Alona beach - little gem on Panglao island and its little rural medical center.

The experience of our previous day did took Jeroen and I quite some energy and we both decided to take it easy and enjoy the resort the following day on January 4th.
But before anything, it was time for me to discover yet another hospital. After querying the reception, it turns out there is just one hospital on the island located in Panglao city. We got there Jeroen and I riding a tricycle (basically a motorbike customised with a passenger cabin where you can fit 2 persons of small size - great fun to ride!) to the infamous Rural Medical Center, located right next to the Firefighter brigade.

My little rural hospital in the background.

The hospital was packed and it took me a few seconds to locate the reception. I explain my case to which the receptionist point out to what I believed was a corridor. After correcting me, she was pointing a very old iron chair lying in the middle of all these local people waiting. Was she offering me a seat? No no… This was where I would be attended, my wounds cleaned and my dressings changed!

This is normally a process that can be a bit painful and I have so far appreciated the relative privacy of a curtain at least or of a room at best. The nurse is going to take out the old dressing (the compress is ALWAYS stuck in the wounds making it painful), clean the wound with Bettadine, apply some anti bacterial cream and put back a new dressing… all this in front of maybe 50 locals that are looking at me like an alien at first.
But because sharing is caring - and everybody else seemed to be waiting for something (an appointment? a consultation?) or someone (the local doctor? a patient?) - they all looked at me with a lot of compassion as if they wanted to share and take away a bit of the pain I was feeling.
Not a single person complained about me “jumping” the queue (were there a queue?) even if it look like they have all been waiting for a moment already. It took me only 20 minutes from the time I entered to the time I left the place.
I was moved by the experience. This is unbelievably heartwarming to see the relief in the eyes and the smile on the faces of people you don’t know after the nurse was done with me.These people are so kind and so human.

Me at the rural medical center of Pamglao

Jeroen and I left the Rural hospital and walked towards Panglao beach located a kilometre away. No much happening here for us tourist. No beach, just a large central square with a church, a school and a basketball court (basketball islands down the national sport and 1 person out of 2 wears a basketball jersey, either of a local or an NBA star).
We hoped back to the more touristy Alona beach for lunch.

The beach is beautiful, much less crowded that Boracay but still offering plenty of option for our hunger.
We sat down randomly and ordered. What a better place that a beach and a fisherman’s town to have fish, I was thinking. turned out they did not have fish!!! Nor mango that was supposed to be used for the shake I ordered. I changed to vegetarian option, it will be steak night at the Resort and I did not wanted to stuff myself before that.

The rest of the day outside eating was a succession of siestas and time reading.
We enjoyed our nice piece of beef for diner and Jeroen decided to go for couple of dive the next day. I would be waiting on another friend arriving from Zurich the 5th.

These days and since it is unfortunately not possible for me to go in the water, I dedicate myself to resting and making sure I recover quickly. How sad would it be if while spending 3 weeks in the Philippines I cannot go even once in the crystal clear water of its seas or a swimming pool.