Relax

#770

"The time to relax is when you don't have time to relax"

Palawan Day 3: Culion, Fighting the Stigma

Back during the American occupation of the 1900s, in an effort to manage health issues and as part of America's long-term intention of colonizing the archipelago, Culion was made into a leper colony. Those diagnosed with the worst case of leprosy were sent to this island in the Calamian group of islands in Palawan.

It's been a long time since then and now. With advances in science, leprosy, once one of the most feared diseases that's been around even since biblical times, is now curable and sufferers of the disease, once on the multi-drug treatment, are no longer communicable.

Culion as a town has managed to rise above and, in the early 2000s, has since been totally leprosy-free. The island is now slowly reintegrating back into Philippine society. Success stories like these are truly inspiring. One of Culion's residents hit the point home with this phrase, "We are no longer fighting to find a cure for leprosy. We are now fighting stigma." The strength and pride of Culion's people is admirable.

If you're planning to go to Palawan, Culion is worth the trip. Being a quaint little town with such rich history, Culion is made vibrant with its very welcoming residents so don't forget to talk to the locals! You'll be surprised at the interesting stories they have to share. We met a man there and he told us of the love story of his parents, of how they were both lepers, of how forbidden their love was and of how they fought to be together. It was an epic and movie-worthy story. And oh, you want an even happier ending? The man was born leprosy-free.

Below are some photos taken in Culion's cathedral.

The next set of images were taken inside the museum.

Early medical instruments used in the leprosarium

And to end this post, here's a friendly reminder for everyone brought to you by the Culion Sanitarium and General Hospital:

P.S. This is a super late post. The trip to Culion was taken back in July of this year. The author of this blog loves to share but is just really lazy.

The undocumented life is not worth blogging about. Bow.

I may not have a habit of blogging regularly but I do have an almost regular habit of putting things off. Gaaaah! So much has happened that has been left undocumented! If Socrates were around in this day and age of everything virtual, he would have been quoted as saying, "the unblogged life is not worth living" or something to that effect.

So here's my nth attempt to acquire the habit of blogging, and here's to not only more posts, but to more "regular" posts at that.  And...I'll start tomorrow.

Photo from here

Baby's up and running!

In the Sugarbowl, our little baby, is now on the intarwebs! We're working hard to get in some more great content. To find out what's In the Sugarbowl, just click this and listen up! Thanks, in advance, for listening! Mwah!

Palawan, Day 2: Pure Shores

Take me to my beach
I can hear it, calling you
I'm coming, not drowning
Swimming closer to you

The sights Day Two in Palawan offered were eyegasmic! The majestic cliffs jutting out from the crystal clear blue waters were breathtaking to say the least. The scenery seemed to come right out of The Beach, that movie a young Leonardo Dicaprio starred in back in 2000. In fact, I've heard that the author of the novel The Beach, Alex Garland, was actually inspired by the beauty of Palawan when he wrote the novel. However, the location used in his book and in the movie was Thailand, particularly a beach called Koh Phi Phi. I guess it mostly had something to do with the backpacking culture, which wasn't as big in the Philippines then as it was in Thailand. Ok, I digress. Sorry, hehe.

So Day Two was spent mostly in the water and on the bangka as we island-hopped our way around Coron. If I remember correctly, there were seven stops all in all (but for the life of me, I can only recall six): Siete Pecados, Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake, Twin Lakes, Banol Beach and Banana Island where we spent the night.

The lakes were beautiful! I could spend a whole afternoon in any of those lakes. The best part is when all the other tourists leave and you and you're friends are alone. Automatically, you feel the lake transforming into your very own secret cove, a secret hideaway only a chosen few are privy to, just like in The Beach.

With my team in Kayangan Lake

Banol beach was also picturesque with its pristine waters and soft white sand. Again, another location I wouldn't mind spending a whole afternoon in. I can imagine just lounging by the beach front, the cool water lapping at my toes while getting a nice golden tan. Now couple this breathtaking scenery with great conversation with friends over a few drinks and life couldn't get any better.

Idyllic Banol Beach

By day's end we headed for Banana Island where we spent the night. We arrived on Banana Island just in time for the magic hour. I was able to watch a beautiful sunset with my girls and was reassured that all is well and that life is beautiful.

The only drawback from this otherwise perfect paradise vacation was that it felt rushed. We went to seven beyond-beautiful locations but only spent around 30 minutes to an hour in each. Not enough time to soak in all the beauty. Notice how I kept saying 'I could spend the whole afternoon' in this or that place. In the beginning, during the planning stage of our vacation, we chose this tour because we had wanted to cover as much ground as we could in the three days we had. This, as it turned out, worked against us. I really had wanted to just chill and fully enjoy the beach, the ocean, and the coves without being timed and called on when we had to leave for another location.

So if you're more of a quality-over-quantity type of person like me and you don't want to be bound by a schedule while on vacation, I suggest to just choose around two or three places to visit and allow yourself to forget time and get lost in the moment. Don't worry that you weren't able to go to all the places, just consider that all more reason to go back!

(In hindsight, though, because we went to all the must-see places, I now know which beaches/coves I want to spend time in the next time I visit Coron. Oh yes, there WILL be a next time!)

In The Sugar Bowl

A colleague and I are embarking on this new side project called In The Sugar Bowl. It'll be a podcast of sorts but I'm not at the liberty yet to say what it'll be about. We're in the process of finalizing the show and we'll be launching the pilot episode soon! We'd love it if you can be a part of this "birth" by following us on Tumblr: In The Sugar Bowl

Follow us now! We'd love that and we'd totally appreciate it, but if in the course of the next few weeks you finds us boring THEN you can choose to unfollow. LOL. But of course, we're hoping you don't. :p

We promise you great content and substance!