Awarded as one of the seven wonders of nature, the underground river happened to be our first stop on the island of Palawan. This river has a total length of 8.5 kilometers and winds its way through a giant cave formation within limestone mountains on the western coast. It was discovered at the end of the 1800s, however has only been a tourist spot for the last 25 years.

The area nearby the river is very beautiful, and also has quite a fun assortment of wildlife wandering around. We were greeted by up to 1,5 meter long fat monitor lizards as well as curious monkeys hoping for some food to drop out of our pockets. The lizards especially were very cool to see for us, with their long tongues slithering out, grumpy slow-motion movement, and armor-like looking skin.

Despite having had to wait forever on long lines in order to have the guided tour, the underground river was well worth it. To begin with, the mouth of the cave is quite impressive, with exotic vegetation surrounding it. The boat trip through the cave itself is only 1.5 km long, as to go further one requires a special license, and it was completely pitch black inside. With flashlights we admired the stalactites and stalagmites, as well as the interesting rock formations including imaginary fruits, vegetables, churches, Jesus, the Trinity, the Last Supper, and even a sexy lady named Sharon Stone. Yes, as you have noticed, their imagination is beyond belief! The ceiling reaches up to 70 meters high at points, and there are hundreds of bats both sleeping upside down and flying around. It is simply unique!

We also had quite a funny group in our tour, including 4 lovely ladies from Manila here for a Christian convention. One of them even had Spanish decent in her family, and did not forget to remind us every ten minutes that her last name was Ortega and her cousin who is also Ortega lives in Madrid.. But the best was her sporadic comments, including telling Martina several times that she looks like a Barbie doll and Josep like Spider Man. Well, we thanked her for these …. compliments?!

After a long day of mainly waiting around, as well of course enjoying this wonder of nature, we were ready to head north, where we were about to embark on a big treat.

Next stop: Apulit Island