April 24,

I did not sleep well last night, I was congested and had to keep turning to drain, which woke me up, and then I was having troubles with my CPAP. It was miserable. Unfortunately it made for a bad night for Jeff also. I hate that part. When I finally got out of bed and woke up, I started coughing and as the day progressed the cough worsened/deepened. So needless to say, we did not do much. Breakfast was Muesli and yogurt with our Javas. Then I laid back down, but did not sleep. Lunch was just some nuts we had. I didn’t eat much of them – just laid back down. I did sleep some now. Afternoon turned into evening and I started feeling better thankfully!!! For supper, I made a slaw and Jeff went out and bought a Rotisserie Chicken – from somewhere. We had these with a red wine from Chili. Finally, we watched some YouTube and then bed.

     April 25,

Blessings!🤗 I felt better today, having slept better. We got around about 0700, having our Javas. Then we had some BAGELS! We each had a whole one, toasted, and topped it with some HUMMUS!! I don’t think we’ve had this combo – bagels and hummus – since we were in the States?!? It was super great. We also had a small yogurt each, and mango butterscotch bars. The bars were really good. We both thought it to be a strange combination, but it worked very well. We hung out at our place a bit and then around 1130 we went out.

We went to a bike rental shop. Jeff got a Yamaha Aerox, 155cc, for two days. It cost us 1,200 PHP, which is $21.31 for both days. It was supposedly the smallest bike they had available. It is orange colored and more sporty. My part of the seat is a hike to get up on it, and it makes me sit three inches taller than Jeff! I had some adjustment issues riding it the first time, that is for sure.

Anyway, we set off! We went inland some to a suburb town of Valencia. We went through this town to the foothills so to speak. It is a pretty drive. Lots of greenery – “jungly”! We arrived at our destination, Casaroro Falls. We parked and had to pay total 290 PHP ($5.15), which included both of our entrance fee with a mandatory guide, and National Park Fee. Our guide is Albert. There were 335 stairs steps. Also there were four criss-crossings through the river to get to the falls! The stairs were straight forward, until the last 50 or so- they were the kind you see through. I’m not a fan, but they were even and had a rail. Then came the river crossings. Jeff and Albert helped me. The river is flowing pretty fast. One crossing was walking across a tree trunk, which I won’t/don’t do, I thought to turn around here. But nope, we – Albert and I – forded the rushing current of the river. Jeff crossed on the tree trunk, which Albert would have done also if I weren’t there.

Anyway, we all made it without any slips or “swimming” detours… AND WOW! The waterfall was absolutely stunning! Sure the work to get there may have helped make it seem better, but I was in awe! Albert said the waterfall is 35 meters tall, which is 115 feet. I asked Albert if the volume gets to be more in rainy season. He said it does, and it is a lot more. Their rainy season begins in August. The volume now seemed quite a bit, but we are in the middle of the dry (and hot) season right now. I would not be able to come here with the swollen river, but I bet the waterfall is really powerful and I can’t imagine how full. Albert said the typhoon in 2011 caused damage to the pathway – as in there were walkway bridges. So the river fordings we did are the resulting damage. Anyway, we clambered up onto a rock for a photo op, and then sat and took in the view as we cooled off. There were some young locals here also, with one couple swimming. After we cooled off, we reversed and hiked back and forth through the river, up the steps and out. That was a great experience! So glad I was able to do it.

We got back on our scooter and headed back into Valencia. We needed food. The town had a Mexican Restaurant, Los Burritos. I had the Burrito Classico with Coke; Jeff had X3 Soft Tacos with a Mango shake. We were given an appetizer of homemade cut, fried tortillas with a homemade great salsa. Fantastic meals. We ended up taking the Mexican Rice as take away. It was a bunch of food. It cost 1,005, which was $17.86.

Finished, we went back to Dumaguete and to the Robinson’s Mall/ supermarket. We found our items and went to checkout. The lines are always long and you just have to plan on it taking… forever. We finally got through and scooted back to our place. We unloaded and cooled off. We went up to the roof for sunset view over the mountains that we were closer to earlier. For supper we had leftover slaw, last of the hummus with crackers, some BBQ corn nuts, and bit more of the mango butterscotch bars. Then we watched some YouTube, I blogged and Jeff read. Another fine day!