Day 58

Today we went to an island called Mam-on. It is about 75 minutes south of General Luna by boat. The beach is perfection and as you can see from the pictures above, the water is crystal clear. This is the edge of the world. As far as I can tell, there is nothing east of here for hundreds of miles.

I took this picture on Mam-on hoping to capture the deep blue of the sky, but this came out quite faded. You just have to be here to appreciate it.  You can see that the island is covered with coconut trees which is common throughout this region. If you are willing to climb a tree and had a machete, you could live quite comfortably for a while.

I tried to limit my time in the sun while on Mam-on. I was on the beach less than 1/2 hour and then took refuge under the canopy on the boat while the others swam. I still got a burn and what really surprised me was that I burned through my clothes. My back never saw daylight and yet it is uncomfortably burned.

I started a fast today. Eating cooked food the last couple of days has left me feeling sick and bloated. I decided to try a 3 day fast with lots of water to clear out the garbage. Then I will eat just fruit the last day before we leave for Cebu to get my energy back up for traveling. The longest I have gone so far is 7 meals. This time it will be 8 meals. The reality is that after the first day, fasting is a piece of cake!

When we got back to General Luna, Tom, Karen and I went and had a 2 hour long Thai massage.  It is a little different from a regular massage. It is rougher, deeper, and they do a lot of stretching. Sometimes it was quite uncomfortable, but when I was done, I felt really good.