POST # 1.8 : CAMIGUIN
* Sorry for this delayed post, after we came back from Camiguin, work was piled up and didn't have enough time to finish this entry.
We arrived last Wednesday (October 4) from the island born on fire, Camiguin! But for us, it was the island of misadventures. But all in all, the trip was filled with fun, seafoods, rain, and a few disappointments, scary situations and frustrations. Oh crap!
Saturday
We left Manila after Milenyo ravaged the country. We went to the domestic airport for our flight to Cagayan de Oro scheduled at 12:30 in the afternoon. To our surprise, the airport became a Wowowee-like studio because of the lines that stretched from inside up to the streets outside, buti na lang walang stampede na nangyari, and what made things worst was there was no electricity so we have to endure the heat and our own sweat. No wonder our flight was delayed. We left Manila at around 2 and arrived at CDO past 3 pm. Then we travel from the airport to Balingoan port. The taxi driver we hired said that he can take us there in one and a half hours faster than the normal 3 hours travel. And he never disappointed us, he probably gave Michael Schumacher a run for his money. We're travelling at an average speed of 120 km/h even on zigzag roads. After we arrived at the port, and one of our misadventures happened, the last ferry to Camiguin already left so we had no choice but to spend the night at Lola Lumen's pension house, we played Pusoy all night with matching Videoke singers in the background. The singers provided us some in-house entertainment if you know what i mean. "I veliv the childrin our puture..." Haha!
Sunday
We took the second ferry trip to Camiguin and arrived there at around 8 in the morning. Then, a 2 hour multicab ride to Paras Beach Resort. At last we reached Paras at around 10 and immediately started our tour of the island.
Sunken Cemetery
This was our first stop. Just like anything sunken, this place used to be afloat before one of the volcanoes in the island erupted. Actually, this place was one of the reasons why i wanted to go to Camiguin, remember Gelli de Belen and Jomari Yllana's movie Camiguin (Ikaw lang ang mamahalin), you heard me right, this was the place where Jomari's body was buried.
San Roque Church ruins
This church was built during the Spanish period. Like the Sunken Cemetery, this was destroyed during one of the volcanic eruptions. Based from the marker at the entrance, the eruption lasted for only 20 minutes and after that the whole island was destroyed. The only parts remaining were the thick walls made from stones. If you plan to visit it, don't forget to go to the back of the church. There, you'll find a really big beautiful tree standing in front of the sea.
San Jose Cold Springs and Ardent Hot Springs
We had our lunch at San Jose Cold Springs. The people in this place were very nice and accomodating. We had inihaw and ginataang native na manok for lunch with mathcing fresh Buko that costs P10 only each. We discovered Cafe de Oro here, a local coffee made from corn. What?! Then we went to Ardent and god, the water was hot. The average temperature of the water there is 38 degrees, hot enough to boil your precious b***s. Haha! We did our shopping for pasalubong there and we went to the city proper after to buy the famous Pastel.
Monday
The Centennial House and the Centennial Trees
This was our first stop of our second-day in Camiguin. This one was really hard to find, even our driver and guide didn't had any idea that this house existed on their beloved island. Almost all of the trees in the garden are more than 100 years old. We also found out that the house was open for public before but due to incidents of missing antiques, they decided to close it. But luckily, the owner of the house (forgot his name, and the great great grandson of the first owner) was kind enough to let us in. The house was originally owned by Don Juan Corrales, a Spanish mestizo who married a Filipina and settled there. And yes, he is related to Mamita, Pilita Corrales. He even told us that Jackie Lou sometimes spend her vacation there.
Hibok-hibok Volcanological Station
This Philvolcs station is situated high on the mountains and have a good view of the whole island and Mt. Hibok-hibok of course. Mt. Hibok-hibok is one of the twenty-plus active volcanoes in the country. The volcano last erupted in the 1950's and thousands of villagers perished.
Katibawasan Falls
A 150-ft falls inside the rainforests of Camiguin. The park has different species of birds and monkeys endemic to the island. The water here is so cold but nobody can stop us from swimming.
Tuasan Lagoon
Seafoods! Seafoods! We ordered inihaw na pusit, sinigang na hipon, inihaw na isda na nakalimutan ko yung pangalan at alimasag. I had 3 and a half rice and an allergy. Good thing was i brought my anti-allergy medicine.
Now, the second misadventure. We went back to our hotel and the receptionist informed us that all ferries travelling were cancelled because of bad weather (strong rain and wind). We were stranded there for a day.
Tuesday
We spend the day sleeping, staring outside, playing Pusoy Dos and hoping that the rain will subside and the strong winds will weaken. Bad trip talaga! We have to spend extra money for the rebooking of our flights and for the additional day at the beach resort.
Wednesday
Luckily, all ferries resume their operation. We left Paras and arrived at the wharf at around noon. We boarded the ferry and soon we are travelling back to Cagayan de Oro. As we approached half-way to CDO, the rain poured and strong wind s and waves started to pound the ferry. Oh lord, that was one of the most scariest thing i experienced, i really thought that we will sink. Everybody in the ferry knew that it was scary. Nobody attempted to stand up or even talk. I even told Gilbert that my whole life started to flash before my very eyes. As we approahed the port, everyone was so relieved that we came out of it, alive. Then, we headed to Cebu Pacific office in CDO to pay our rebooked flight. Our misadventures didn't end there. The manager at the Cebu Pacific office didn't accepted our payments (they accept payments) and instead told us that we better pay for our tickets at the airport. So we headed to the airport and checked in our baggage and found out that their swipe machine (for credit cards) was down and they only accept cash payments. The BIG problem was we didn't have enough cash to pay the tickets and the nearest ATM machine is 30 minutes away. We begged (for almost 30 minutes) the lady in charge to let us board the plane and pay the tickets here in Manila. The flight was delayed for a few minutes because of us! Hihi
The next time i'll visit Camiguin, i will make sure that it will fall on the summer season. =)
We arrived last Wednesday (October 4) from the island born on fire, Camiguin! But for us, it was the island of misadventures. But all in all, the trip was filled with fun, seafoods, rain, and a few disappointments, scary situations and frustrations. Oh crap!
Saturday
We left Manila after Milenyo ravaged the country. We went to the domestic airport for our flight to Cagayan de Oro scheduled at 12:30 in the afternoon. To our surprise, the airport became a Wowowee-like studio because of the lines that stretched from inside up to the streets outside, buti na lang walang stampede na nangyari, and what made things worst was there was no electricity so we have to endure the heat and our own sweat. No wonder our flight was delayed. We left Manila at around 2 and arrived at CDO past 3 pm. Then we travel from the airport to Balingoan port. The taxi driver we hired said that he can take us there in one and a half hours faster than the normal 3 hours travel. And he never disappointed us, he probably gave Michael Schumacher a run for his money. We're travelling at an average speed of 120 km/h even on zigzag roads. After we arrived at the port, and one of our misadventures happened, the last ferry to Camiguin already left so we had no choice but to spend the night at Lola Lumen's pension house, we played Pusoy all night with matching Videoke singers in the background. The singers provided us some in-house entertainment if you know what i mean. "I veliv the childrin our puture..." Haha!
Sunday
We took the second ferry trip to Camiguin and arrived there at around 8 in the morning. Then, a 2 hour multicab ride to Paras Beach Resort. At last we reached Paras at around 10 and immediately started our tour of the island.
Sunken Cemetery
This was our first stop. Just like anything sunken, this place used to be afloat before one of the volcanoes in the island erupted. Actually, this place was one of the reasons why i wanted to go to Camiguin, remember Gelli de Belen and Jomari Yllana's movie Camiguin (Ikaw lang ang mamahalin), you heard me right, this was the place where Jomari's body was buried.
San Roque Church ruins
This church was built during the Spanish period. Like the Sunken Cemetery, this was destroyed during one of the volcanic eruptions. Based from the marker at the entrance, the eruption lasted for only 20 minutes and after that the whole island was destroyed. The only parts remaining were the thick walls made from stones. If you plan to visit it, don't forget to go to the back of the church. There, you'll find a really big beautiful tree standing in front of the sea.
San Jose Cold Springs and Ardent Hot Springs
We had our lunch at San Jose Cold Springs. The people in this place were very nice and accomodating. We had inihaw and ginataang native na manok for lunch with mathcing fresh Buko that costs P10 only each. We discovered Cafe de Oro here, a local coffee made from corn. What?! Then we went to Ardent and god, the water was hot. The average temperature of the water there is 38 degrees, hot enough to boil your precious b***s. Haha! We did our shopping for pasalubong there and we went to the city proper after to buy the famous Pastel.
Monday
The Centennial House and the Centennial Trees
This was our first stop of our second-day in Camiguin. This one was really hard to find, even our driver and guide didn't had any idea that this house existed on their beloved island. Almost all of the trees in the garden are more than 100 years old. We also found out that the house was open for public before but due to incidents of missing antiques, they decided to close it. But luckily, the owner of the house (forgot his name, and the great great grandson of the first owner) was kind enough to let us in. The house was originally owned by Don Juan Corrales, a Spanish mestizo who married a Filipina and settled there. And yes, he is related to Mamita, Pilita Corrales. He even told us that Jackie Lou sometimes spend her vacation there.
Hibok-hibok Volcanological Station
This Philvolcs station is situated high on the mountains and have a good view of the whole island and Mt. Hibok-hibok of course. Mt. Hibok-hibok is one of the twenty-plus active volcanoes in the country. The volcano last erupted in the 1950's and thousands of villagers perished.
Katibawasan Falls
A 150-ft falls inside the rainforests of Camiguin. The park has different species of birds and monkeys endemic to the island. The water here is so cold but nobody can stop us from swimming.
Tuasan Lagoon
Seafoods! Seafoods! We ordered inihaw na pusit, sinigang na hipon, inihaw na isda na nakalimutan ko yung pangalan at alimasag. I had 3 and a half rice and an allergy. Good thing was i brought my anti-allergy medicine.
Now, the second misadventure. We went back to our hotel and the receptionist informed us that all ferries travelling were cancelled because of bad weather (strong rain and wind). We were stranded there for a day.
Tuesday
We spend the day sleeping, staring outside, playing Pusoy Dos and hoping that the rain will subside and the strong winds will weaken. Bad trip talaga! We have to spend extra money for the rebooking of our flights and for the additional day at the beach resort.
Wednesday
Luckily, all ferries resume their operation. We left Paras and arrived at the wharf at around noon. We boarded the ferry and soon we are travelling back to Cagayan de Oro. As we approached half-way to CDO, the rain poured and strong wind s and waves started to pound the ferry. Oh lord, that was one of the most scariest thing i experienced, i really thought that we will sink. Everybody in the ferry knew that it was scary. Nobody attempted to stand up or even talk. I even told Gilbert that my whole life started to flash before my very eyes. As we approahed the port, everyone was so relieved that we came out of it, alive. Then, we headed to Cebu Pacific office in CDO to pay our rebooked flight. Our misadventures didn't end there. The manager at the Cebu Pacific office didn't accepted our payments (they accept payments) and instead told us that we better pay for our tickets at the airport. So we headed to the airport and checked in our baggage and found out that their swipe machine (for credit cards) was down and they only accept cash payments. The BIG problem was we didn't have enough cash to pay the tickets and the nearest ATM machine is 30 minutes away. We begged (for almost 30 minutes) the lady in charge to let us board the plane and pay the tickets here in Manila. The flight was delayed for a few minutes because of us! Hihi
The next time i'll visit Camiguin, i will make sure that it will fall on the summer season. =)
Pictures! Pictures!
On our way to Camiguin
Sunken Cemetery
San Roque Church Ruins
San Jose Cold Springs and Ardent Hot Springs
More pictures to come...
Currently listening to: The Spoons - Solo sa kama
Currently feeling: exhausted
Posted by teepee at 05:47 PM in Others | 3 twistered fries
The twistered fries in deviant mode.