I have been traveling through the Philippines on the first of what I hope will be other reconnaissance trips or “recces”.  For Americans, it is a long way, but the carriers are good (I flew Cathay via Hong Kong) and the world into which you drop is strangely familiar though, perhaps, not so strangely when considering our mutual histories.  There are a number of first impressions: the sense of a scattered geography so that distances are much farther than expected; the sense of a huge population and a young one at that – there are 16 million living in Manila alone; the sense of welcome flashed in wide smiles, in proficient English (the second language at school), and in the extreme courtesy offered without any tinge of obsequiousness.

My trip has been exhausting, fast and superficial.  My objectives have necessarily cancelled out certain experiences and explorations I might have preferred to have made.  This has been a trip of island hopping – something that is very much on the tourist menu – which started in Bohol, carried on to Cebu, then moved to Busuanga, and here – Pangulasian Island at El Nido on the northern tip of Palawan.    This does not seem like a crowded itinerary until you realize one major fact..every time you hop to another island you either “hop” on a very expensive private charter or you “triangulate” back through Manila, a process that takes, inevitably, a full day.  And so it goes.

Back to Pangulasian Island and its 42-villa resort, as this is my present.  The area is stunningly beautiful, akin to Busuanga and Coron to the north and, I am told, akin to Rajah Ampat without all the trash found there on beaches and in the water.  Here we are in the early years of tourism and the feeling is one of a fairly pristine environment.  The waters are super clear and aquamarine; the beaches range from pearl white slightly granular to pearl white superfine.  It is really pretty amazing.  The landscape is one of finely sculpted, verdant, limestone  islands and islets strewn across the sea.  The look like gray sandcastles floating precariously on water.  There is always a cove in sight, always a flash of white (are even the islands smiling?), and a sense of safe haven, or protection.  Thank God for that.  The other thing one realizes immediately upon arrival here is that this island people has not just endured the lashes of nature but has prevailed.  Hence the comforting sense of abri.

Pangulasian is owned by one of the foremost families of the Philippines – the Ayalas – and thus the infrastructure is well maintained and well designed.  The villas front the beach with a wonderfully large terrace that mirrors the wonderfully large bathroom at the back of the villa.  Fans whirr, mosquito nets waft, massages await, and a phenomenal, well organized library draws you in after a day in the sun.  One of the most impressive aspects of the resort is the greenness of it.  Before you have even registered you are offered three bags:  a chic, woven fiber bag to carry the following: a plastic bag which you are asked to carry with you on all of your excursions so that you can collect any trash you see; a cotton bag in which to place any empty imported recyclable bottles or containers so that you can export them with you on departure; and finally metal water bottles to carry with you while you are here, bottles that can be filled in three stations on the island.  So, finally, it is not just the resort that actions green..it is the guest as well.  Very cool.