Day 24

Woke up around 2 am because of the roosters crowing just outside the window. As far as I can see, the guy who lived adjacent to the inn has 4 roosters, three in a pen and the 4th tied to a post.

We've noted sleeping can be a challenge, especially for light sleepers, since there are often many noises at nights. If it's not the roosters, which usually wake up and start crowing about 3am, it could be barking dogs, squealing pigs, or the sometimes thunderous tropical crickets.

For room company, we had two lizards (one was a baby), a cockroach, and a big daddy longlegs. Took a jeepney to Calbayog. Many parts of the trip were along the coastline with views of other islands in the distance. Some parts were through mountains and hillsides of coconut trees. Many copras (coconut flesh) were laid out along the road for drying to be processed later for oil. The private gardens along the road were very pretty.

We caught an air-con bus around 11 am from Calbayog to Tacloban, Leyte. Samar and Leyte are connected by the pretty two-mile San Juanico Bridge. The ride was slow for the most part due to broken concrete pavement. One of the passengers lost his rooster due to dehydration. He placed it in the back of the bus and forgot to check it. It was a PHP1,500 cockfight breed. (1 Philippines Peso = $.02)

We arrived in Tacloban past 5 pm and through a passenger’s help, we found the Rosvenil Pensione. The room has two twin beds, an air con, tv and private bath (no hot water). We went out searching for food and found a restaurant serving vegetarian burrito served with rice, refried beans and salsa on the side. We had mango and pineapple fruit juice for drinks.

We found an internet café and the owner let us connect the laptop. Downloaded emails and sent some drafts. Cost was PhP10. Went back to hotel and watched tv.