Exploring El Nido (Part 1/2 of the Palawan Photo Diary)

I'm back! Been really busy with school (that I even forgot about my blog's 1st birthday last March 16), but I'm just really happy to be free now! Unfortunately, my freedom will be short-lived since I'll be returning to school in a week or so (sob).

Well, I guess I had my summer in advance last December anyway! During the Christmas break, we went to Palawan and explored El Nido and Puerto Princesa. This post will be the first out of two posts I'll be dedicating to our Palawan trip. Read on to find out more!

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It was our second time being in Palawan, as I was told (the first one being during my toddler years, so I really don't remember). However, it was our first time checking out El Nido. I've seen photos of the limestone formations that the place is famous for, so I was so excited to finally be there!

Getting there meant enduring a 4-hour land travel from the Puerto Princesa airport. The place reminded me of Boracay, except more peaceful, and  less crowded and "commercialized". 

The highlights of our stay would be the dinner by the beach, and the island hopping. Honestly, I'm not much of a beach person because (1) I quite don't want to get any tanner, and (2) I don't exactly have a body to flaunt lol. But I do love swimming and trying out other watersports! What I can say about El Nido though is it's more of a feast for the eyes out of the water, rather than underwater. There aren't much fishes, but the limestones are breathtaking!

We took the Tour A, and we were brought to different islands and lagoons. I tried to take as much photos as I can, but I had to be really careful unless I wanted to lose a gadget to the seas haha! (Not a lot of them are ~koala tea~ but anyways!) Some were taken with a Nikon D90, some with my iPhone 6, and some with a Lumix waterproof camera.

Click the photo to enlarge the panorama shot!

#fromwhereistand ft. my MYOH pair from 2013 (I think?)

That's me!

I took some other photos underwater, but the lighting isn't exactly good so yeah. (I don't have a GoPro sarreh)

One of our last stops was in some island wherein we ate lunch prepared by the boatmen themselves. The lunch cooked over a campfire was delicious, and was also made refreshing with fresh fruits for dessert! Since we stayed there for quite a while, I managed to have my little *shameless* photoshoot! Like I said before, I don't have body worth flaunting, so feel free to skip through them lol.

But first, I want to share with you guys these metallic tattoos from Karma Chic! Perfect for summer, aren't they? Besides tats, they also have cami tops that come in quality fabrics and lovely colors! Check them out on Facebook or Instagram to see all they have to offer.

They stayed in tact for around a week on my skin! The triangle (made up of triangles) on my hand started to come off pretty early though because I guess I touched it (or it hit stuff) a lot. But the other ones, despite being taken to swimming, were still there!

Here come's the part where there was a lot of "no breathing" involved hahaha! What, not everyone has the quick metabolism (or at least the time to make up for that by working out incessantly) to have a great body. But everyone can have the confidence, and at this point, I'm just proud of myself for having that.

Doing the Natalie Dormer-smirk heh

After eating late lunch, we went into the Big Lagoon, and again stopped in another beach. There, other tourists were playing volleyball, while some were just chilling and sipping their drink of choice-- fresh buko juice, or beer. My family and I were part of the latter, drinking juice out of a young coconut. Afterwards, I had it opened up so I could eat the "meat".

With that last stop, we headed back to the main proper. We were granted with the lovely view of the sunset on the way back.

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And that's the end of my El Nido photodiary! You can also check out my Instagram (@_erikarosales) for more photos! You'll also see on my IG that my hair right now is no longer like the one in the photos-- I now sport a lob, huzzah! I've never really had short hair before, but I'm really glad I took the risk! I'll probably post about that soon. But first, do stay tuned for part 2 of my Palawan Photo Diary, which will focus on Puerto Princesa!

PS: Belated happy birthday to my brainchild, Style and Sundry!!!!! I might give it a makeover when I have time hehe.

x Erika Rosales

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