Bohol

Cebu Pacific Airlines (slogan: Cheap flights for every Juan!) has a lot of reviews that say they run late. And they were true to form, we were almost an hour late getting into Panglao. Jovan and James, another youth guy from Bohol, were waiting for us with a sign with our names on it at the airport so we found them easily.

Panglao is a brand new airport that has only been in service for a month or two. The building was very nice and seemed like a very serviceable place. There is alot of tourist traffic going to the resorts in Panglao. Alona Beach is maybe a big tourist place.

Back to Manila before our flight. They had a gate with two flights leaving the same gate by bus within minutes, our flight to Panglao and one to Cebu, so all those people were milling around the tiny boarding area, Filipinos and white people alike, trying to figure out which plane to be on and it was chaos. There was a white guy trying ot get the same flight as us and we visited with him for a while. He was from Amsterdam, a psychologist, has been on the road for a few weeks already, and had spent time in New Zealand with his girlfriend who had to go back to work already so he was traveling alone. It was interesting talking with him. There were a number of other couples and younger people backpack traveling, too. They were just about all European or something though because I heard very little English.

We boarded a bus at the airport which took us to Tagbilaran to the bus station there. The bus was very full, to where the lady taking ticket money could hardly get through.

In Tagbilaran, we got on a Toyota Hiace, a van that holds 18 passengers plus the driver, in a space that feels like a Chevy Astro. It’s not quite that bad but you sit 4 across and the seats are so close together that my knees do not fit without pushing hard into the seat in front of me. I got to sit on the stool that made the fourth seat in the back row, so I leaned against the back door and slept most of the way, albeit a little squeezed.

The van took us to Carmen, which is close to where Jovan lives. It had been raining softly and wasn’t letting up so we got on the Jovan’s motor with a sidecar, and headed out. Jovan’s dad, Frankie, was in town and he rode their other motor.

We were welcomed warmly into their house. The family is Min. Frankie Esto and his wife Jubilene, Jovan, Princess, Nicole, and the twins Gilbert and Kenneth. We unloaded our bags, got settled in a little, and they served us a delicious supper of rice, chicken, adobo, and Coke. After supper we sang a few songs, played a few games of Mexican train, and went to bed.

Sunday- We slept in a little bit and got up to breakfast of rice, eggs, and hot dogs. We got ready for church and walked the 5 minutes to church. Not every one was there yet when we arrived so we walked back down the path a little ways to Frankie’s rice field and Jovan explained the rice growing process to us.

Church was a very normal service. There were a few congregations songs before Sunday school, an opening, and the discussion. After that, the children had a couple parts and the youth had a song. Then Jovan translated and I shared a few words. Another song, some discussion about a brother that had passed away, and Jordy had the benediction.

After church, the ladies had brought lunch so they set it up on a couple benches in the front of church. When the meal had been blessed, they sang happy birthday to Brent. Oops, I had forgotten about it even tho we had discussed it a few days earlier.

We went back to the house after lunch and got there just as the rain started. We were locked out so Gilbert and Kenneth pulled the glass out of one of the louver windows and climbed through so they could unlock the door. We played a few rounds of Mexican train, then hailed the neighbor Marlin to cut some coconuts for us. Jovan wanted the young coconut, buko, so we could try it. First he chopped a hole in the top to drink the milk, the cut it in half to get to the meat. Buko is soft, kinda like jelly, and a little bit sweet. We dug it out with spoon cut from the husk. Coconut milk is slightly sweet, clear, and has an almost salty flavor.

Jovan wondered if we wanted to try driving their motor with the sidecar. First Jordy took us for a ride to the high school a few minutes down the road, then Brent, then it was my turn. I have only driven a bike a little bit but was game to try. The side car pulls it to the right and I dropped the wheel off the road a couple times, forgetting how far out it stuck! Then Jovan said we could go down to Carmen and the Chocolate Hills were only a little ways past town. So off we went, with me driving. It all went fine until one bad downshift on a steep hill (also 5 people and the bike was a 100 4 stroke) and I let out the clutch too fast, it pulled the front end up, and we veered onto the grass! I wasnt very concerned, we werent going fast, but the others were a little surprised! I started downshifting more gently and we got all the way to the Chocolate Hills entrance with no more incidences.

We walked up the hill to the viewing area at the top of one of the hills. The Chocolate Hills are beautiful. It is sort of a valley with a lot of round Hills on the flat. Some grow trees and some appear to only grow small greenery, making them look like green domes. They are supposed to be made of coral or shells, and millions of years ago the island of Bohol was pushed from under the sea leaving these hills. It is a big tourist area, with lots a Chinese and white people at the top, even a couple we rode the bus with yesterday from the airport. We stayed for the sunset, unfortunately there were low clouds, but it was still beautiful, with haze in the valley.

Jovan drove back to the house in the dark and we played Mexican train, ate supper, visited a while, and went to bed. Jovan raises a few pigs and they were butchering at 4AM.