Monday, 21 October

Nicolas and I had a big breakfast before he left to catch the plane to Cebu and I thought I’d be good and not eat the whole day. Then I got a text from my friends, Liam Cox and Carl Branson (British owners of the now defunct Drop Inn), asking if I wanted to come over for dinner. How can I resist when guys offer to cook? We hadn’t seen each other in a while and it was definitely time for a catch-up. And Ailene did send over a chocolate cake that morning…

Except that my energy levels were really low. I couldn’t work out, but I did swim 30 laps before going over to see the boys. I stayed for a bit and then went home early.

Tuesday, 22 October

Energy levels back up!

• Walked the dog.
• Shred, Level 2
• Swimming: 30 laps

To make up for my early exit the night before, I offered to bring dinner to the guys, as well as a bottle of Don Papa, my favorite rum. Had a fun night, drinking and laughing. We finished Ailene’s cake then ordered another one from Aventino’s.

Wednesday, 23 October

• Walked the dog.
• Shred, Level 2
• Swimming: 30 laps

Sober day today. Went to market to buy fruits and vegetables.

Thursday, 24 October

• Walked the dog. Tried something new today and walked the dog to the 4 km. marker (- our place is a few meters beyond the 5 km. marker), which means that we walked more than 2 km. Since I don’t trust this dog, I have to keep him on a leash, to make sure he doesn’t go wandering off. But, as I did with Napo, I have to carry a stick to protect him from other dogs, as well as other dogs – and people – from him.
• Shred, Level 2

We had a big girlie despedida (farewell) lunch for Susan. We started off with a large, strong fruity cocktail at Sagana, before proceeding to Kawayan for lunch.

Since David Frachou (- the Angry French Man of Kawayan Resort) works the kitchen solo, it does take time for orders to come out, but his food is totally worth the wait. Everything we had was good: the ceviche (- he followed our advice and ditched the tomatoes he served with it when Nicolas and I were there), the seafood pasta (- I must have this again!), and he made an apple pie to die for! We ordered two bottles of wine and Elsa mixed up some sangria for all thirteen of us.

Friends from Manila, Candice Lumayno and Gina Gamboa (plus two of their friends), arrived the day before and we met up at Kawayan so that we could all ride over to my place for dinner.

I sometimes forget the effect our house has on people who see it for the first time. As soon as we pulled up, they started woop-wooping and seemed unsure if they should gawk, pull out their cameras or keep shrieking and, because I was concerned about the tide rising and the sun going down, I was impatient and rushing them with the instruction, “Walk and talk, people, walk and talk.”

It was great seeing them again. We drank beer and swam in the pool until it was time for dinner. We had fish and crab, and I opened the last bottle of cava to welcome them to Siargao.

Friday, 25 October

• Walked the dog. I walked him out on the road with the intention of going all the way to the 4 km. marker again but Apollo would have none of it. We had barely gotten past Dedon and Bayud resorts when he started being stubborn. I thought we should at least make it to the former L&B Resort, but Apollo refused to budge and we had to turn back.
• Shred, Level 2
• Swimming: 30 laps

Candice, Gina and company went to Sohoton during the day and I suspected that the trip would wipe them out, especially since they had been doing a lot of early days and early nights. They insisted they were up for partying, especially since Candice was leaving on Sunday and she wanted to go to the Friday night jungle disco. So, at 9 AM, I went to Nine Bar to wait for them.

Sure enough, they started to flake.

“We’re just going out to dinner now. Text you when we’re done.” (She said the same thing about an hour earlier.)

“Food coma. Going back for a power nap. We will catch up with you at the jungle disco.”

I was one beer down on my three-beers-a-night thing (- the rule does not apply when at home or other people’s homes) and was bummed. I caught the first habal (motorbike taxi) that passed by and called on Liam and Carl. Liam was nodding off in the hammock, but Carl brought out the rum I had left with them and drank with me.

We finished what was left of the bottle.

Past midnight, the girls were awake and ready to roll. They came by for me but we couldn’t fit all of us on the bike so the driver dropped them off first at Tattoo, the jungle disco, then came back for me.

And this is where my memory gets splotchy.

I have vague memories of harassing Remo Lütolf (Swiss Olympian swimmer), dancing wildly with Candice and mock-arguing with Al Solloso, Siargao’s resident gay boy. At around 3 AM, I said my goodbyes and dropped Al home, before heading home myself.

Saturday, 26 October

Three hours later, I was awake. And Candice was just getting back to their resort. (She wasn’t kidding when she said they’d take a power nap. They went from zero to fully charged in less than two hours!)

She filled in the blanks of the previous night. She said that we danced like crazy people, I drank some beer (- so much for the three-drinks-a-night rule), ate some biscuits (?) but that, no, I did not smoke.

While I didn’t feel particularly hungover, I did feel rough around the edges and starved like I hadn’t eaten in ages. I ate big, heavy meals the whole day (- I had rice with EVERYTHING) and snacked in between. I’m chalking it up to PMS and a wannabe-hangover. Because of the lack of sleep, I was lethargic the whole day and didn’t have the energy to work out.

Sunday, 27 October

I got up at 6 AM this morning to go to the market for some meat, chicken and fish. Made a big breakfast for us when I got back, then went back to sleep.

Now waiting for lunch. Am excited because it’s the first time the maid is preparing paella for us since we sold the resort in 2010. I have to say that we made the best paella back then and we’ve been missing it. While our maid trained with the resort staff before we left, she hasn’t had a chance to replicate all the dishes we did then. Recently, I thought that it’s about time to do these dishes again before she forgets them completely. So far, she’s been doing a great job. Needs a bit of fine tuning but not much. Today, she’s making paella and cured tanguingue (mackarel), two of the best dishes we had before. I hope she gets them right!

I did Shred, Level 2 this morning. I can’t believe I’ve already done nine sessions and only have one more to go before I start Level 3. Noooooooo!!! I don’t want to move up to Level 3! I’ve watched a bit of it and am terrified. I’m not even done being freaked out by Level 2!

Will swim 30 laps before we head out for dinner at Kawayan tonight. I already pre-ordered the seafood pasta, the pork tagine, and the apple pie. Can’t wait!

Declared by Sagana’s Susan Brandstetter to be the best dessert she’s ever had on the island.

Summary: I’m getting fatter.