The day we didn't want to leave El Nido
El Nido was only supposed to be the trip's first island stop. It became the hardest place to say goodbye to, and we still can't fully explain why.
On paper, El Nido was only supposed to be the trip's first island stop — the appetizer before Coron and Siargao, nothing more. It became, without us planning it at all, the hardest of the itinerary's four stops to say goodbye to, and we still can't quite explain why.
Maybe it was the day of the scooter route to Nacpan Beach, stopping unhurried at viewpoints and villages that appeared on no tourist map. Maybe it was the sunset at Las Cabañas, repeated several evenings in a row, each one different from the last in some way I couldn't explain. Or maybe it was simply the mix of it all: a small town with a backpacker vibe and a resort vibe at the same time, without them clashing.
It was that feeling of a place having given you more than you expected, and you're still not ready to close the door on it completely.
On our last day in El Nido, before catching the ferry to Coron, we sat at the harbor longer than necessary, in no real hurry to move on.
Coron and Siargao each ended up being just as special in their own way over the course of the trip. But if you ask me which of the four stops we'd revisit first, the answer is still El Nido, without much thought.
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