On this trip to Siargao, I was supposed to detox, do yoga everyday, swim, ride my bike, write… Exactly none of that happened.

Well, the yoga did. For a while.

But I missed the first two Sunday sessions: one, because of a hangover and, the second, because Nicolas was leaving that day and I wanted to be around to say goodbye. So I resolved to go out only once a week (on Friday nights since Kermit doesn’t have yoga on Saturdays) so that I wouldn’t ever miss yoga on Sundays on account of a hangover.

And then, of course, that very same week, Friday night turned into Monday afternoon.

And, after a disco nap, I still went out dancing that night.

I tried to return to yoga on Wednesday but an (alcohol-related) knee injury kept leaving disgusting slimy trails of pus all over my mat so, after the second day back, I decided to let the wound heal by doing less yoga that required a lot of time on the knees.

I brought out the Ashtanga videos. On the first day, I did Kino MacGregor’s Introduction to Ashtanga, but my fragile state couldn’t handle her voice so, the next day, I switched to John Scott, but his video isn’t really for beginners and wiped me out. The next day, I tried David Swenson, whom I think is my favorite, but I’m really incapable of doing the full primary series, so I resolved to bear Kino MacGregor’s voice and resume doing her Intro (half primary) course.

I took a break on Monday and, despite another massive night out, still did Kino’s video the next day. Then Thursday rolled around and, with it, a children’s party (which, on this island, is really an excuse for adults to drink even with children around) and Palaka Dive Center’s Full Moon Party, which was epic as per usual.

Which was followed by another Friday night out, and the knee wound that was finally beginning to heal was, once again, ripped open and is now even worse than it was before.

I have less than a week before leaving Siargao. I still don’t have the energy to work out (- I did laps in the pool maybe less than five times during my entire time here, and didn’t get on the push bike even once).

But, although I did go out last night, I only had one cocktail, didn’t smoke a single cigarette (- yes, am smoking again but am trying to quit again), and said no to a plate of pork and garlic fried rice when I didn’t need to eat. Which makes me think that maybe all is not lost and gives me hope of some slight (however minuscule) reform before I leave the island on Friday.

I wouldn’t put any money on it though. (After I publish this, I’m heading to a bar to watch UFC 202.)

Oh, I also bought a bunch of lettuce and assorted green thingies from the organic market yesterday! But I’m really hoping to serve it to other people.

I am excited about going back to Manila though, if only to work out with Rosan’s new trainer. She’s leaving for the Himalayas soon, and wanted to train for altitude and she found a really good trainer in San Juan. I want to see what he can do with me in one week and, if it works out, I might stay longer in Manila to work with him after I get back from Europe in October.

Oh, yes, the reason why I’ve been able to tap out some blog posts is because we finally have WiFi at our house here in Siargao. I started writing something on Sri Lanka, but it’s photo-heavy and the WiFi is still too shitty and erratic to handle it. I will have to publish it once I am back in civilisation, whatever that means in the Philippines now…