Jewels of the Visayas
With over 7,100 islands, the Philippines is not lacking
in wonderful and enchanting locations where one can relax, enjoy and just
appreciate its culture and hospitality. A lot has been said about its famous
attractions like Boracay, Palawan and the historical Vigan and how people have
truly appreciated their trips to these places. But as they say, you can never
say much about a location until you have experienced it yourself. Here’s my
take on my expedition to Bohol and Cebu, considered as the jewel islands of the
Visayas.
Bohol is the tenth largest island in the Philippines and
one of the bigger islands in the Visayas region. It is around 75 km. from Cebu
City, where our adventure began. We stayed overnight at a small hotel near the
city pier and took a fast ferry in going to Tagbilaran (capital city of Bohol)
the following morning. It took us about an hour and forty-five minutes to
arrive at our destination.
The first task at hand upon arriving at the Port of
Tagbilaran was to rent a van for the duration of our stay in the island. A
friend recommended someone but unfortunately he already had a prior booking, so
we looked for another one and was glad to find one for a good price. You need
to haggle a bit especially if its off-season for travelers. The rates depend of
the places in the itinerary. We finally agreed on our package tours and it starts
on the following day and I am very excited as this is my first time to visit
here. It’s going to be a very full couple of days as we plan to see as much of
Bohol during our short stay in the island.
The first day started very early as we were picked up by
the van driver in our hotel in downtown Tagbilaran at around 6 in the morning. Our
first destination was the historical Blood Compact Site or Sandugo (Visayan word meaning “one blood”). It was here where
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi of Spain and Rajah Sikatuna of Bohol had their historic
blood compact, considered as the First Treaty of Friendship between two
different races, religions, cultures and civilizations. The bronze sculpture
was created by Philippine National Artist Napoleon Abueva, himself a native of
the island. The shrine is located just beside the main road in Bo-ol district
of Tagbilaran.
We then proceeded to the island’s most famous attraction,
the Chocolate Hills, which is around an hour’s travel from Bo-ol. On the way
there, we first stopped by the San Pedro Apostol Parich Church or more commonly
known as the Loboc Church. It is the
second oldest church established in Bohol, originally built in 1602. What is
different about this church is that its four-storey bell tower was built separately
from the main church building.
These were how the church and belfry looked like prior to
the devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 2013 which heavily damaged both
structures. Efforts are now underway to rebuild these historical structures.
You may also find it strange seeing an unfinished bridge
across the church which is now being used as a park.
According to our van driver/tour guide, the construction
of the bridge was initiated by a former Philippine president to justify the
release of budget funds. But because of
poor planning and corruption, the construction had to be stopped. It was not
built high enough to go above the church (which was directly in its path). Then
they also didn’t have enough funds to demolish the unfinished bridge. So now,
it has become an attraction, too!
After a momentary stop, we moved and passed the man-made
mahogany forest located in the border of Loboc and Bilar towns. This is also
one of the most photographed attractions of the province of Bohol.
This almost 2 km stretch of densely planted mahogany
trees provide a cooling shade and travelers often feel the abrupt drop in the
temperature even during hot summer days. It is the first and only man-made
forest in the Philippines.
Our next pit stop is the Simply Butterflies Conservation
Center in the town of Bilar, located along the highway going to Carmen town. We
had one of their staff tour us around the facility. According to him, the
center houses around 60 species of butterflies. And did you know? Butterfly
caterpillars don’t really sting and make you itch. It’s the caterpillars of moths
that have the sting.
They also have a small shop where you can get some
souvenirs.
After a brief tour of the butterfly center, we’re off to
the town of Carmen to see their famous Chocolate Hills.
They are probably Bohol’s most famous tourist attraction.
These are natural geological formations of about 1,770 hills spread on an
approximate 50 sq.km. area. The hills are usually covered with grass the year
round, but turn brown during the dry season, thus the name. To see the
magnificent view, you have to climb 214 steps to an observation post above the
hills. The climb up may be a bit tiring but the view from there is truly
exhilarating.
Of course, I wouldn’t miss the chance to have my funny
shot with the hills, too!
We’re now off to see another famous attraction of Bohol,
but this time, of the living kind. We’re
headed to the Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary in Corella to see those
fascinating big-eyed monkeys, one of the smallest primates in the world.
Located in the interior part of Bohol, the sanctuary is
dedicated to the preservation and scientific researches on the endemic tarsier
of Bohol as well as the protection and management of the tarsier’s sanctuary
through the active participation of the local communities. Prior to entering
the forest, every visitor is given first an orientation about the animal and
the things to avoid while inside the forest. Visitors can get up close with the
primates and take pictures but are urged to do so quietly and without handling
the tarsiers so as not to stress the animals (which are usually asleep during
the daytime). I was truly fascinated seeing these small creatures for the first
time.
How do I look as a big tarsier? Hahahaha!
Well, you can definitely bring home one of these unique
creatures, but just not the live one. Take a pick!
It was already past noon time and we’re having hunger
pangs already. So what to do in Bohol to fill your appetite? Take a river
cruise with matching buffet lunch! But
before that, a quick stop at the hanging bamboo bridge in the Municipality of
Sevilla. Originally constructed using just bamboo and rope, today the rope has
made way to steel cables to give additional safety and stability to the
structure.
The river cruise on board a floating restaurant is also
one experience every visitor should not miss while in Bohol. There are different
groups of boat operators in the area, all of them serving a wide variety of
Filipino food specialties, fresh fruits and local desserts. Oftentimes, local
singers or even folk dance groups perform on board while the tourists enjoy the
delicious food. The restaurant’s only policy: “No Leftovers Please”. Hahahaha!
The cruise took around an hour and a half through the
twisting Loboc River lined with nipa and coconut palm trees. It was a great way
to relax after a hearty meal…just sitting and watching the scenery pass
by. It would have been better if they
had lounge or rocking chairs instead of those monobloc seats. But nevertheless, these are just minor
inconveniences in exchange for a delightful experience.
We’re now on our way back to the city and there are still
a few more scenic places to see and experience. The first one is the Santa
Monica Parish Church in the small town of Alburquerque. The church is likewise
located along the main highway so it was easy to locate. It is one of the first
stone churches in the Philippines, initially built in 1842 using just light
materials. The present coralstone church was finished in the 1930s.
Not far away is another historical church in Bohol, the
Baclayon Church. Built also from coral stones and cemented by egg whites in
1727, it is also one of the oldest built churches in the country, coming second
to the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila.
But there is a mystery to this particular church which
our tour guide/driver showed us. While
we were taking pictures at the side of the church, he pointed to one of the
church’s foundation wherein a face seems to appear. And true enough, if you look closely, you
would see the image of St. Padre Pio imprinted on the wall. See for yourself!
Padre Pio, or Saint Pio, became the first stigmatized
priest in history. All 5 wounds of Jesus appeared on his body, hands and feet.
And ever since a devotee found the image against the wall and who had been
healed through the intercession of Padre Pio of his half-blindness, Baclayon
has become a very special town, a chosen town for Padre Pio to which his face
has only appeared since his death.
We said our short prayers inside the church, visited the
museum and then lighted a couple of candles asking for blessings and personal
favors. (This church, too, was unfortunately heavily damaged by the 2013
earthquake.)
Since we had some more time to spend, we requested our driver
to bring us to another place as some sort of special consideration and he
willingly obliged. He took out to the Bohol Bee Farm located in Panglao Island.
The place is noted for its organic food and advocacy for healthy eating. The
place also houses a resort and a restaurant where visitors can take time off
from the city and find some bit of relaxation. They also had a free tour of the
bee farm including a hands-on experience with the bee colonies. A bit scary but
fun! I even tried out their organic ice-cream made of Malunggay (moringa)
leaves. It was refreshingly good!
And that was the end of a very tiring day -- a full day
of fun, excitement and new discoveries. We settled back at our hotel and had a
good night’s rest. But there’s more to experience in Bohol and I was looking
forward to the next day’s itinerary.
It’s to the beach the following day and Panglao Island in
Bohol is noted for its dolphin-watching and snorkeling activities in Balicasag
Island. We rented a boat for the whole day and spent our time out in the
waters. Too bad the dolphins weren’t around so we proceeded to the snorkeling
site.
The waters off the island of Balicasag was teeming with fishes.
You just buy a few packs of crackers at the island sari-sari store and you get
to feed these fishes while swimming at the cool and clear waters. It was an
awesome experience. I could have stayed
there forever just enjoying myself surrounded by these swimming creatures.
After a couple of hours, we had to go ashore and transfer
to another famous island, the Virgin Island in Panglao, noted for its long and
narrow white sand beach. It’s probably a
popular destination for tourists as there were already a few “stores” in the
islands selling fresh coconut juice, snacks and souvenir sea shells. There were
even several men with pails selling fresh sea urchins. Nope, didn’t try it! Not
that adventurous when it comes to raw food!
We explored the island a bit but since it was low tide, we couldn’t enjoy swimming at the area because of the sea plants. We then decided to already head back to Alona Beach and just do our swimming there. We had a quick lunch first in one of the restaurants in the area and then proceeded to the beach area. There were only a few people in the beach so we practically had the place for ourselves. But if I were to be asked, I would have rather spent more time at Balicasag Island with the fishies. Hehehe.
Ahhh, the beauty of the Philippine islands. The country
has so much to offer its local and foreign visitors. And the day is almost over
as we wait for our driver to pick us up at the beach front. Another wonderful
day in Bohol and would have wanted to stay there longer. But we have a schedule
to follow so we headed back to the hotel. It will be our last night and started
packing our bags for our return trip to Cebu.
On our last day in Tagbilaran, we decided to go to one of
the local restaurants to try their local food. As we were told, the place is
noted for its Chicken Inasal (barbecued chicken). We headed to one of the more noted places in
the city and which is just near our hotel.
The place is called Payag Restaurant and the place was literally teeming
with chickens and roosters. See for yourself!
Of course, we ordered the Chicken Inasal and Bulalo (bone
marrow) Soup. Tasty!
It was a great way to end our adventure in Bohol. We had
fun time discovering the numerous attractions of Bohol. There was a variety of
places to see, things to experience, food to taste and culture to learn. Our
three days in the island was full packed and the fatigue was all worth it. And
we met some gracious and wonderful people along the way. I bid good-bye to Bohol
and look forward to a new journey. Next destination, Cebu -- the Queen City of
the South. Here’s to my next Boarding
Pass!
