We hopped on a crowded bus for our two-hour ride to Oslob. In the Philippines, you can just hop on or off a bus anywhere along its route. It’s convenient because you don’t need to go to a bus terminal to get on. The downside is that the bus will start moving before you can sit down, and sometimes you don’t even get a seat.
We were having on-and-off rain throughout the day so we were glad to finally get on a bus. The only spot left was a space between two guys. I asked the guy sitting in the aisle if he could scoot over or let me in. He kept staring forward as if I didn’t exist. Rude! Everybody else on the bus glared at him. The bus was too crowded (and moving) so I couldn’t just step over him. I stood in the aisle looking silly wearing my large travel backpack on my back and a normal-sized backpack on my front (all my belongings for two and a half weeks of travel). I had to stand for about 15 minutes until somebody got off the bus.
We arrived early so we checked out Cuartel and Baluarte. Cuartel is an unfinished barracks built by the Spanish in 1860.
The Cuartel was next to Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church.
After looking at the ruins and church, we hopped on a tryke (a motorcycle with a sidecar). I always like to ride on the outside, but this time it started pouring rain. By the time we got to the hotel I was soaked. The rain eventually subsided and we had a nice sunset.
My favorite part of the whole trip was swimming with whale sharks! The whale sharks are enormous and slow. I guess I was expecting Jaws-like music whenever they approached, but there was nothing of the sort. They don’t make any noise, but just glide through the water. There were many times when I turned around to see a shark right in my face or swimming directly under me.
Their mouths were big enough to fit my whole body in as they just vacuum up everything in front of them. I came face-to-face with them a few times and I’m gladly still alive.
There was a murky pond with fish that eat the dead skin off your body. I was excited to do it, but my friend declined and instead laughed at me with another tourist. It’s seven months later and I’m still disease-free!
It was such a weird feeling having hundreds of tiny fish nibbling at my feet. It was an itchy, tingly, tickle and I couldn’t handle it for very long.
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