The hell bus to Puerto Princesa

We were sufficiently warned about the bus ride from El Nido to Puerto Princesa. Even the locals said that it was a awful trip. The other option (at 20 times the cost) would be to fly, but really, I'm getting tougher these days, so I figured I could handle handle whatever the Philippine public transportation system could dish out.

The over packed (read people riding on the roof), bus departed at 6:20 am, blasting the song "Beautiful Girls" on repeat as we rolled down the road towards El Nido. From 6:20 am until about 11:00 am, things were going really well: we all had seats inside the bus, we made a nice little rest stop in a village along the way, the road seemed ok, so why was everyone so worked out about this being a rough trip?

Then, stuff got a little hairy. The road started to get muddy, so the driver pulled off the road, into the riverbed and proceeded to drive up the river. My first ever amphibious bus ride! The water-level was only about 1 or 2 feet in most places, so at first this idea seemed ok. The driver must have assumed that the road conditions had improved since started in the river, because after several minutes, he steered the bus out of the river and back onto the road. Bad move, since the road was still a big, frothy, mud-pit. We plowed and jostled through the mud for another 10 minutes until we could see the beginning of a concrete road before us. It looked like the worst was behind us, when there was a loud crash and the bus lurched to a stop. The transmission was broken and we were stuck in the middle of the jungle, our hopes of making it Puerto Princesa anytime soon completely dashed.

We piled off the bus and dispersed. James wandered off to sit on the side of a hill with some local guys, Bastian found shade under another bus which was up on blocks, and proceeded to fall sound asleep (I think he would get along well with Anna in this regard), and I just sat down on the road. My first thoughts were that we needed a reasonable plan B for getting to Puerto Princesa, and 2) how were we going to secure some more water. Sometimes I wish that I could just fall asleep under the bus.

#2 was pretty easy to deal with. There were some American-Filipinos who had made friends with the road construction workers. The workers had a cooler full of water, and by virtue of striking up a conversation with them, I was immediately considered a friend of the construction workers new friends and was invited to enjoy their water.

#1 proved more difficult. Based on the bus-on-blocks situation, one could safely judge that this had happened before. I checked with one of the 15 guys crouched beneath the bus, who reassured me that the 8 am bus would be coming our way any moment, with the necessary parts, and we would be on our way soon. Riiiiiiiiiiight.

I was beginning to wonder if I would survive a night in the jungle, when the 8 am bus came barreling around the corner (sans parts, of course). the driver pulled over and asked me "you going to Puerto Princesa?". Yep, me and two others. I claimed the seats, Bastian and James grabbed the bags, and we were on our way.

At 4 pm, we finally rolled into Puerto Princesa. So it's not about the destination, but the journey, right?

-Julia


Bastian, James and me at the beginning of the bus saga


The interior of our sturdy vehicle


James and the bus during the morning rest stop


Rural Palawan


The road looks a little dicey....


...so we leave the road behind and head for the river, of course


Back on the road, the situation deteriorated


Attaching the broken bus to a truck so it can be pulled out of the mud


Abandoning ship


Back on the road in bus #2