El Nido March 11th

Decided to rent a small motor bike in order to explore the area north of El Nido. Bike from “Pit Stop Bike and Car Rental” Ph. 0919 8747178 or arnaudlep@yahoo.fr
Cost of the bike is 700 Pesos for the day 0800 to 1800, the bikes are in good condition and reasonably new at time of writing.
While I don't regret taking the trip it certainly doesn't figure in the highlights of my visit to Palawan. The best of the beaches to be found ar no better than Las Cabanas which can be reached in short time from El Nido for ten Pesos and many of the beaches are not so good for swimming due to them being very flat and shallow. There are also water falls on offer but as this time of year is relatively dry I decided to pass on paying the entrance fee to those. The highlight of the day was getting to meet the lovely friendly inhabitants of the villages. On the whole I've found the people in the Palawan Islands to be openly friendly and sincere, the children invariably greet visitors to the villages with wide smiles while waving and calling out “HELLO, what's your name,” unfortunately this is also followed by “give me money.”
There are numerous little stores along the road and in the villages selling basics so you don't need to carry litres and litres of water with you. At one of the villages I asked if it was possible to buy a coconut in order to drink the juice, the first reaction was in the negative. I had struck up a conversation with a wheelchair bound Robert, a local school teacher who unfortunately, was afflicted with a degenerative bone disease some years previous. Robert was telling me about a celebration to be held in the village in the coming weeks and how they were trying to get donations from the visiting tourists for the purchase of prizes for the children. I pointed out to Robert that most tourists to Palawan were budget travelers who aren't inclined to make donations and who are pretty tired of being asked for money. As more riders arrived I asked them if they would buy a fresh coconut to drink if it was available, they all wanted one, so I put it to Robert that if he could get it organised, here was a way to raise funds for the celebrations. In short time he had several fresh coconuts harvested, prepared and presented complete with drinking straws. At thirty Pesos each, not a bad start I thought.
A fair is in progress in El Nido at the moment. It started with a few food stalls being set up and inter-school sports and has developed into live music acts, gambling games and a whole street of open air food stalls. Buses, trucks and many other forms of transport have been pressed into service bringing people from the outlying villages into town for the big event which reaches it's climax on March 15th.