El Nido is one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited, definitely one of the highlights of my trip. It's a picturesque fishing village, tucked into a limestone karst surrounded bay. The town only has electricity at night, but what it lacks in modern amenities, it makes up for in charm and personality.
James, Bastian and I made several "island hopping" snorkel excursions (each one found us on a number of secluded beaches surrounded by pretty reefs). We also rented kayaks and found our own secret beach (not that those are a rare commodity around El Nido). James and I took on the challenge of hiking one of the cliffs right outside of town. What we thought would be a 30-minute hike, turned out to be a 3-hour climbing expedition. A bit of an unexpected surprise, but we had a fantastic time, just the same.
El Nido had surprisingly good food. Maybe not what you would expect from a sleepy little village, but perhaps the relative isolation of the town means that the area's population has to rely on locally harvested supplies (which would mean lots of fresh fish and fruit). Courtesy of one, slightly loopy, local Swedish ex-pat, we found a fantastic little food stall owned and operated by a woman known as "mami". I don't know what her secret is, but her pork adobo was superb. This was also an important find because James has the metabolism of a small horse, and the food was not only tasty, but cheap too.
El Nido is truly a hidden gem. To date, it is one of my favorite destinations on this trip. A place I shall definitely visit again.
Julia
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En route to El Nido
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Could live here, please?
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Relaxing on the way to El Nido
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Dolphin-spotting on the way to El Nido
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Snorkel lagoon
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Jungle-covered lagoon walls
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James, standing beside the fire which the boatmen used to cook lunch
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So it wasn't totally perfect...we did have a few hours of rain
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Bastian and Julia, hiding from the rain
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Art cafe, perfect for putting your feet up with a good book and a cup of coffee
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Mami
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Kayaking to the our own little beach
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Self-portrait on the secluded beach
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Ahhhhhh....
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Snorkeling in 7 commando's beach (Bastian wanted to ask that boat pull our kayaks back to El Nido, but James and I were too tough for that)
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El Nido village kids
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Yes, I climbed that
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Not the best picture, but you get the idea that this wasn't just a "hike"
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Look ma, no hands
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El Nido
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Why did the turkey cross the road?
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Tricycles
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Snorkel trip #2
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More perfection
4 comments:
Mom's and Dad's hands were sweating when we looked at the picture of you clinging to the rock face without any rope or safety harness. Like we said in one of your first blogs, there are some things parents aren't meant to see :-)
Love,
Dad
Julia,
Sign me up for that return trip!Gorgeous location. I think they have right idea, keep the teeming masses out:)xoxoxo mom
Hi Julia,
glad you liked el nido and i sense the philippines in its entirety. we'll go there this march and hope you visit my site for my pictures.
manzter.multiply.com
Dear Julia , nice to meet you this Giacomo From Italy, i was going through your interetsing blog, and wandering if you cna give me some advise. i will soon travel to Philippines and still don't know where to go if el nido or Coron. Sadly i don't have enough time to visit both, so maybe you can give some advise.
thanks in advance.
Grazie mille
Ciao
Giacomo
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