Bohol Tour

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Yesterday we took a ferry from Cebu City to Bohol Island and the capital city of Tagbilaran. We had met a young man called Yam at Malapascua who was also heading to Bohol, so we agreed that we would do a tour of the island with him. So this morning we walked to his hotel and met him and our driver for our tour.

It was a great day. We drove off in a well-air-conditioned van and stopped first at the site of the Blood Compact, a rather macabre treaty but it worked for Spain and the Philippines at that time. Then it was off to see the Chocolate Hills where we got to climb one of the more than 1200 mounds in the area and get lots of photos. The hills weren't chocolate coloured since it wasn't the right season for that, but seeing them covered in green vegetation was actually quite beautiful.

On the way down from the hills we asked the driver to stop if he saw a water buffalo plowing the land, and he found one lickety-split. We got lots of picture of the muddy creature with its muddy master plowing the rich fields to plant the next rice crop. Bohol gets three rice crops a year from its fields and grows enough for export. Not bad for a small island.

From there we went to a really cool butterfly farm where I got to hold moth caterpillars in my hands - yeah, I know it sounds wrong, but the butterfly caterpillars are more likely to cause skin irritation so the moths had to stand in. We did see butterfly caterpillars too, and lots of butterflies flittering about. (No moths though - it was too early in the day, I guess.)

And then on to see the tarsiers. These are wonderful animals - tiny simians, the smallest in the world and normally nocturnal, but they seem to have roused a few from their beds so we could have a look. They are delightful with their huges eyes, soft brown fur and elongated toes.

From the tarsier cages (yes they were caged but they were walk-in cages), we got to have an hour-long tour on the river while eating a buffet lunch. The river is the Loboc and is very green (the water I mean), the landscape alongside is hills covered in a wide array of vegetation - including lots of palm trees of course. While we dined we stopped at a riverside wharf where we were entertained by a village group playing Ukeleles and singing songs of their culture. There was dancing too, including a rice dance with woven baskets and rice pounding women.

And then it was on to see the python - the largest and longest in captivity as the sign says. Its name was Proney and we were told about its history by a very flamboyant lady-boy who sat in his/her bright red dress with very red lipstick and told us how they python was captured when it was only 5 kilos. It is now 8 meters long and eats a pig or goat a month - whole! Of course! I got to go inside its cage and pet it while getting my picture taken. Geordie stayed outside for some reason.The lady-boy also showed us a python skin bikini but said it would be itchy to wear, but if anyone wanted one they did mail-order

Finally we went to see one of the oldest churches on the island, Baclayon - a church made of coral stone. The most unusual thing I saw there? A statue of St. Lazarus. He was wrapped from head to toe in white bandages except for his face, and there was a gold halo sticking up from the top of his wrapped head. I have never seen a statue of Lazarus before so this was certainly unique.

It was a great day - we finished relatively early and got to go back to our hotel to relax. We are at the Bohol Tropics Resort and considering how much I'm perspiring right now, Tropics is the word. Tomorrow we are off to Alona Beach. We got a reservation finally, at a higher rate than we'd like but it's an expensive beach and an expensive season. We have only one week before we head off to spend our three weeks on Siquijor Island. We'll be making the journey by ferry from here.

Until later.