The eastern road started very promising (out of Puerto Galera) with dense tropical vegetation, fairly good roads and here and there beautiful vistas over the blue Verde Island Passage. The concrete surface disappeared soon, but the road was quite fine for riding. After passing Calapan, the landscape was more cultured, however with nice views towards Mount Halcon in the west. The trek to the summit starts here in the Calapan area, and that should be my next adventure if my right knee still can go for it. I did not see the 8000 ha Lake Naujan, and as I was short of time I just rushed onwards. The lake by the way, has the schistosoma parasite which can cause snail fever, a disease most people happily would not trade for a cold splash even on a hot tropical day. The worms you eventually could get eat up your urinary tract, liver or intestines... As I said, I rushed onwards!
Further south the landscape was unremarkable. One town followed another. The landscape was agricultural, but not very developed. The road felt long, and although it was surfaced down to Bulalacao I couldn't go very fast. There were potholes, sudden disappearences of the surface, hilltops, turns... The people were friendly as always - how was the road further south? how far to the next gasoline station? the answers came readily and the countering questions about where was I heading and why!
I had heard that the road around the southern tip was near impassable. In reality it wasn't that bad. First gear riding most of the way. The surface was hard and rocky and interspersed with a few muddy areas. These did not impose any problem since it was dry season.
Between Bulalaclao and San Jose there were few signs of development. There were palmtree-fringed secluded white beaches which looked ideal for camping. Any resorts in the area? I did not see any, and the remoteness suggested not. Other than that, nature and climate would make it a perfect place. Towards San Jose the road turned away from the shore and climbed through a dry, hilly and mostly deforested area. There were hardly any people around, and I guess it would be hard to eek out out a living on the barren land. It was a relief when I suddenly coould look down on the wide plains of San Jose and the ocean behind.
