Philippino umbrella

Yesterday we took a trip to a natural mineral spring waterfall. It was a bit of a trek up a trail but well worth it for two main reasons.

1. It was about 10 degrees cooler in the forest so I was happy to feel the relief.

2. You could swim at the waterfall and the water was absolutely crystal clear and cool. Unlike the ocean which I'm pretty sure was hotter than on the land.

Unfortunately, on this particular day, I decided to break out a brand new pair of pluggers. I'm not usually one to wear thongs so after the trek up to the falls and back, I had some epic red spots and blisters. Thongs are not good hiking shoes.

At the falls I was able to jump in and take a swim. The lack of swimming pools and swimming lessons in the Philippines was evident in the stack of life vests and number of tourists wearing them and clinging to the ropes that were tied across the water. They had looks of terror on their faces as they went for a 'swim'.

On the way back from the falls, the inevitable happened... it rained. Not like sun shower sprinkle, but tropical forest in rainy season rain. Full on but for only about 10mins.

We had no umbrellas with us so we did the next best thing in the Philippines. Find the nearest banana tree and tear off a leaf. They are huge and make surprisingly good umbrellas.

The downside is, the sap from the tree will leave a brown stain on your clothes if you get it on yourself. I learnt that the hard way.