Samar

When we decided to go to Donsol from Padre Burgos we thought the best and quickest way to do it would be to take a bus, we would be able to see a bit of the countryside after all. Little did we know of east Visayas...

A quick geo description. Padre Burgos is on island Leyte that is connected with island Samar with a bridge. Samar is further on connected with the short ferry ride with Luzon, and this is where Donsol is. Luzon is not Visayas any more - it is actually "the main" island; it is where Manila is. Piece of cake!

And it started just great. We took a bus from Padre Burgos, that is on the south of Leyte to north of the island. It was a lovely day and a nice trip on a local bus - you know: you, chickens, roosters, food and furnishings... and open windows. We enjoyed it a lot! Road twists next to the sea most of the time so you are rewarded with amazing views.

Next leg - Samar. And boy, were we not prepared for it! At all. First, there is some weird custom that you cannot get on the bus, unless you are going all the way to Manila. And as we wanted to go only half way, we did not get the ticket (after we were assured all is OK the previous day!). The bus was only 20% occupied and all reasoning was in vain. We were on a little local bus again.

First part of the trip was great: lovely bridge from Leyte to Samar, nice sceery... And then, first there was no more scenic road by the sea, next little shops and restaurants just disappeared and were replaced by bamboo shacks, then no more asphalt on the road and then – no roads at all! We muddled through mud and wholes size of a small car for hours. Bruised and tired we finally made it to the town we were thinking of spending the night at – but there was practically no place to stay. So we had to go on. On a jeepney this time – local mean of transportation: sort of small truck refurbished to transport people. In amazing numbers having in mind space available. Local buses felt like first class transport... Jeepney also connects neighbouring towns only, so we had to change quite a few along the way... We stopped every bus along the way and asked for transport, but the answer was always the same: NO. Finally, we made it to the ferry and Luzon. Out of shear desperation we went to bus station and asked for a ride to town closest to Donsol on a bus route and they said yes. YES!!! Normal seats, your own space – not even the constant smoking of all the passengers could change our good mood. We were just one more jeepney ride away from Donsol!

More pictures here.