That Time I Went To El Nido, Philippines

El Nido is a tropical paradise filled with white sand beaches and clear water lagoons. My friends and I went there right after our 3-week field work as undergraduate geology students, it was the breathtakingly beautiful to say the least.

Coming from a very exhausting field work where we had to construct a geologic map of Northern Palawan, going to El Nido was like drinking an ice cold beer after days in the desert. It was incredibly refreshing to see white sand beaches under a gentle sun while the breeze blows away all the stress and struggles we had to go through from the past weeks.

As much as we would like to have stayed in a 5-star hotel, we only had student budgets at the time so we had to make use of what we can afford. We stayed for 4 days and 3 nights in a budget friendly transient house but we barely spent time in it because of all the fun under the sun.



We availed of the three-day tour where they took us to various islands, coves, and lagoons found in El Nido. Boat rides were lengthy as the islands are far apart but this gave us the opportunity to view each island from afar and appreciate their beauty.



The islands were beautiful and remarkably clean, which gives you a sense of care and the degree of maintenance that the locals put into their islands. The beaches had white sand and most of them were not crowded, plenty of room to do some fun activities like volleyball, ultimate frisbee, or just relax and appreciate nature.



Our stay was more than enjoyable, we were in paradise with no responsibilities to think of and nothing really else to think about aside from what to do next. Unfortunately, reality caught up with us and we have to go back to the city to face responsibilities once again (and we were out of money anyway).

El Nido is an amazing place filled with activities and breathtaking scenery, it is definitely a great escape from the mundane and monotonous life that some of us experience from time to time



So the next time you're looking for a place where you can take a break, escape to El Nido!

All photos were taken by me using my Samsung Galaxy Note 5