Monthly Archives: May 2014

Bohol to Camiguin

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I took the longish trip yesterday from Loboc, Bohol to Camiguin.  It should of been relatively simple with 2 buses and then a ferry.

While I was waiting for the first bus a jeepeny came passed.  A jeepeny is a jeep that has been modified to hold 15 or so people in the back on 2 long benches. I have some pictures on my camera, so when I find an Internet cafe I will post one.
Since the jeepeny was going in the right direction, I got on and paid.  It made it a grand total of 600 metres before it broke down!  They left me on the side of the road (with the other passengers) with a refund. I’m told by the passengers that this is a fairly common occurrence.
Shortly after that, a real bus passed and I got on. There were maybe 50 seart on board and 100 people riding. Some were seated, some were standing, and some were holding onto the outside. I elected to stand on the inside of the bus.  Otherwise it was a fairly uneventful one hour journey. I wanted to take a picture but I had to choose between balancing on the bus and getting my camera.
The ferry took about 3 hours, but yielded good views of Camiguin.
As you can see, the “island made of fire” is a pretty good description. It has several active volcanos, although it has been a long time since a major eruption.
I have hired a guide for tomorrow to hike to the highest peak, about 1300 metres above sea level.

 

Tarsier

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Here is the strange, cute and cuddly Tarsier

Actually it’s not really cuddly since you can’t touch them as they are endangered. This centre is set up as a protective habitat in the hopes that they don’t go extinct.
At the moment they are only found in the Philippines and Borneo and they are threatened since we like to cut down the forests that they live in.  Apparently cats are also a problem.  The Tarsier itself is tiny, only about the size of my hand.
They are nocturnal, so in the day they don’t really do very much.  I think it makes sense around here since it was 38 degrees yesterday when I went to see them.
Getting there was interesting. The bridge to cross the Loboc river got destroyed in the earthquake last year, so I took an alternate route through the jungle on a motorbike.  It was quite rough in places but I made it there eventually. Apparently I remember how to ride a motorbike and have not ran into anything yet! 

Philippines cafeteria

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This was a Sunday night in cebu, and it was bloody hot, perhaps still close to 30 degrees at this point. You can see the fans trying to cool the place.
This is basically open air with just the roof covered in case it rains.  Along the outside are vendors.  They have raw beef, pork, and chicken sitting in front of there stalls. You choose what you want and they will barbecue it for you and serve it with rice. There is a good chance that you can eat a meal for less than $2 here.
Obviously having meat sitting out in 30 degree weather gives me cause for concern, but the hope is that is has not been sitting too long and the cooking of it would kill any bacteria left behind. Either way, people seemed to be enjoying themselves.  The place was packed and, as you can see, there were a lot of families with kids.
This was a good contrast too, these kids look well looked after, but the 20 minute walk back to the hotel led to street kids begging for money and in some cases even grabbing at your pockets.
Parts of Cebu were somewhat depressing, but there was for sure a contrast in certain places that shows that at least some families are doing better and holding there own.