Beach bumming in the tiny townlet of San Remigio (San Reh-mee-ho) has gone swimmingly the past couple of days, although oddly enough I haven't done any swimming. The reason for this is the terrible sunburn on my calves from a few hours of beach combing without sunblock--stupid me. The waters are inviting, warm, and apparently free of dangerous pelagics (sharks, stingrays) even as they abound in the beautiful crabs and shellfish that the locals fish for.
Otherwise, the tropical life is quite nice. The beach here is beautiful, and empty of tourists. A few old expat retirees live in town and slowly fade into senescence in paradise... leaving their young, Filipina wives with some (usually) decent money for widowhood. The few expats who beat their wives (the whole village is interrelated) are taken out to sea in a fishing boat, and never return to shore except as a sun-bleached, wave-polished bone or two. I wish we had such customs in America as well.
Yesterday afternoon and last night, many of my shells came to life and began to ponderously scurry about the room. I was awoken numerous times by the sound of a shell clattering on the floor, having fallen from the table where I put it and the rest. This morning I took care of the problem--after searching around for the escapees, one small shell with zebra stripes having crawled into the toe of my shoe--by dunking the suspected hermit crab realty in a small bucket of mixed water and bleach, then pulling the poisoned crabs from their homes. I guess that makes me the ultimate in bad landlords, huh?
Tomorrow I'll bid fond adieu to my hosts, Forbes and Cecile, and try to catch a ferry across the straits that separate Cebu island from the next island over, Negros.
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