September 7. At 5am, i was already in the New Bus Terminal hoping to get a van at 530am to Sogod for our first stop, Agas-agas Bridge. Time wasn’t on my side. we had to wait until 7am until the van left making us 2 hours behind schedule.
And so we (I plus Jason and Monica) arrived in Agas-agas at 9am and were welcomed warmly by the Zipline staff. They even demonstrated to us how it really is to zipline in exchange for promoting it in Tacloban which i would gladly do anyway.
we took a habalhabal (motorbike for 5 passengers) bound to Sogod for 30 minutes. It was 35 pesos ride plus free squeezed bodies and aching muscles everywhere. :P
we directly went to the municipal officer to interview about the ecotourism in Sogod which was the main reason for the travel but not the main point of this blog. so, we will skip these details. :) afterwards, they toured us to the port of Sogod which was a part of the great Sogod bay that stretches from this town to that. (i don’t really remember the names of the town).
After was a very cheap but tasty lunch in May Ann ( i am not sure again with the name.) i had vegetables plus pork and half rice only worth Php30.00. i wish lunch in Tacloban was as cheap as this. and the place was even airconditioned!
We took the next jeepney to Padre Burgos and went down to Sogod Bay Diving Resort after an hour ride. I enjoyed the scenery while my groupmates were busy interviewing the staff and taking pictures of the place. :)
next was as trike ride to the port of Limasawa hoping that we could get a trip to Limasawa at 2pm. It was possible though but the next trip back was the following morning which wasn’t an option. So we all decided to drop the trip to Limasawa and rode multicab to Maasin for another hour ride and went straight to the Tourism office.
At 430pm, Dadi Ronnie, the father of Ate Jam’s baby, frukotots, fetched us in the Provincial Capitol of Maasin and brought us along with his staff, Joseph, to the amazing combination of the cave and the falls. The view was spectacular and it was probably one of the hardly-visited tourist spots in the area most likely because of difficulty of accessibility. Luckily, Dadi Ronnie had a Hilux pickup. yippee! travel was a looot easier. Sadly, we cant stay long in the falls since it was already dusk and we had to go back to town.
For the last stop that day was to Hanginan mountain where Dadi Ronnie has his nipa hut without a wall on one side which gave a magnificent view of Maasin and its beaches. We ate good dinner there – pancit plus chapseuy, and drank tuba and talked and studied. it was lights off at 12 midnight.
The next day started at 6am and we went off to hike the whole of hanginan. it was all majestic views from the mountain top. we hiked to the church with a known saint in the area to stop for a while and pray. we hike back and arrived at 10am in the hut to prepare to leave for Danao Forest Park.
Danao has a high potential to be great but at this time, it was next to nothing aside from the lake with the nipa. It, however, gave a great view of all the mountains in Maasin. And what i cant forget there was the loud whisper of the wind that gently reached our ears.
The five of us (with Dadi Roni and Joseph) went to Maasin port afterwards for a heavy lunch. and it was a great lunch! lots of chicken wings, pakbit, lumpiang shanghai and overflowing rice! a typical Filipino meal. :)
finally, it was a goodbye to Dadi Roni and Joseph in the Maasin Terminal as they sent us for Matalom trip to visit Canigao. It was planned initially that we don’t go to the island itself because of high fare rate but just conduct interviews regarding tourism in the island to some boat drivers and some government officials. but, fortunately, we ended up interviewing the perfect person to bring us to the island at a very low rate. :) the boatman we talked to is a fisherman who unfortunately didn’t catch a single fish on that day so he offered to bring us to canigao and back for only 150pesos. and of course, we agreed.
And so, my two groupmates were able to see the beautiful canigao and walked on the shore and took good pictures. but unfortunately (again..), we had to leave early to reach the 430pm trip of Vanvans back to Tacloban.
And this van passed us at 430pm and was already full. and this was the last trip. so we again decided to go to Baybay desperately hoping that the last trip leaves later than 6pm. but, our hopes failed us. the van just left when we arrived at half past 6pm. the next trip was at 230am and we were left with no choice but to take it.
in order to kill the time, we ate in Mang Inasal in the mall in Baybay and stayed until 9pm. and went back to the terminal and slept with the poor and the homeless until 2am which was also quite an experience.
i was back home at 430am feeling glad about doing schoolwork and adventure at the same time.
so long Region 8, ill see you again soon!
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