i'm back from bohol

just flew in from bohol this morning, two hours later than our scheduled flight.and once again pal lives up to its acronym - plane always late.i enjoyed the trip immensely that the last two days seemed to past in a blur.
we arrived sunday morning and barely an hour after our plane touched down in tagbilaran airport, we were headed to the loboc river for lunch.we got on one of the river boats, which can accommodate about fifty people, where they served us a buffet of inihaw, tortang talong, sinigang na hipon and other delicious boholano delicacies.as soon as we started on lunch, the boat began moving down the loboc river(yes, the same loboc river in cesar montano's panaghoy sa suba) and the singers began serenading us with visayan folk songs and retro music with a visayan twist(tayo'y magutsu-utsu,magutsu-utsu).impressively clean, the riverbank was lined with trees and mangroves where children would bathe in, women wash their clothes and at least two american guys jumped from to dive into the river.don't you just wish the same thing could happen in pasig river?
after the boat has docked back to the shore and after we've paid our bills, we headed to a tarsier sanctuary.about as tall as a palm open wide or the middle finger, the tarsiers are really adorable,especially with those huge, bulging eyes.their fur is soft, almost like a newly-bought terry towel and they have this really long tail that resembles that of a rat.they were probably used to being patted, pictured and flashed with light that they would easily alternate from staring at you, curling up to a branch, closing their eyes and turning around.i would've pocketed one of them but one, they were endangered creatures and two,i was too young to go to prison so i settled for an inferior imitation - a keychain which made the tarsier look scary rather than cute.
then, we headed to the chocolate hills...or at least a spot overlooking the eighth wonder of the world.we had to climb up 206 steps to get to the top where we can have a clear view of the hills.they look exactly like the ones in postcards and posters.although when the plane flew over them, some hills looked a bit off-color and pale, or maybe there were just clouds covering them overhead?
then we headed to baclayon church which at first sight you'd know is a really old church because the walls look brittle and dirtied with age.there was even an altar up front where you can actually go up and light candles in.the monobloc chairs at the back of the church looked out of place with the wooden pews and antique statues.although the colorful stained glass windows was a nice addition especially when the suns rays would come streaming through it in the afternoon.you can actually see colors provide a spotlight for the altar - a respectable,almost solemn spotlight, not like the ones you see on tv.next, we went to a souvenir shop which the driver assured us offered the cheapest prices and we were extremely happy pa because when we got in through the door, one of the sales boys was handing us discount coupons.later on, we found out that the goods at the grocery were cheaper by almost P10!talk about overpricing ha.the driver brought us to a monument erected for a blood compact but we were to tired and not that thrilled with the idea of life-size statues that we decided to skip it.before we got back to the resort, we made a final stop at the hinagdanan(?) cave which was an underground cave the owner had no idea existed until he had some excavation work done.he had stairs built and some lights put up so he could start charging people P15 to get in.we had dinner at miravilla where they served fresh seafoods(although the selection was a bit limited) and the waitresses were wearing skirts with slits really high and midriffs.we turned in early for the night because we had to wake up early to see dolphins the next day.
we were supposed to leave bohol tropics(that's where we stayed) at 430 am but because as we all know how plans always play out the way we want to, we left at around 530.when we got to alona beach in panglao where we were supposed to ride a motorboat to take us island-hopping,it took us almost an hour before we could leave.because first, we headed towards the wrong direction then our motorboat couldn't dock near the shore so a little banca which can only take three people at a time had to come fetch us.after being tossed by waves for almost an hour and seeing nothing but water and birds floating on water, we were ready to return to shore and resigned to the fact that we wouldn't see any dolphins.then one of us shrieked and pointed towards the horizon upon seeing a dolphin leap out of the water.after half an hour of chasing dolphins and shrieking at the sight of water splashing and faint fish-like figures in the air, we finally headed to balikasag island, a marine sanctaury.our wonderful motorboat couldn't dock anywhere near the island(because according to one of the guides we met later on, its propeller was too low so it could destroy the corals).
after wading through water and sweating from the heat of the sun, one of the girls in our group took out her compact and began to powder her face.yesterday, when we had our tout of the city, i noticed that she would powder in every stop, right after we get back to the van.and this morning, she was probably the cause of our delay because she took a bath for 30 minutes - so her other roommates couldn't use the bathroom.then, she was the last one to get on the van because she was putting on her makeup.even when we were leaving for the airport, we had half an hour left to check-in but she was still in the room - probably putting on more make-up.it was amusing and admirable really, seeing the effort and energy she puts into her makeup.
anyway, some of the people in the group went snorkelling so i decided to join them.we hired one boatman to take us to the the area in the ocean where there are lots of fishes because one, it was a bit far and we were too lazy and two, we had to go through lots of sea urchins before we can get there.we brought along a pack of biscuits to feed to the fish who were probably used to divers and people because they fearlessly gathered around us when we started tossing crumbs in the water.it was really amazing, i was giggling the entire time i was feeding them because it was ticklish everytime a fish would brush against my hands.our boatman/guide/and-later-on-we-found-out-excellent diver/underwater artist,led our banca to an area where there was an underwater cliff.we barely moved about a meter when i realized that the seabed was no longer visible from view, instead, i saw a cliff that seemed to be bottomless and a school of colorful fishes.our boatman,without any scuba gear save a goggle, dove to one of the corals and sat there for a couple of minutes.the show-off!
i was able to see some fishes and they were really beauiful - blue, neon blue, green, black, silver with rainbow hues.although, i didn't get to see a nemo.i saw a blue starfish(the boatman said there were red and pink ones too!), an oyster(no pearl though!) and some divers.we had to return to shore though because it was nearly noon and the boatman said that the waves were bound to rise around that time.so after some picture-taking, we headed back to panglao, and from there back to our resort.we had a quick lunch in one of their restaurants then we all had siesta because we were exhausted from our trip in the morning.we went to the grocery for last-minute pasalubong purchases, then to payag for dinner where they specilaize in inato(which is probably like inasal) and finally, some of us had a brief lambanog session(we only had two bottles - the bubblegum lambanog was too diluted and the mudslide only lasted us three rounds).then we went to bed and left the next day.i am a bit exhausted from the trip so this post is a bit incoherent.but anyway, here are pictures to help you imagine what my stories can't tell.