My fancy trip to Guimaras island

Umaga ng November , diretso ako airport from work.Night shift kasi ako, then heading from airport I was excited bcoz it is my first time to fly via Philippine Airlines. Then surprisingly mali pala ako ng terminal, Terminal 2 pala ang PAL. And nameet ko na ang mga kasama ko, my sister, c Jess, c Momi.And we found out late na pala kami sa boarding time..8 am kaya we are forwarded sa PAL office dahil late kami binigay sa iba ung slot namin. Kaya no choice, next flight pa kami makakasakay which is 12noon. Eh may hinahabol pa naman kaming ferry trip sa Iloilo, going to Cuyo Palawan. Kaya pinag isipan pa kung tutuloy kami, muntikan pa nga kaming magchange destination, Puerto princesa na sana pero ang twist, sa Iloilo pa din ang ticket namin to Manila…huhuhu.Lundag na sana ako sa saya. I dream of being in Palawan for quite sometime.Eventually natuloy kami going to Iloilo.And sa almost 3 hour na waiting time namin binigyan kami ng St. Cinnamon free lunch.During our lunch at 10pm dumaan sa harapan namin ang HALE.Di ko lang nakita c Champ.Nung nakaupo na kami sa waiting area, nagtaka kami sa mga ibang pasaherong dumating, May Chinese, Indonesian, At Bulgarian, mga kamukha ng nasa Harry Potter.inisp namin may Damath Competition, mejo close meron palang international Math Competition. KAya we ended up with the same flight with them.Pakiramdam ko international flight sinakyan ko dahil iba iba language nila.Sad nga lang dahil di ako napunta sa widow side.walang view.Pagdating sa Iloilo,we hire a van, 400pesos 7 kami, plus two passenger heading to SM City Iloilo to complete the 500 pesos boundary. We are heading to The Port (Ortiz) to meet Doodan our companion which has read about our tour at Multiply.com. upon arriving we meet her and voila she became part of our group. Then we go to another port to check if there was still a ferry heading to Cuyo but to our surprise, there was none, we almost made a leaving ferry to a halt assuming we are left behind by the last trip only to find we can go to Guimaras with the same ferry that left us behind. So we decided to eat our afternoon lunch in the city at Ted’s with a specialty of Lapaz Batchoy plus chicken or sisig meal. Then we goback to Ortiz port and ride a pumpboat heading to Guimaras, the scenery during our ride is the sunset which is so majestic.Upon arriving we hitch a ride on a tricycle going to Alobihod ( Raymen Resort), which is a 45min to an hour ride. At the Raymen Resort we found out that the all rooms are occupied and fully book, giving us only a open picnic hut to sleep on.So we decided to look at the other neighboring resort only to find it was all full .We never anticipated that it was a long weekend. Thanks to a generous guy who offer us two tents to stay on for only 300pesos. After a long day we decided to cut the night short and have a rest for the tour next morning.

As early as 4 am the seafront is full of boats for fishing which made us decide to buy fish for breakfast, 150php fishes of different kinds and sizes. Nagluto kami ng rice gamit ang panggatong na mga kahoy sa paligid, and clean the fish to cook paksiw, and set aside big fishes for Inihaw or sinugba in Ilonggo. We decided to fry the fish at the island where we are going to stay for snorkeling and swimming.At 8 am we depart from the resort to go islang hopping, we first go to Lawi Guimaras where a Pawikan Sanctuary is located, and got a pix with the cool pawikan being fed and taken care of by the locals. Next we headed to a cave, where we set our feet on for exploration, and accidentally see a sea snake emerging from a stone formation.I almost jump at the shout of my sister giving me warning on the presence of a snake.Our next stop is Baras Beach where we foreigner taking photos, we check the room rates there and the lowest rate is 1500pesos. And we go the diving spot as they say, where the elevation allow you to see the whole of other Guimaras island, perfected by the blue sky and blue sea.The view is really WOW. The island where we stay is like a secluded island Ave Maria I think, which is a good setting for Survivor Challenge. Kuya Boy our boat driver offers to star the fire for inihaw, and there we eat our lunch, more enjoyable than a cozy resto. Then after some rest and chikahan we headed to go snorkeling. It was my first time to see fishes on their habitats, under the sea with ruins of corals; I see different kinds of fishes which glow beautifully when sun ray’s reflected on their scales. I love this specific fish which may look purplish with different dots and spots on his body scales. There was also an encounter with a certain fish that sees me, then moves forward then when provoke goes backward.Seeing a fish eye to eye is really quite an experience of a lifetime.After an hour of non stop visions of under the sea, I decided to go back to the shade only to find out my true color is back (I got easily darken upon exposure to sun) and that’s the prize to pay for enjoying, nevertheless I never regret it.

We decided to explore the other side of the bay, which has very intricate and beautiful stone formation, where I slip due to mossy flooring of the rocks.At 2pm Mang Boy finally came to fetch us and we go back to the resort to refresh ourselves and we decided to proceed on the land tour. Our first stop, is the Trappist Monastery, where I thought monks are not Catholic but they are Catholics to my surprise, there is a place there where you can buy, souvenirs, pasalubong (such as mango jam, ginger jam, piaya, biscocho), and religious articles made by monks themselves.I decided to buy a book there which I thought about St. Paul life, only to read it as a Quiz book, about him.The place generally is very serene, and the monks as I notice is environmentalist based on their bulletin board post and I saw there a bonsai of a tree, and bougainvillea too which means they enjoy planting trees all over the monastery.The church is different because there is a place there for books, musical notes of churches songs and even daily readings. The one thing that struck me during our visit there is the monks over the counter that saw that I buy a rosary made of shells, repeatedly encourage me to pray the rosary and the importance of praying it for family life, he reminds me that prayer is the best armor against any difficulties.

After our visit at the trappist we headed to the Museum but sadly it was closed during Sundays. Then we proceed to the public market to buy our dinner, and ended up buying Litson manok and tocino/hotdog for breakfast.I saw a signage heading to the direction of Macopo Falls, which somehow made us decide to go nature tripping, and I never regret it, the road was rough for the tricycle as we go inside the forest, the soil is reddish and the trail is adorned with ferns, the view is exhilarating and scenic with its exquisitely trees and mountains full of greens. The trail is steep and slightly wet due to rainshower earlier but it made the plants dewy and more radiant in my eyes. Until we reached the falls so many Wow blurted out of my lips in full amazement and stunned at the beauty in front of us. The water falls is wonders of nature I always love to see.Then before sunset we go back to the tricycle and go back to the resort, to prepare our dinner by cooking rice which gave me the chance to interact with Ilonggos, who are merry chatting and preparing their pulutan.After our dinner we also take to time to chat with Mang Boy the person who made our stay in Guimaras splendid. After that we feel the night ambiance of the beach by walking along the bay and we ended up in a food haus (made of nipa and bamboo) overlooking the sea added by the view of the night sky plus the rushing of the sea breeze.At the middle of the night we all would awake bothered by the strong sea breeze outside our tent.

Monday morning, after eating our breakfast and refresh ourselves we prepare for leaving and to bade goodbye to a beautiful place is the hardest part. That morning we also go to Valle Verde Mountain Spring resort, with beautiful cottages and a pool, plus the most perfect spot of viewing the nearby islands and the blue sea plus the beaches where we stay is an overlooking there and going down of 311 steps stair you can find the cold spring.

The last stop of our Guimaras tour is the Balaan Bukid located near the port, where a church and a cross is build atop the mountain, this is most visited during Holy week for the stations of the Cross along its trail. The trail is sprinkled with lots and lots of white flowers and the trail is rocky due to its nearness to sea. A dog accompanied our whole journey upward, and the prize atop the mountain is very promising, you can fully see the the whole IloIlo and the cross is enormous and rampaging the sky background.The view atop is complete if you wan forest, if you want blue sky and sea, if you want city view, if you want islets view.The viewpoint over there is the climax of our Guimaras tour, it is a breathtaking view and overly Wow terrific view.Timely that we ascend it during the midday, even if it is hot but the wind breeze makes you feel calm and at peace.

Our Iloilo tour is shorten due to searching for our lodging house, and our lunch which almost last for two hours at Mang Inasal which is much more cheaper compare here in Manila. Then after settling our baggage at the inn, we go ahead to Miag ao which is located 5 towns away from Iloilo City, 50mins jeepney ride. Before that we visited Jaro Church where A candelaria stature is at the midfront of the church who is currently undergoing a restoration. Same goes with the UNESCO heritage Miag ao Church that also undergo construction but you can still see its beauty in front with beautiful sculpting of intricate designs.The end of out Iloilo trip is when we watch New Moon Twilight Saga at a cinema in SM City.You can never tell the beauty unless you search in.