Yesterday I shared my misadventure in Guiuan. If you're curious about what happened next, I didn't die of sepsis. But the inflammation of my ear continued the entire week following our trip. 😥 I went to the EENT doctor immediately and was prescribed potent antibiotics, pain relievers, and ear drops. I had to see two different EENT in a span of two months just to make sure my precious ears are in perfect condition. I couldn't mess up since freediving, my happy pill, requires healthy and strong ears. At present, as much as possible I don't use cotton buds. They're the culprit of this inflammation. I'm a fan of using them every single day; I know it's not recommended. I learned my lesson the hard way. 😔
Today, it's about time I end my Eastern Samar trip. I'm sure this is not the case for everyone, but I personally prefer to have a slow day in my travels. In most cases, slow days are scheduled toward the end of the trip. For this particular trip, it was our 5th and last day. We didn't plan anything except the travel back to Tacloban City for our flight back to Cebu. We left Guiuan at around 8:30 AM.
Maerose gladly drove us for 147km. I thank my friends for the free ride and the effort of driving us around. I don't drive and don't plan to learn anything soon! HAHA! I'd rather sing a song on the side while enjoying the view 😂 It was kind of Maerose to tour us around other must-see destinations that we passed by on our way back to Tacloban.
First, we dropped by the humble and silent town of Balangiga where the controversial Balangiga Bells could be seen. In 2018, the Balangiga Bells were returned to the Philippines. At present, the bells are housed at San Lorenzo de Martir Parish Church in Balangiga. There's no fixed entrance fee when you decide to visit here; the entrance fee is on a donation basis.
Our second stop that day was no other than the iconic San Juanico Bridge, a concrete bridge that connects the islands of Leyte and Samar. From 1973 until recently, San Juanico Bridge was hailed as the longest bridge in the Philippines with a total length of 2.1km. At the moment, it's in the second spot when the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway or CCLEX opened in April 2022 with a total covered distance of 8.9km. Cebu has now the longest bridge in the Philippines. Unlike Cebu, it was safer to stop for a few minutes in the middle of the bridge for photo ops so we did. 😁
Lastly, we went around Tacloban City. We went to this massive reclamation project fronting San Pablo Bay. It's a multi-million peso project that aims to safeguard the people of Tacloban from storm surges. I was amazed to see the long concrete seawall that become a park in the morning and late in the afternoon. We found stores selling fresh buko (coconut). We spent a few minutes here before Maerose dropped us off at the airport.