Empty Nesters on a Green Global Trek

March & April, 2023

As we sat on Madame Bell’s bed (Ben’s mother) talking about where Ben and I would be living next, I told her that this time I had decided to go with Ben to the Philippines rather than be based in Bali. As after all, the most Important thing is that we are together. And commuting back and forth between Indonesia and the Philippines would be exhausting for Ben. This decision met with a resounding nod of approval from my mother in law.

Formerly, I had been scared off the Philippines by accounts of Filipinos being huge meat eaters, primarily pork and fried chicken. Two things I very rarely eat. I’m more of the organic greens, veggies, fruit, sushi.. kind of eater. My prior thinking was, why live in the Philippines if I can live in Ubud Bali and have a plethora of plant based top notch restaurants? I started to shift to the mindset of, there has to be good tropical fruits and fresh seafood and if we have our own kitchen and can find greens, then we can make this work….

Behind the scenes Ben had spent time searching for a potential suitable home base for us in the Philippines… This was not an obvious thing to find. His work is either in the big city, or the middle of nowhere where indigenous tribes are doing the planting of the bamboo for the project. Neither of these places would fit the bill of what the priorities would be for us both when selecting a home base.

The Philippines is well known to have some of the best beaches (and diving) in the world. Ben started looking closely at the map to see what he could find and came up with a tiny island nicknamed Born of Fire due to its creation and recreation from the seven volcanoes it houses. So one night in January on a phone conversation with Ben in the Philippines and me in Bali, he said “Take a look at a map of Mindanao. Look for a tiny dot right north of it the main city (Cagayan de Oro). This dot on the map is a small island called Camiguin. I think you are going to be surprised!”

I started doing some online research, looking at photos and descriptions of this tiny island, called Camiguin and was surprised at its sheer beauty. I found waterfalls and cold and hot springs and a horseshoe shaped sand bar in the Bohol sea called White Island. This island looked very promising. An infusion of nature between the beaches, the sea, the waterfalls, the volcanoes, the jungle. I told Ben I would give it a shot for two months to test out what kind of life style we could carve out for ourselves there.

This brings us to today. We are currently living on this tiny gem of an island, off the beaten path, and very much undiscovered by the major tourism that the rest of the Philippine islands experience…

And, not surprisingly, we love it.

We got here by flying into the capital city of Manila. Catching another short flight of an hour from there to the large island of Mindanao. Driving 3 hours to the port for an hour ferry ride to Camiguin island. The ferry ride was very reminiscent of taking the ferry to Ometepe in Nicaragua (where we lived for six years). We arrived on a rather gloomy grey day after a rain pour during the ferry crossing and our first impressions as we got a ride from the ferry to the little resort, were well, rather gloomy.

While in LA and searching for home rentals in Camiguin, online, we could not find anything that seemed suitable for us, Options were few and far between. So we decided to rent a room at a little beach front resort which appeared to have a good restaurant specializing in Asian cuisine, on the property. This would be our starting point from which we would then have two weeks to find something longer term, once “on the ground.”

The first thing we did on arrival was to rent a motor scooter and start driving around to get acquainted with our new home base.

Camiguin island has the distinction of being the only island with the most volcanoes (7, only 1 is still active) per square meter on earth. The landscape alternates between lush green jungle on the slopes of the mountainous volcanoes, and black volcanic sand beaches.

There are also two tiny islands to which one can take an outrigger canoe known as a Bangka, in order to easily reach them. One is White Island, a sand bar of pristine ivory sand in a horseshoe shape. This island is but 10 minutes or so away, and as one jumps onto one of the little bangka boats and sets out, Mt Hibok HIbok looms up a bright emerald green against the blue sky. There are snorkels to rent for $2, as well as umbrellas and there is a coral reef right there, stock full of bright blue starfish, and bright tropical fish.

The other island, which is about a 30 minute ride away, is the circular Mantigue Island. The island used to be inhabited by a small fishing community, but this has changed and it is not inhabited since the government declared the waters around as a protected sanctuary for its Hawksbill sea turtles.

As we drive around checking things out, one day, from the back of the motorbike I see an Israeli flag. Intrigued, we stop to discover a little cafe serving hummus and smoothies. The Filipino owner had learnt how to make hummus from her former Israeli boyfriend. We started chatting and asked her if she knew of any place we might be able to rent.

“My aunt has a huge property near here, with two houses that she sometimes rents on the property. Would you be interested in going there to see it?”. The next day we were following A by motorbike.

We know we are off to a good start as we walk through the huge garden with its soaring palm trees, (very reminiscent of Sri Lanka, where we lived for 3 years), a few goats, Mt Hibok Hibok volcano as a backdrop. But best of all there is a gate at the bottom of said garden, which when you open it, you are literally steps away from being in the calm, temperate Bohol sea.

The house has a large patio in front, with a working table to double as a place to eat and a day bed. Inside, a spacious kitchen with huge brand new fridge, hot water and a comfy king size mattress. All of these features are not things we take for granted with our nomadic lifestyle.

We walk out of our front door and are in the sea in less than five minutes. We have never every lived SO close to the water. It’s a twice a day in the water minimum routine – morning swim and the obligatory sunset swim.

We have now been here for almost two months and the tranquility of the setting has been a perfect place for us to restore after the loss of Ben’s mom and as well from a lot of moving around and living out of suitcases.

We had one major challenge with wifi which was suboptimal but we discovered that by paying extra we now have good wifi. Problem solved.

So what are our lives like here?

Ben is working hard, up till now, here on the island, but it won’t be long before he needs to do the 5 hour commute to where the reforestation project is happening. I have a few projects that I am working on, but I don’t have a boss breathing down my neck.

There is but one yoga teacher here with classes which change location making it rather hard to keep up with. As most of you know we tend to be rather resourceful in finding what we need (our priorities) for making a place a home, rather quickly. We find a small island gym just 5 minutes drive away, decide this will be a good opportunity to focus on weights rather than yoga.

On weekends, we boat to one of the gorgeous islands to swim and inhale the turquoise and indigo blue colors. Or we jump on our bike and go explore the area around Hibok Hibok Volcano and its waterfalls.

Living on Camiguin island means being immersed in nature, and it also means dramatic sunsets every day.

We have managed to find four really good restaurants nearby. An Italian one, with homemade pasta (with an Italian chef), a cafe with smoothies and light healthy meals, an incredible plant based restaurant which is as good if not better than what one would find in Ubud, and a restaurant which does Asian food, from Vietnamese to Indian Dahl. Given that we love to eat out, and that Filipino food is not exactly our cuisine of choice, we have been glad to find a few good spots.

In addition, we manage to organize a weekly delivery from the local technical college which grows hydroponic organic greens. In almost every country we have lived for any amount of time we have managed to find organic greens… From Nicaragua, to Cuba, to Sri Lanka, Viet Nam and Mexico and now, Philippines.

To sum things up, we feel really grateful and having karma on our side to have found this island, this house, this location.. and to have been living a very quality healthy lifestyle here.

Our visas are good till the end of April. And then we head back to Chicago for some family time. After that… who knows? Will we come back to be based on Camiguin Island or will we base ourselves elsewhere? We will see how things unfold in the next few months…