Marshall Monday: Wander-Full

For the 3rd year in a row, I decided to celebrate my birthday by exploring a new island. This year, I visited Malapascua. Home to thresher sharks and friendly locals, the island is small enough to traverse on foot. So that is exactly what we did on my birthday. We took a long walk to get to know the island.

No stopovers for selfies, no complaints about being hungry or thirsty, no awkward or uninteresting conversation. 

Marshall - 1, humans - 0.

Sure, I had to stop when some scent distracted him for a second, but he was always happy to trot alongside me in a heart beat. Here are a few photos from our walk and beach swims. 

Just before letting him loose on the beach.

We went past this sand bar and the mangrove area.

We explored Malapascua's little winding roads. 

Then we came upon this cove covered with pretty red leaves.

Marshall made a friend during our sari-sari store stopover.

Then he went to test the water in another cove.

After about a 2 hour walk, my walking buddy is beat. 

But the next day...

Yup, back on the beach. And this time, with followers. :P

The only one who loves lying on the sand as much as I do.

Marshmallow.

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. ;)

He looked so happy to be back in the water. :) But, it was time to go. 

Till our next adventure, Marshmallow. Thank you for still being such wonderful and wander-full company.

Marshall Monday: Surprise!

You know what I think is fun? Birthday surprises. I look forward to a few of them every year. For this special occasion though, I changed the rules a bit. This time, I did the surprising.

I haven't seen Marshall in 4 years. So imagine his excitement when I suddenly showed up to whisk him away to another island for my birthday trip! I swear if he could talk, this is what he actually said:

"Watdafuuuuu...! YOU'RE HERE!
You're here and taking me to the beach?!!
And my dad is in on this? YOU GUYS!
I'm so PUMPED!!! WOOFUCKINGHOOOOO"

Or something like that.

So anyway, here's how the surprise adventure has gone so far.

Marshall at Daanbantayan port trying to contain his excitement.

Marshall on the small boat.

Marshall on the big boat.

Finally, Malapascua Island. :) Taking a walk down the beach path.

We checked into this cool dive shop and hostel.

Where he likes gazing out over the street and at the beach.

We had some breakfast muffins

and fun beach time.

Marshall played ball with the locals

and made more friends.

Plus, lots of chill time with his entourage.

It's definitely been such a treat hanging out with the Marshmallow again.   Not to mention spending time in this charming little island. Turns out, surprising friends on your birthday is a super idea. Especially sweet, cuddly, 4-legged ones who are stoked to see you after a painfully long time. ♥♥♥

The Year I Skipped

I realized that it's been a year since I posted anything. That somehow tells you how busy that past year has been. 365 days. How can so many things happen in what seems like such a short span of time?

The year I skipped was really rock n' roll. Arnaud and I decided to become friends, and I faced a new "Boracay Season" with a little heart ache. But, as with every new season, the winds and the tides brought in a beginning of sorts, along with new friends, new experiences and new opportunities.

 Aaah the kites up at Bulabog. The view we look forward to every year. 

The island's party folk greeting the sunrise after a mad Halloween party. 

The famous Boracay sunset that steals the show every single day.

Laid back days in the sun, wild Full Moon parties, island drama, more kindred spirits--that season was everything it promised to be. And for me, it was the best one yet. I could specify the many events that happened this past year but I think it's better to mention the most significant one:


I moved to another island.

Wait, what?

I believe I've been hinting at "graduating" from the island in past posts. I guess I was just waiting for an opportunity. I moved to Boracay to get out of my comfort zone, then it turned into a comfort zone. So after 6 priceless years in paradise, it was time for a new adventure. And that's how I ended up here, in Bali. :)

Rice paddies in my neighborhood. 

Me practicing on a scooter--the best way to get around Bali. 

Hanging with the girls after an afternoon with the waves.

Bali. Wow, this is a whole new story. 5 months in this place and I already have a book-load of tales. But we'll save those for another time.

Truth is, Bali doesn't feel very different from Boracay. In fact, it feels like Boracay on a bigger scale. Wider beaches (though mostly dark sand), more parties, more tourists and more groceries! Haha! So although people would consider moving countries a leap, I consider it more of...(you guessed it)a skip. A happy one. The kind you do when you're strolling along to your favorite song. The kind you do when you excitedly want to get to where you're going to. 

Blown Away

I promised myself I would blog more about my adventures in France. Well, I failed. I found it more convenient to snap photos and share them on Instagram than to spend more time in front of my computer as I already do that for work. I've been busy -  shooting photos and videos and enjoying my trip. So to make up for not blogging, here's a compilation of the events I've managed to keep in my little camera.

Maybe you'll understand how this windy little region swept me off my feet and blew me away. Enjoy watching. 


Blown Away from Denise Tolentino on Vimeo.

First Dip

I stood in knee-deep water clutching my shoulders and moved about an inch deeper every 2 minutes. I looked back at the old woman on the beach. She was staring at me with concern, probably because I looked more like someone contemplating suicide than someone about to go for a swim.

I've been in France for more than a week now and I figured it was time to face my fear of "cold" water and just go for it. After all, how could I (pardon the pun), fully immerse myself in this country if I didn't soak up (there I go again) every bit of it... including 18°C water. Okay, I exaggerated, maybe it was around 21°C, I don't know.

I gazed around one last time, at the vast parking lot filled with holiday camper vans, at the senior citizens tanning beside their striped beach parasols, at the sparkling water in front of me with little boats bouncing up and down, and then up, at the clear sky with the sun toasting my skin. It looked like summer. It was summer, but the f*cking water didn't get the memo.

Oh well, here we go. With one deep breath I finally took the plunge, wiggled around the water for a bit and then got out. It wasn't that bad. In fact, it felt really nice. Refreshing and awakening, as proven by all the hairs of my skin standing at attention. 

Like many of my experiences here so far, this was another first time.

You know that famous motivational question: "When was the last time you did something for the first time?" Here, my answer is always: yesterday or just a while ago or just now.

It's been really wonderful seeing, tasting and experiencing things for the first time. Most especially the things that Arnaud only used to tell me about. "One day we'll take my van and drive to the salt area of Guerande and you will see, it's really nice."

It wasn't nice, it was for me, breathtaking. And realizing right then and there that I was experiencing something that I only used to imagine in my head, that was really something. And so, continues (as our friend JonJon says) "Les Aventures de Denise Nicole". To many more firsts and to many more dips for the rest of this trip... I'm ready. :) 

France is full of lovely homes. This one belongs to the equally lovely Reitzer family. 

Merienda time in their lush garden

First time: raspberry picking (plus other fruits from the Reitzer's garden)

Camper Van Culture in Quiberon - we live in a camper during weekdays too (it belongs to Arnaud's mom)

Sailing in Saint Nazaire

Sun worshippers of Quiberon

The boys at the Marais Salants, Guerande

 After work beer and sunset

Arnaud leading me to the "secret spot"

Finally, overlooking THE secret spot (which I'm not allowed to show here :)

Un Petit Peu de Paris (A Little of Paris)

Un Petit Peu de Paris from Denise Tolentino on Vimeo.

2 Days in Paris

"Did you plan this?" I said in half amazement and half disbelief. 

We were walking down one of the steep and narrow cobble stone streets of Montmartre when I noticed a man playing the accordion, just outside a quaint corner cafe of an 18th century building, when up ahead I spotted a groom carrying his blushing bride in his arms. I fumbled for my camera and almost bumped into a nice old man in a fancy hat and suit walking with his cane. "Yes," Arnaud joked. "I set this up for you!" 

I knew Paris was pretty. But I didn't expect to find myself in the middle of a movie-like scenario - well more specifically in Montmartre. 

I couldn't close my eyes, and I couldn't stop walking. I didn't even give my body time to feel jet lagged. And because of my lack of recognition of a 10:30 pm sunset, we walked around for at least 8 hours and this was straight after my 12 hour flight. 

I had a great time, I enjoyed my first fresh baguette and coffee al fresco, got to see some of the monuments among other things, but in the end, I didn't mind leaving. 

Paris is awesome and there really is so much to do and see, but it's still a city - hurrying pedestrians, short-tempered drivers, scattered trash and all.

Then there's the tourists. I looked at the hoards and hoards of people with raised phones and tablets and thought, this is one element they conveniently leave out of the movies.

I really didn't want to go where there was a line and didn't want to stay where crowds gathered. So Arnaud and I decided to head out earlier than planned. "Let's go somewhere people don't have photos of yet." I told him. So for now pretty old Paris, Au revoir! These two will be by the coast.