Hinunangan and Tacloban

One day after schedule I arrived Hinunangan. But not without problems. At the bus station in Palompon no one could agree on what was the best way to get to Hinunangan, via Ormoc or via Tacloban. I was first advised to go to Ormoc and found my place in a mini bus. But then someone told me it was better to go to Tacloban so I swapped to another mini bus. This was cancelled though, because of to few passengers, but then the bus to Ormoc had already gone, so I had to take the next one. In Ormoc I found a bus going to Hinunangan, an open bus. That means it had a roof but no windows. This is quite common in Philippines and in this way there is no need for air condition. 

This bus route showed to be a 5 hours trip, and I found out later that if I had gone to Tacloban I would have been in Hinunangan several hours earlier. To look at the bright sides, since the bus went almost through half of Leyte, I really got a good sight seeing. And a lot of fresh air, well mixed with road dust. So after 5 hours I finally reached Hinunangan, in the desperate need for a shower and with a new haircut (something like Kramer in Seinfeld).

Hinunangan was a very relaxing place, in the resort we were only 3 persons, me and two sisters from Tacloban, Luz and Lorna. Also here I will let the pics speak for themselves.

The next day I was to reach a plane from Tacloban to Manila, and I thought I had good time for it. The bus drive from Hinunangan to Tacloban should be about 2 hours, but then is showed up that the buses directly to Tacloban just went in the morning, and I had to go via Sogod (look at a map), which meant a 5 hours bus drive at least. I had no time for that, so to try and reach it I took the only taxi available in Hinunangan which means a motorbike with a self made “roof” or shade. I had to travel about one and a half hour like this (and again a haircut like Kramer), then I tricycle for about 20 minutes, then an open bus to the outskirts of Tacloban. No taxis there either (there are some open taxi cabs in Tacloban, but not many so you will not find them when you need them unless you already are at the airport), so I had to take a jeepney into down town. Still no taxis to find, so it had to be a tricycle to the airport. 

Of course I did not reach the plane. I arrived 10 minutes before departure and could see the plane when I arrived, but check in was closed. Well, they did not charge me too much to change the ticket to the next day (though I was not entitled to any changes and they could have charged me for a new ticket). And I got to see some of Tacloban. Also a city I would like to visit another time.