First Few Days in Siargao, Cafe Hopping Until Meeting my Friends

I finally made it to the Philippines! I arrived in the afternoon, having a long 10 hours of travel. The airport was so small, they manually set the luggage on the belt, finding mine and then locating a transport van to take me into the main town, General Luna. I got to my hostel, Rucksack after enjoying the beautiful drive from the airport, although my eyes were half open the whole ride. First thing first, I needed to eat, especially after a long travel day with limited vegan options. I went to this walkable cafe, but was it totally walkable...? not really because it was about 20 minutes away and in the burning sun, but once I made it and gulped down some water, it was nice to be somewhere to stay and chill. I spent most of my afternoon there and thought I should probably return to the hostel to be a bit more social and make some attempts at finding friends in this new city and country. 

When I got back, I brought my book to the pool and read until I overheard two guys chatting about playing volleyball. They were planning on playing, so I asked to join, and just like that us three joined a pack of locals that were dominant at volleyball. It’s always a toss up if your makeshift volleyball team is proficient at the sport, but these were some of the best people I have played with and against. We played for almost two hours, it was quite intense but so fun and worth it. One downside was there was very little sand so if you dove your knee would be totally cut up. Because of that, I couldn't really get into my groove and be my ultra competitive self when it comes to this sport, but still good fun as one of the girls had the deadliest attack, making being DS incredibly enjoyable.

After two hours of constant play, my team tucked me in the back corner and didn’t get many balls in my direction, but I was so tired from the lack of sleep that night and the intense work out of a game that was, I was ready for bed. I said farewell to the two new guys I met, Fabio and Guillermo, and went to my hostel room. They mentioned that I must experience the nightlife, and I hoped to one night but this was certainly not going to be the one. I showered off the sand, met one Australian girl while she was getting ready to go out, and then I went to sleep well before the others probably even got dinner.  

August 12th 

I wasn’t sure what to do with my first full day in Siargao. Since I didn’t make any solid friendships the night before and I didn’t have a proper way to get around the island, I decided it would be another slow day. I felt down and tired from all sorts of things, I knew what the doctor called for was a trip to Shaka Cafe, a vegan place with an incredible view of the famous surfing spot Cloud 9. I walked there, I don't know why I passed up taking a tuk tuk for 30 pesos (a little more than 50 cents), thinking it wouldn't be that bad of a walk. Spoiler alert, it was much warmer and farther than I thought.

But I made it to the cafe, almost immediately getting a compliment from the server that I was beautiful even as sweat now sparkled on my skin- how kind, and she recommended to me the most popular smoothie bowl, Bom Dia (I would come back here and try four more smoothie bowls and this ended up being my least favorite one surprisingly). I sat down, ate my breakfast and pulled out my laptop to get some work done, stealing glances at the incredible view. I wanted to sit in the shade so I hogged a big table all to myself. I stayed at Shaka for so long, until the point it was lunch time and I wanted to try somewhere new. I ended up selecting the ramen place across the street.

The ramen place had a vegan option and I think it was the first time I had proper ramen, not the instant microwavable stuff I lived on when I was younger. Because of that, I had no idea how to eat it, hoping that I had a right enough form to not embarrass myself. It was very tasty.

Full from the ramen, I again was at a loss for what to do. I put on my swimsuit thinking I would try to find a hotel with a pool and ocean view that I could lounge at for the day. I sweat my weight off in at the restaurant, that should have been a dead giveaway that it was a hot day outside and in no right mind should I be walking. But, because I couldn't exactly remember where the hotel was, I thought I'd just find it on my walk in that direction. After hiking along the side of the road for almost 25 minutes, I finally came across the place with a sign I saw earlier about pool and beach access. I walked into the place to check if it was somewhere I wanted to spend my afternoon. I kid you not when I saw the miniature pool and the two old and broken beach chairs on dirty sand, no part of me wanted to spend my afternoon in the claustrophobic backyard of this hotel (the photo makes it look better than it was). 

So what did I do? What I normally do when I am unsure, I went to a cafe. I ordered an amazing charcoal mango smoothie, and got back to work on my laptop. I wanted to get in a good spot with my journaling and blogging (thank goodness I did because I would barely crack open my laptop in the next week and a half). One thing I wanted to do was reach out to grandma because I felt bad for running out of phone minutes and not calling for a while. So I wrote her a long email, and concluded my journalling of Bali. By then, it was time to go back to my hostel and attempt to meet people.

When I went to the pool at my hostel, I saw Fabio, a guy I met the night before playing volleyball, talking to this other guy. I really wanted to join their conversation but I didn’t want to interrupt so I put some space between me and them, hoping I could find an opportunity or say something to them.

No need for me to interrupt because just like that I hear my name and a question attached. Fabio, calling for my attention, asked me how my day has been. I looked up from my book and happily joined the conversation with the two guys. I was beyond grateful Fabio pulled me in (he must have read my mind) and I was quite lucky with who Fabio was talking to... he would soon become one of the closest friends I made while traveling, that was how I met Louis.

Louis is a recent graduate from London, traveling the Philippines before starting his full time job, in the exact same stage of life as me. We kept talking, to the point that I learned he had a motorbike, needed to go to the ATM, and was hungry. I asked if I could join him to get cash because I had only 100 pesos left (less than $2) and the nearby ATMs weren't working.

I hopped on the back of his bike, thanking him profusely for driving me to get some cash. We had to go to a few ATMs, the first one worked for me, but I think I took out all of the cash because everyone after got their transaction denied, Louis’s included. We went to two more, one finally working for him and now us both flush with cash. 

Next up on our agenda was dinner. I had a place in mind and just threw it out there to Louis, not wanting to have to juggle between all the different options in town and worry about whether there was a vegan option. He kindly agreed, not really knowing what he was getting himself into, and I barely looked into the place as well except I knew they had a delicious looking vegan shawarma dish. We got a table at Bliss, finally getting some food in us, and talked until the place closed at 9pm. Unsure what I would do next, he invited me to join him and his friends to go out for the night and I gladly tagged along. 

We left Bliss and headed into General Luna, our destination being this dessert shop, where I would nervously walk up to four people seated around a white table and diving into their desserts. That's when I met the gang.

I was so happy Louis invited me to hang out with them for the night and introduced me to his friends because they were wonderful. I met Joanne, a local that is one of the most social, outgoing, and fun-spirited night owl you could ever meet. Khay was the other girl there, an extrovert, incredibly kind filipino that has lived all around the world, America included. The last two people I met was Edu, an energetic Spanish consultant working for a company in Manila, always bringing the party, and Zane, an American traveling with the intent of finding a spot to settle and live in Asia, him also loving a good night out. Little did I know this friend group would become the people I would do everything with while in Siargao, making this stop unlike any other.

After the dessert place we went to Auntie Lisa’s, a place where the beer is dirt cheap and you enjoy it while sitting on plastic chairs around a rickety table to pregame the bar. I sat by Louis as I was a little intimidated not knowing the others as well yet, but we all talked in a group and it was warming me up to jumping into this pre established friend group, hoping the didn't mind my entrance and would like me enough to welcome me into it.

From Auntie Lisa’s, where we sat and chatted with the locals, we migrated to Mama Coco. It was pretty packed in there, hot and sweaty to the point that we just stood in the street near the party and I kept talking to the people I just met. When the time at Mama Coco came to an end, we migrated to SBC, Siargao Beach Club. The bars have to close by 12pm because of a rule put in place by the government to reduce drunk driving. But SBC, not technically being a bar with it's light music and chill vibe, became the after-bar stop for those not wanting the night to end.

I joined the gang for SBC, thinking I should stay along for the ride, keep getting to know the friend group I just met, meet more people, and get the full nightlife experience. Plus, Louis was my ride and I had to wait for him. Thankfully he didn’t want to stay out too late because he was planning to go up north the next day to surf and wanted to leave early in the morning for that. So, I joined them there, talking to all sorts of people. We stayed until almost 2am, a full night out experience I'd say, happy to have gone but also ready to call it a night and see what tomorrow's day would bring.

When we got back to Rucksack, he invited me to join him, Edu, and Zane on their trip up north to Pacifico to surf. It sounded like a solid plan with a great group of people, so I gladly hopped on their adventure. We planned to meet at 9am in the morning, me excited to see more of the island and getting the opportunity to do so with them.