Welcome to the Jungle!

Our first trip to the island – our future home and business premises – was taken in December of last year. After two days in Puerto Princesa and the now fully cemented, beautifully post-rainy-season green 4 hour drive to El Nido, we drove straight through the ever-growing, always crowded tourist town and chose Santeria as our first night’s stay. This lovely little guesthouse on top of a hill in San Fernando is owned by a young couple that has made hosting their business – just as we hope to one day. Being both role models and instant friends to us, the evening was spent with incredibly delicious food and easy-going and flowing conversation.

The silence of the night was a highlight in this eco friendly, solar-run guesthouse, as was waking up to green green and more green.

Stop. Follow the Sign. Fall in love with Santeria.

Green and serene.

The early bird.

We also caught up with our friends at the Tao family and stayed on the farm for two nights, the place where our love for Palawan has its roots.

Our lying down mango tree - the gateway to our wilderness.

The first visit to Sibaltan had us overjoyed as well as overwhelmed. There, amidst the lush green stretching further than we could see – due to the hilly terrain – stood a 10m x 15m greenhouse ready to be inhabited. See, only my mom would build a house for plants before building a house for the humans meant to take care of the plants.

She built a house for her plants before putting a roof over her own head.

In her element.

Kitties.

We took a short walk across our rainy-season-stream and up the hill to the area we dubbed “the Overlooking” due to the fact that that’s what it does – it overlooks the ocean, the mangroves, THE view.

Our rainy-season stream.

Towards the Overlooking. The view is behind there somewhere. Overgrown.

What greeted us was a jungle. We had never been here so shortly after rainy season and the over-, under- and all around growth was staggering. Beautiful, yes, but just…so…much! Trying to imagine orchards and fields, huts, paths, a kitchen and common area or anything towards any development was – at first glance – impossible. Where to begin and what to begin with. It was like running into a wall of green, left, right and center.

It's a jungle out there.

Our pool. Aquarium plants and fish spa fish included.

Since we didn’t have a place to stay yet and the weather wasn’t really inviting us to camp or hammock, we invaded Ursula’s Beach Club – a 3 room guesthouse on the Sibaltan town beach. This place was to be our homebase for the rest of our stay – switching between a room, the beach beds (those huts used for hanging out during the day) and a tent. Making friends with guests, staff and monkeys.

Baby monkey.

Testing the Tentsile.

We spent the next days like explorers - venturing deeper and wider and slowly getting a feel for the overwhelming green of our property. Day by day, walk by walk and with each look behind yet another group of trees, the green wall in our minds crumbled bit by leafy bit and our vision cleared (as far as the current foliage would let it).

"That's where we build a treehouse!"

We hiked 2km straight up a hill – not exaggerating here, we literally slid back down – to look at a water source that apparently doesn’t dry out in summer. Water is a big issue in Palawan and natural springs such as this one a rare treasure.

"That's where the water is."

Up up and away.

Catching our breath.

This little fellow followed us all the way up...

...and all the way down. Puppy love.

We also took the path down to the mangroves and found a beach and seemingly empty cove – another place to explore further once we settle here. The afternoon sunlight made shadows in the forest of dense roots and dark green foliage and the humidity swallowed all sounds. I can’t wait to get to know befriend this patch of life.

Our secret cove.

Bakawan - Mangoves.

Mangrove beach.

The first tiny step towards turning this green haven into a farm and its current staff (our caretaker and family) into farmers, was building our very first compost pile with greens from clearing, cow dung and EM (effective microorganisms). You should have seen our caretaker laugh at us – these two foreigners talking about “fat earth” (meaning good soil) and playing with dry cow poop.

He and his family used to own and use the land that is now the property we want to develop. But aside from harvesting what grows wild – there is a lot of cool stuff growing! – and planting rice, they mainly used it for slash and burn. This practice has sadly become widespread on the island and in the entire country, as fish populations diminish and poor rural families need to find other ways to put food on the table. Forests are burnt to produce charcoal they can sell and the land left often turns acidic and difficult to grow on. And with trees gone, the water they once held in the ground diminishes further.

So big tasks will be to fatten our soil, so fix some nitrogen, to bring back the nutrients and find, collect and store the precious water we have – look at me, using farming terms already ;)

Building our first compost pile.

On our final day on the property, we took another step – a larger one – towards settling onto this beautiful bit of land. We chose a hill. A hill for our house.

We talked to an architect, drew up a simple design and designated the area for our very first hut. A temporary home for the time we need to get to know the lay of the land and to plan the next developments. Still – exciting!

Six posts, half a floor, stairs to upstairs and a nipa roof – that’s all I will give away.

We ended the trip with a great hike to the Kuyawyaw waterfalls – clear, clean, cold water surrounded by almost primary rainforest and hardly any people. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

We're being watched.

Kuyawyaw falls No.1

Lush and lusher.

Kuyawyaw falls No.2

Kuyawyaw falls No.3

Already on the way back to Manila, we were bubbling with ideas, our mind overflowing with tweaks and torques to our concept. Our inspiration found, our motivation ignited.

The weeks before, during and after the holidays here are useless. And so were we. We enjoyed the food, the company of friends and family and the general chaos of it all. We moved a lot, ate a lot and kept the planning on the periphery.

Now it’s January and we’re back on track. We have gone shopping in China Town, extending our feelers to get to know where to go for cheaper materials. We are mapping. We are researching earthbag building, compost toilets, solar power and how the hell we are going to learn to become farmers.

We are joining a Consultative Farm Tourism Meeting with lots of government agencies and going to the Social Business Summit of Gawad Kalinga, one of the biggest NGOs here.

We are prepping for a longer stay in Palawan. Shipping stuff and our car – oh yeah, we have a Roots-mobile, a monster truck, a big blue baby!

1996 Toyota Hilux - Yes!

And come end of the month, we will be there! To watch the start of construction on our house. To build more compost piles. To test the off-roading skills of our truck. To get to know our jungle. To explore Palawan. To start to attempt to become islanders. Welcome to our jungle - in all senses of the word!

Sibaltan sunrise. So when are you coming to visit?