puerto princesas: a digital nomad’s messy wake-up call

i didn’t meant to wake up here. i was supposed to be somewhere with wifi that didn’t die at 3 a.m. but here i am, sprawled in a hammock under a starry sky near an old palawan outpost. the temp’s 24.3°C which is fine except the humidity’s 86% so my hair’s a twist of despair. i just checked and it’s humid as hell right now, not exactly beach weather but at least the sun’s agreeable. someone told me that the beach spots here are overrated but others swear by the hidden corners. i heard that if you ask for directions at dawn you might get pointed to a bamboo hut with free coffee. i’m not sure if that’s a rumor or a meme.

here’s the deal: this place is a mess. Meaning? like physically. there’s a market selling everything from ripe durians to suspiciously fresh coconut manna. i tried the manna. it was okay. i also tried to hawk my polaroid camera to a street vendor who kept poking at the lens. he said it was ‘too modern.’ i think he was confused because i’m not even tech-savvy. this is why i roll: i just unzipped my backpack and pulled out sand, a half-eaten banana, and this weird notebook i started writing in. the neighbors? there’s one guy who plays bongos every night. another who swears the ceiba tree outside his door is haunted. i didn’t ask him about that but i will.

the weather’s tricky. i just checked and it’s 24.3 again, feels like 25.03 due to some magic humidity spell. i’m not sure if the locals are mad about this or if the sensors are lying. the pressure’s 1009hPa which probably means nothing except maybe the air is holding its breath.

why am i here? because i needed space. the digital nomad life is nice but also exhausting. i wanted to disconnect but this place is too loud. there’s a drone buzzing overhead. a(child?) maybe. i took a selfie with a statue of a sleeping lion. it looked judgmental. i posted it on instagram and got 17 likes. not bad.

if you get bored, palawan’s just a short drive away. i heard that the locals there are obsessed with cheese. or was that a raven? anyway.

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i almost forgot to mention the image gallery. here’s a drone shot of the gulf-someone snapped it from a boat. cool. here’s a photo of the weather: a raindrop clinging to a banana leaf. and this one? a weirdly happy-looking crab in the tide. imagine.

i’m not sure what’s next. maybe a coffee shop. maybe a hike to the mountain where they say a colossal serpent is. or maybe i’ll just nap. either way, don’t ask me to explain this. i’m barely making sense and i forgot to charge my laptop.

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