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Cycling Catanduanes 5 – The Barangay Captain of San Vicente
San Vicente did not, as I suspected, have any kind of hotel or pension or inn or guest house or lodging. In that situation, I figured I would be sleeping in my tent and I understood from many conversations I’d had that I should present myself to the barangay captain to obtain his permission and protection. I rode around San Vicente, and people actually made …
Cycling Catanduanes 4 – Journey to San Vicente
I had asked lots of people over the previous couple of days about the road going from Pandan and back to Virac along the east coast. From these people I got a variety of answers. Most said variants on the “too far” and “impossible” line. Others said that the entire road was under construction just like the road from Virac to Pandan. Others said that …
Cycling Catanduanes 3 – Videoke Nightmare in Caramoran
In the morning, Grandpa took me on a tour of Salvacion before I left. He knew everyone in the barangay, of course, and he introduced me to everyone, including his five brothers. Five brothers and no sisters at all. And then DNA evened up the affair quite a bit by providing him with an entire sea of granddaughters. The five brothers were all farmers and …
Taking a Ferry to the Island of Catanduanes
I treated my time in Legazpi as kind of a shakeout period for me and my bicycle. I was just getting used to not working anymore, not being in Taiwan anymore, and learning to ride my bicycle again with a full touring load. Before I left Legazpi, I decided to go to the island of Catanduanes. The idea was to take a casual ride around …
Cycling Catanduanes 2 – A Night in Salvacion
The real adventure began at the end of my first day when I stopped at the little barangay of Salvacion and met Grandpa and his sea of granddaughters. As I rode along, I pondered just where I was going to spend the night. I was prepared to spend the night in my tent, but I wasn’t fully organized for that. I did not have food …
Cycling Catanduanes 1 – “Are you sure?”
The manager of the hotel in Virac raised her eyebrows at me when I told her of my plans to ride my bicycle to Pandan – the town at the northern tip of Catanduanes.
“Are you sure?” she said, with her eyes widening and her voice rising a couple of octaves at the end – sounding almost panicked on my behalf.
“No,” I said. “I’m not sure …
Photo Walkabout in Virac, Catanduanes
Friday April 12, 2013
6:30 a.m. Virac, Catanduanes, Philippines
I lost the war of the little things this morning. The man in the room beside me was snoring like a freight train and at an incredible pace. I can’t imagine breathing that fast while sleeping let alone snoring that loud at the same time. I wonder how snoring has managed to survive as a human trait? Wouldn’t …
Exploring Virac and Catanduanes
Thursday April 11, 2013
6:30 a.m. Virac, Catanduanes
If I were informed that I was here on this world as a kind of messiah to deliver my important message, I know exactly what my message would be. “Hooks,” I would begin my first sermon, “are good! Hooks cost next to nothing and make life a thousand times better. Go, my children, to the hardware store. Go today! …