no one knew what was going to happen. All we could do was get back in the tricycle and head back to the hostel. It’s crazy to think we could be stuck here for another week or even another month! That would majorly screw up our Korea and Japan plans. The women at the hostel were very amused when we rocked up just an hour after leaving. Everyone else had already left the dorm, so it was just us 3, plenty of space. There were several groups staying in private rooms though. We had some dinner, laughed about being stranded here, and prepared for our new life on Siquijor.
