I honestly came to Siargao to see “The Bent Palm Tree” but when I got to the river where it stood, I was given much more than what I asked for.
On our second day in Siargao we passed by Maasin River. There, we met local vendor and tour guide, Kuya Nanding. He offered to take care of the rest of our stay in Siargao and boy, saying “Yes, please” was one of the most on point decisions I made in my life.
We obviously did the whole firstimer-basic-tour during our first couple of days and we put the rest of our stay on Kuya’s hands. He did so much for us and I couldn’t be more thankful.
He showed us roads less travelled and had us meet amazing people. There were so many moments where we would just talk with the locals about mundane things. I mean, how couldn’t we? We hung out with them, rode with them, had meals with them and even played with them. It was the most amazing thing I’ve done in my travels so far.
I will not discuss all the conversations we’ve had on this one blog. That would just make this too long to digest. But if there’s a takeaway here, it’s that we found good people there and these people inspired something in me. Their hospitality was unparalleled. The experience they gave us was amazing; And the effort they put forth to make us feel warm and happy about coming to the island was way beyond words.
I would like to thank Kuya Nanding and Kuya Jun for taking care of us and making us feel at home. They have surely become our friends and we will surely be back to see them again.
Your Ryeness 