Whenever I have an upcoming trip, I get cold feet.
I never really know if it’s excitement or nervousness or the weather or simply the thought of packing my things that makes me want to stay home. It happened when we went to Boracay three years ago. It happened again before Singapore. And, unsurprisingly, Puerto Princesa was no different.
The good thing is that the feeling is always temporary.
Because of course, plane tickets were already booked. The hotel was waiting. The resources had already been spent. So really, who was I to waste all that just because I suddenly felt like staying home?
So off we went.
A warm welcome to Puerto Princesa
It had been raining on and off in Metro Manila on the day of our flight. So when we landed in Puerto Princesa and stepped out into relatively warm weather, I was pleasantly surprised.
The sun wasn’t exactly showing off, but the weather was much more favorable for a little beach time and sightseeing. And somehow, even the people we encountered felt warm.
Our first stop was, naturally, food.
We had ramen at the airport because we were starving, and we still had a roughly an hour and a half drive ahead of us to our hotel. Plus, it was already lunchtime and there was no way we were going to survive that drive on airport excitement alone.
By the time we reached Astoria Palawan, I was ready to see what the trip had in store for us.
And the welcome was lovely.
We were given wooden necklaces that immediately looked like they belonged on a beach vacation. Everyone was smiling. Of course, I knew that hospitality was part of their job, but there was something about the whole experience that felt different. It was light and comfortable and genuinely friendly.
We were offered complimentary snacks—bibingka and ube smoothie, both of which were surprisingly good. Then I discovered that Astoria had a whole list of complimentary activities for guests.
My eyes widened because what do you mean there was this much to do here?
Then we saw our room.
Ay, wow.
It looked like it was promising us a very nice stay.
And it delivered.
The first afternoon: Pool, low tide, and a glass of long island iced tea
Of course, the first thing we did after settling in was change into our swimwear and raid the theme waterpark.
I did not, however, dare to try the really high slide.
Look, have nothing against extreme rides. Just strap me in properly and I’m game. But this particular slide required me to hold on to a sliding foam thing—whatever that thing is officially called—and somehow that felt scarier to me.
So no. I knew my limits. 😂
Instead, I enjoyed the waves in the swimming pool. And then later that afternoon, we walked by the beach. Which was a little weird because the tide was extremely low and so a large part of the beach looked almost dry. And there was also a sign warning guests not to swim because of jellyfish.
So much for my dramatic beach moment.
Anyway, we eventually moved back to the pool near the restaurant and ordered burgers and glasses of long island iced tea.
The burger was actually really good. The meat wasn’t dry and it was enough to feed the entire table. The long island, meanwhile, was perhaps a little too good because I got drunk. Just a little bit, but still…
And somehow, while sitting by the pool in Puerto Princesa, I suddenly missed Ian Aguirre.
Yes. My Sebastian Aguirre.
Apparently, one glass of long island iced tea was enough to resurrect him from the depths of my imagination.
Almost not going to the Underground River
The next day, the Underground River almost didn’t happen.
It had rained the previous afternoon, and the weather wasn’t looking particularly cooperative. Astoria only offered group tours, and there wasn’t anyone else booked to join one at the time. A private tour, on the other hand, was expensive enough to make us reconsider our life choices.
But, as if on cue, we noticed a travel agency right across the street. They were able to squeeze us into a group tour for the next day.
And just like that, the Underground River was back on.
We were a little nervous when we got on the boat because the waves were strong and honestly, it still hadn’t completely sunk in to me that we were actually going to the Underground River. It only finally became real when they asked us to put away our water bottles and anything shiny because apparently, stray monkeys might steal them.
Ahhh. Okay. We’re really doing this.
There was a short walk from the beach to the river. And then I saw it.
My jaw dropped.
Because this wasn’t just some cave I had seen on Instagram. This was the cave I had seen in textbooks when I was a kid!
I had read about places like this. I had seen photographs. I had learned about stalactites and stalagmites. And now… I was standing there. In my forties. Inside the actual place I had once only encountered through pages and pictures.
How is this even real?
Inside the cave
Once we entered, an audio recording explained the different formations and the history of the cave as we moved through it.
This was also my first time ever entering a cave.
In forty years of being alive on this planet, I had never actually been inside one. And what surprised me most was how peaceful it felt. It was dark, of course. But it was also cold, almost like being in an office with the air-conditioning turned up.
It also stank. It stank so bad my entire olfactory system got personally offended.
And then at some point, my brain started doing what it does best and coming up with unnecessary scenarios. What if there was a sudden earthquake? What if the boat tips over? What if I accidentally touch one of the rock formations when we’re specifically told not to? My imagination even tried to make the cave frightening and conjured up images from Filipino horror films I watched growing up that gave me nightmares.
But it didn’t work.
The bats weren’t even like the ones in movies. There was no dramatic chorus of bats going eek eek eek as they flew around us. They were just… there, spreading their stink all throughout the place.
I must say that the whole experience was surprisingly calm. And the more I looked around, the more astounding it became. Everything around us had been shaped by nature. No human intervention or architect or construction crew. No one sitting down with a blueprint saying, “Okay, let’s put this rock formation here.” Mother Nature simply did her thing over an unimaginable amount of time and created something extraordinary. Like what do you mean Nativity is depicted in one of the rock formations???
And I remember thinking: if nature can make a masterpiece out of what it has, maybe I can make something out of what she has given me too. Maybe a poem. Or a book. I don’t know.
But I was in awe. And thankfully, I was wearing a face mask. Because with all those jaw-dropping scenes, the last thing I needed was for the experience to end with bat droppings in my mouth.
I almost didn’t want to leave the cave
On the way back, I actually fell asleep on the boat.
The temperature inside the cave was so relaxing and the gentle movement of the boat made it incredibly easy to doze off. But when we emerged, I found myself thinking: I want to come back.
Not necessarily to see it again as a tourist. But I wanted to feel that atmosphere again. The coldness and the quiet and the droplets of heaven knows what falling somewhere in the darkness. The little ripples of water becoming their own kind of music.
And naturally, once I started thinking about the cave, my creative mind went somewhere else entirely once again. What was at the end of the cave where tourists couldn’t go? Had anyone ever gotten lost or drowned inside? What if there was some ancient black magic hidden behind the rock formations? What if the cave was actually a portal to another dimension?
You know? Normal vacation thoughts. 😂
While Boracay made me dream, Palawan made me wonder
I’ve been thinking about the difference between Boracay and Puerto Princesa ever since I came home.
When we went to Boracay in 2023, the weather was sunny and the water sparkled like diamonds and jewels within reach.
Boracay is beautiful. Really beautiful. It’s not overrated to me. And that trip made me fall in love with the ocean. I remember thinking that the sea had somehow absorbed all my exhaustion. It felt like the world was suddenly telling me: it’s nice to be alive.
And maybe that’s why my imagination went the direction it did.
One rainy night at Epic Bar, I was looking out at the dark ocean and wondering what would happen if an engkanto suddenly appeared beside a palm tree. And what if that engkanto pretended to be a bartender? And that was how Sebastian “Ian” Aguirre was born. My handsome, green-flag tamawo. 😂
Boracay made me imagine romance. It made me think of enchantment and being smitten and falling in love.
Puerto Princesa? It felt different.
We went in August, during the rainy season. The weather was gloomier and maybe that contributed to the heavier atmosphere. But it was a good kind of heaviness.
Palawan’s beauty wasn’t the glittering, jewel-like beauty I remembered from Boracay. This one felt wilder. Deeper. And more mysterious. And the Underground River made me want to explore. It made me wonder what else was hiding behind the things we could see.
Boracay made me want to create a character. Palawan made me want to create a world.
The people I met along the way
One of the unexpected parts of the trip was meeting a young couple at the Underground River.
They were with us on the same boat, along with a few other people from the tour. I had actually seen them the previous afternoon at the hotel. They were doing their own DIY photoshoot by the beach. I didn’t know them then. I just thought they were a cute couple.
The wife was pregnant, and somehow that immediately triggered our collective protective instincts. We gave them masks before the boat ride and we offered them a ride back since they were staying at the same hotel. They, in turn, gave us a voucher for a dinner buffet. And just like that, strangers became travel companions.
And they were honestly couple goals, too. The wife was so pretty and the husband had that very obvious husband-material energy, like the kind of person who was attentive and caring without making a big deal out of it.
We even ended up joking of becoming a ninang to their baby.
Imagine going to Puerto Princesa for a vacation and potentially coming home with an inaanak.
Learning to travel slowly
Perhaps the biggest thing I brought home from Puerto Princesa wasn’t a souvenir.
It was a realization. A realization that it is actually fun to travel slowly.
Because trips are usually packed. Singapore, especially, was planned around maximizing the time we had. If we’re already there, why not see everything we possibly can, right? And I love that kind of travel still. Because I’m pretty sure my next international trip will have me saying, “Okay, we only have three days. Let’s go EVERYWHERE.”
But Puerto Princesa showed me another way.
There were moments when I was simply lazy at the hotel pool. We ordered food when we were hungry and not because it was technically lunchtime or dinnertime. We didn’t have to rush from one attraction to another. We could simply exist in the place we were staying.
And choosing Astoria was one of the best decisions we made on this trip.
The hotel was beautiful, comfortable, and had enough activities that even if the Underground River hadn’t happened, I don’t think we would have been terribly disappointed. The hotel itself was already part of the destination. And maybe that’s what made the trip feel so different.
I wasn’t constantly thinking about what we needed to see next. At some point, I was simply thinking: I’m here. And that was enough.
A different kind of wonder
Maybe this is what growing older does to you.
At this age, the idea of a relaxed trip has a different kind of appeal. I’m not saying I’ve suddenly abandoned packed itineraries. I haven’t. I still want to see everything I can when I have limited time in another country. But now I know that there’s also joy in leaving a little space.
Space to be lazy. Space to eat when I’m hungry. Space to sit by a pool. Space to fall asleep on a boat. Space to look at a cave and wonder what might be hiding at the end of it. Space to meet strangers who might eventually become friends, or perhaps even people who will one day call you Ninang.
And maybe that is the kind of wonder Puerto Princesa gave me. Not the sparkling, jewel-like wonder of Boracay. Not the kind that makes you fall in love with an imaginary bartender who happens to be a tamawo. It was something quieter and older and something that asks you to stop, look around, and simply be amazed that you are here at all.
When I think about Puerto Princesa, I hope I remember to slow down. To enjoy myself and the time I have. And to experience life’s wonder, slowly and beautifully.
