Towels on the sunbed at dawn (11 - 13 February 2010)

It was a welcome relief to get to Marcosa’s Cottage Resort in the very small village of Panagsama, one of the 14 districts of the small town, Moalboal which is on the on the south west coast of Cebu island. It’s a tiny little resort strung out along the coast – I say coast rather than beach. I knew this before I came – there is not much beach here, but what there is is called Panagsama Beach. A cyclone took it away a few years back and the sand is only slowly returning. The seaside area is lined with the small resorts. It looks like this started off as a small fishing village and has grown up into more of a resort as the years have gone by. There are no big hotels here just small independent ones and I am staying at a rather nice one – made up, as the name would suggest, of a number of little detached cottages. It’s sparkly clean with a nice pool, aircon and within budget for a change at £23 a night. The streets are not tarmac, just bare coral with bits of sand and the walk through the village takes you past small mini market shops selling the usual water and toiletries together with a few clothes and t shirts. The t shirts look new but the clothes proudly displayed on the hangers have the look of things that tourists have left behind.... There are a few bars and restaurants as well as quite a few diving places which is what seems to drive the economy here and that’s about it. But a lot of these places are closed down, as everywhere, I think the tourist economy here struggles. The dive boats are rather odd looking catamarans that look like great white spiders out on the clear sea. It’s a long time since I’ve been as far away from an ATM, I think the nearest one is about 30 miles away! But it seems a peaceful place with the transport being the small brightly painted motorbike tuk tuks to take you out of the village, the people seem nice and apart from the odd little girl trying to sell you a necklace you are not hassled to buy anything at all. 

I wandered off the main seaside bit today to the houses behind the touristy bit. The houses are mainly very small thatch affairs each with a few straggly plants growing around, together with children and chickens, it looks like they just scrape a living. I’ve also been trying some of the local food – Bam –i and adobo but have so far resisted the dried fish with egg for breakfast!

Most of the other people staying here seem to be Germans – I haven’t heard one English voice yet, so obviously I will need to be up early to get that sunbed.......! And I think the taxi driver got it wrong when he said the Europeans come here for the warmth – four large older Germans arrived today with four young Philippine women in tow......