Episode 4: Negros Island
After making our way back to our cabin, a good night’s sleep was supposed to help us recover from our emotions... or so we thought.
The cabin was made of loose planks, right in the middle of the tropical forest, which meant it was full of critters—small ones and bigger ones.
It was built on stilts, like many are in tropical forests, to protect against certain animals.
Anyone who’s spent a night in the jungle knows what comes next .
No sooner had we lain down in the dark than I saw big shiny things moving above us.
I don’t remember if it was immediate or not, but we pointed our flashlight (no electricity, of course) at the ceiling: hairy spiders were crawling along the beam above the bed, and what had been shining in the dark were their big eyes...
No matter how much we told ourselves they wouldn’t eat us, we couldn’t close our eyes, always drawn to those charming little creatures that could drop on us at any moment (I know the chances were slim, but that’s how it felt).
We must’ve eventually fallen asleep until a huge racket from all corners of the cabin and screams woke us up. Judging by the shouts, we weren’t reassured at all, and we rushed for the flashlight.
What a surprise to see a big lizard and a huge animal that looked like a rat—though I’m not sure what it was—but both were about 40 or 50 cm long.
I forgot which one was chasing the other across the floor, beams, and even the walls thanks to their claws, both shrieking. Every now and then, they’d stop and fight, letting out loud cries!!!
Not exactly scary this time—little chance they’d attack us—but impossible to fall back asleep with those glowing eyes watching us and that infernal circus. I waited for sunrise with great impatience, constantly checking the time.
The next day, Anne-Marie had a good laugh at me for being scared of all sorts of creatures, especially since she’d slept just fine😉.
The five young Filipinos laughed when I told them about our night and added that even bigger animals roamed the area. We never found out what they were, but in hindsight, I think we didn’t care—our only obsession was LEAVING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, GETTING OUT OF THIS HORRIBLE PLACE and hopping on the jeepney that came every morning.
A little later, the jeepney arrived, and off we went to the port of Bacolod, where the morning ferry would take us to Iloilo on Panay Island.
The jeepney dropped us off at the port, a bit outside the city, in the middle of old rusty boats... and we learned that the ferry we’d been told about (at 7 AM, 8 AM, 9 AM—I don’t remember) had left an hour earlier, and the next one wasn’t until the evening.
That’s when we nearly lost it—we’d had enough.
I’d never regretted traveling so much. We wondered why we’d come to the Philippines when there was so much beauty in France and around us. We must’ve been crazy to be here—total depression.
We were so fed up with this island and this miserable city that we didn’t want to set foot in it again. So we decided to spend the day in the least awful place in town: we asked for the nicest hotel in the city to escape the poverty, all the critters, the armed "military" guys, Tonio, etc...
It was the only time in our lives we’d ever asked for "the nicest hotel."
In 1984, the nicest hotel in Bacolod was next to the cathedral’s main square. It was far from a luxury hotel—more like an old 2-star—but we were happy and relieved to see nothing of the outside world.
We had no problem spending the whole day in an armchair in the lobby. They probably didn’t see tourists often, so we were VIP guests!
We ate and drank there without ever stepping outside—we just wanted to forget this island.
Finally, evening came, and we returned to the port to board the ferry to Iloilo.
I’d never been so happy to leave a place. For me, Negros Island will always be:
- a miserable city
- Tonio and his dodgy plan
- a terrifying evening with the "tonton macoute" and their grenades
- a "vacation spot" I wouldn’t wish on anyone (though Tongsacado’s photo shows it’s changed a lot since then).
The Bacolod-Iloilo crossing was supposed to take 2-3 hours (or more?).
And so we arrived in ILO ILO—a name I loved right away. Ilo Ilo😎—it’s catchy, it’s beautiful.
We got there at night in a city we knew nothing about, but strangely, we weren’t anxious about finding a hotel in an unknown city in a still very poor country.
I think we walked into a hotel right by the port... and no memories of it, so it must’ve gone well.
The next day, we took a bus to cross Panay Island toward Boracay.
No memories of it, except this photo:
Then we switched to a jeepney (transfer in Kalibo?) on a dirt road.
And by late afternoon, we arrived in the village across from Boracay. 🙂 🙂
The stress of the previous days had faded—everything was beautiful, calm, the people were smiling, the sea was stunning, the sun was shining over the coconut trees. We felt like we’d escaped hell, our spirits were back, and paradise was just a step away. 🙂 🙂 🙂 😎
Life was good.
We even took photos like we were on vacation :
The village square.
Anne-Marie took this photo of me in our jeepney in front of our outrigger boat—things were *much* better than in Negros.
Then we climbed into an outrigger canoe... off to paradise.
Next episode: A dream week in Boracay (with photos, unlike Negros, which wasn’t exactly photogenic)
Mambukal 2019....... checking out..... a revamped canteen and the army...still there-- but in T-shirts now! NPA? Nice People Around?
