Birthday happiness and Kundalini Yoga in Siargao

Double happiness!! I'm so happy to be back in my favorite destination in the Philippines to celebrate my birthday and happy to share my current love which is Kundalini Yoga with special friends living in the island of Siargao. 

It was a perfect holiday! We started the day early with a two-hour kundalini yoga and meditation session led by yours truly and our host BFF Gai Olivares served raw food breakfast as we soaked up some prana. 

The theme of the three-day Kundalini Yoga workshop was to release inner anger.  The sets were quite intense and I was amazed that everyone was able to keep up. The workshop was designed to restore personal power and move through blocks to hopefully create some shifts in the short time that we were together. At the end of the workshop, they can speak from the heart with less fear and begin to forgive themselves for the past and look to the future with hope and positive energy. 

Susan, Aileen, moi, Feilani, Joie and our host Gai

I asked for some feedback and Susan B. wrote "Over the three days, Rosan took us through a process of acknowledging the emotion, ones that we all have repressed and provided us with a safe place to bring things to the surface. It was challenging at times but the release was very clear. We worked on opening the heart chakra and after the third class, I was able to openly communicate things to my partner that I had held back from sharing. I'm grateful to have had this opportunity and look forward to attending more classes with Rosan." 

Do you understand why I was so happy on my birthday? I'm finally being of service to others, elevating others. I've set this intention in the beginning of the year and I am grateful to be guided and witness my intentions come to fruition. 

Marcela, moi, Aileen, Caroline, Joie, Gai and Susan

Breakfast view

Ricky, TonTon, moi, Kitty, Gai, Lee and Malu

Of course the trip wouldn't have been a birthday fete without some R&R. Malu, Kitty, Jomi, Tonton and Ricky flew in to join. We went around Siargao and Malu and Nicolas played a round of golf.

The highlight was the boat trip to Dako Island onboard Lee's boat called the Galatea. Dako means 'big' in Visayan. The island is the biggest of the three islands in Siargao.

We were the only tourists on the island that day. Lee grilled some fresh caught fish and chicken and served salad, vegetables, pasta and fruits for lunch.

The trip was definitely special filled with laughter and joy. Happiness indeed and grateful to everyone especially Gai!

Onboard the Galatea

Naked Island

happy revelers

The End is Near, in Siargao?

It's actually 18 days till the predicted doomsday on December 21, 2012 but down south in the eastern coast of Mindanao, it may well be sooner. My friend posted the  typhoon warning on Facebook last Saturday. She said "It seems that the end of the world is coming sooner to Siargao than the rest of the planet." Well, with the 44-ft wave forecast at 3pm tomorrow (encircled in red below), I guess a tsunami is expected to hit the island. Most of them (including her great dane 'Napo') have already  been herded to higher ground.

typhoon warning  of Gai on Facebook

As of this writing, super typhoon Pablo (international code name Bopha) is supposed to be in the Philippines' Area of Responsibility (PAR) already. The typhoon is carrying winds of up to 250 kph and is expected to make landfall over the Surigao area (direct hit) tomorrow. This is the 16th storm to enter the Philippines and is much stronger than last year's December typhoon Sendong which packed winds up to 75kph. 

Pablo's path (Source: Australia Network News)

Windguru forecast

Windguru concurs that waves may reach more than 40-feet tomorrow in Siargao;  however, it will be much earlier  from 6am to 12noon. The rainfall is heavy from 8.7 to 15.7 mm per hour.

Thank God Manila is spared! Public storm warning signal #2 has been hoisted over the following areas: Surigao del Norte, Surigao Island, Dinagat Island, Augsan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Davao Oriental, Davao del Norter, Compostela Valley, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental and Oriental, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte and Sur, Siquijor, Bohol, Biliran, Camotes Island, Souhern Leyte, Leyte, Eastern and Western Samar.

Let's do pray that the typhoon slows down and will not wreak havoc in the Visayas and Mindanao areas.

three C-things to have when things go awry

Pansukian Resort in Siargao

As luck would have it, after spending Gai's wonderful birthday weekend at the famed Pansukian resort in Siargao, Surigao del Norte (northeastern-most tip of Mindanao -- yep, far far away), I was the only one who had to fly back to Manila.

The only way to go home on a Sunday is to catch the flight out from Surigao City, the provincial capital which is six hours and three modes of transport away. Cebu Pacific flies only 3x a week to Siargao from Cebu every Mon-Wed-Fri.

the habal-habal

I left the resort at 4:30 am on a Habal habal (right photo). This is the taxi service in Mindanao and seats five up to seven people max. I was told that Habal actually is the Visayan term for 'sexual intercourse' of animals and the taxi is referred to ‘habal-habal” because the driver and the passengers are in the “habal” position.

After a balancing act and dodging mosquitos on the habal habal, I arrived at Dapa pier at 5am. I remembered Gai insisting that I take the RORO - roll-on, roll-off boat because it’s huge. I opted for the tinier banca next to it called "Dapa Express", an outrigger boat which takes only 2 hours, or half the time of the RORO, to Surigao City. Luckily, the sea was calm and crossed safely to Surigao City.

The tricycle ride to the airport took only 20 minutes. The airport was still closed when i got there so passed the time in the restaurant next to it. When i checked in at 9:00, I immediately asked PAL if the flight at 11:00 is confirmed and the girl said it will take off early at 10:30am. Since i had time to burn, in the passenger terminal, I nestled myself on a seat against the wall and dozed off…which must have taken long because someone nudged me asking if i was a PAL passenger and handed me a jollibee burger. When I looked at the clock it was already noon. Then I wondered why everything was dark…there was a power outage and it was raining heavily.

The PAL flight was delayed. I inquired and the girl said that the aircraft was waiting in Manila for advise to take off. At around 130pm, PAL announced that the flight was canceled due to bad weather, zero visibility. Surigao is like Baguio -... I was sure the next day the PAL flight out of Surigao City would be full, and the only way out would be to catch the last flight out of Davao or the next day in Cagayan de Oro, both are equidistantly 5 hours away by land from Surigao.

So my first C tip is to make sure you have all contact numbers. Gai gave me contact numbers that morning- van rental and a hotel in Surigao. The estimated cost to either Davao or Cagayan de Oro is P6-8K by van. My second tip is to have CASH. I only had P2000 in my wallet. And there was no ATM machine because the whole city of Surigao didn’t have any electricity! I called my friend in Cagayan de Oro to inform him of my predicament. Fortunately one of the passengers overheard my call and invited me to join him and his wife to catch the last flight out of Davao for only P1500 per passenger.

My third tip is to keep your cool. There was no point in getting angry or blaming PAL. There was no aircraft and the best way out is to accept the situation and to think on your feet to get out of the place FAST. We left Surigao at 3pm. There were six of us - :the guy who invited me was a champion surfer from Surigao, his wife a PAL stewardess, a nurse with her Swiss husband and her brother, and myself. The roads were well paved, the sight--despite the rain--was good and there were lots of stories to share. I made it back to Manila after 18 hours of travel, five modes of travel and 3-Cs!