I finally had the pleasure of traveling back to the Philippines, my second ancestral home after nearly 14 years. I always considered these 7,107 islands to be beautiful, and was lucky enough to venture out to new provinces I had never been to before. My family and I flew to Coron, Palawan in the middle of December and spent a few days in the luxurious and wonderful Busuanga Bay Lodge, located about 25 miles (40 km) from the town of Coron. The moment we landed at the small Francisco B. Reyes Airport and was shuttled for an hour to our resort, we felt nothing but excitement. We awed at the rural scenery in winding narrow roads scattered with shacks in the fields or makeshift homes and sleepy dogs laying on the gravel almost a foot away from oncoming vehicles.
