Photos et lettres des Philippines, de France et d'ailleurs

After taking possession of our rooms and leaving  our baggage we descended 250 meters towards the Alona Beach to have a little walk there and later dinner. It is a stretch of white sand about 1 km long but alas our friends never saw it during daylight.
The next day we had booked a van for the tour of the island and at 9 am we left the resort

The tour began with the monument called ‘Sandugo’ or 'Blood Compact' erected on the spot where the Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Lagazpi and Datu Sikatuna chieftain of Bohol, on March 16, 1565, sealed their friendship as part of the tribal tradition in drinking a beverage mixed with their respective blood.

(The 'Sandugo' or 'Blood Compact monument)

Then it was the turn of what remains of the Baclayon church built by the Jesuits in 1727. The bell that can be seen on top of the ruins was installed in 1835. The surrounding buildings were added later.

(Now the Church after the earthquake)

(The interior)

Indeed, October 15, 2013 an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale killed about 150 people on the island of Bohol and completely destroyed a part of its historic monuments. Now all these old churches are being reconstructed stone by stone but it will take time.

(The Baclayon Church in March 2013)

After that it was the visit to 'Corella Center', a 7.4-hectare reserve, home to a hundred Philippine tarsiers, one of the smallest primates in the world, and whose species dates back 45 million years. They are endangered and the sad thing is that some idiots are still struggling to have them as pets while these little guys are nocturnal and therefore see their life expectancy reduced from 24 years in the wild to 2 years in captivity.
Before seeing at least one, we had to wait until the tropical storm calms down a bit, and that morning one little guy was actually visible and sheltered from the rain. It is true that visitors awake and upset them but in fact it will never affect more than 2 or 3 out of 100. It is perhaps a necessary evil for those tourists in turn become ambassadors and advocates of the endemic Philippine tarsier.

(The only possible photo this day)

Then after the tarsiers it was the lunch cruise on the Loboc River. There were on board a well-stocked buffet and a good musical atmosphere.

(Dhana enjoying her lunch)

(The guitarist)

(The Loboc River and the cruise boat)

There were also two very tourist stops, the first with music and songs and the invitation to dance the "Tinikling", a traditional dance of the Visayas. For me this dance consists not to have your feet caught between two poles of bamboo, but my wife always says I dance like a carabao.

(Christine trying to dance the 'Tinikling')

The second stop was a face to face with the "wild Ati tribesmen." These are members of the Ati tribe converted to tourism but are nonetheless true descendants of the last 15 000 Negritos, first aboriginal inhabitants of the Philippines, divided into 25 groups and spread across the archipelago.

(A ferocious Ati warrior)

(Jean-Claude aka Alex fraternieing with a female warrior)

(and discovering new weapons)

After the Loboc River, our guide then took us to see the famous Carmen Chocolate Hills, a UNESCO World Heritage, which, I visited a least 8 times in years and never seen otherwise than under the clouds and/or rain.

This geological formation consists of 1268 cone-shaped hills of similar size, spread over 50 square kilometers Their submarine development date there, are about two million years and is due to the accumulation of successive layers of corals and shells. When the sea retreated, these formations described here could emerge. From there, erosion, rainfall and winds gave these types of cones and balloons that have the Chocolate Hills. Their heights vary from 30 meters to 50 meters.

(The Chocolate Hills in the mist)

(So are our friends and Dhana)

(Later on the mist is gone)

(But we still have 250 steps to climb down)

Then the visit of the butterfly farm closed our day. The guide, knowing we were Gaul and thus prone to green jokes had fun saying that the butterflies’ sexual act lasts between 6 and 24 hours. It occupies one-twentieth of their lives as that rarely exceeds twenty days while the tarsiers ’act ends in a few seconds but they live about 24 years. Are there a lesson to be learned?

(The butterfly Farm)

(The photo souvenir)

Time passes quickly and back in Negros our friends continued to enjoy the house and the sea.

(After the eartquake, the still temporary port terminal in Tagbilaran)

(Boarding)

(On board)

On September 29, we were invited to the housewarming of Tim, an American and his wife Marcia. Their home is worth a look and if I refuse to say 'this is beautiful or not beautiful' as too subjective, I can still add it is massive and brightly colored.

(The Marcia and Tim 's house)

(The meals and the drinks)

(Alex tries to seduce the young lady for a few drops of booze)

(Then some innocent games like a beer drinking contest with a straw for the men)

(and a glass for the ladies)

The next day it was a French friend Raymond with whom we participated at the celebration of his 74 springs.

(The traditional 'lechon baboy' or roasted pork)

(Raymond, our friends and Dhana)

Finally, on October 1, I led our guests to Bayawan, 75 kilometers south of Mag-abo. Not that there are many things to visit but simply for the pleasure of admiring beautiful scenery along the way.

(Bayawan and its incredible sea front of 3 km not yet really developed)

(Soon time to get out of the water. Storm is coming)

(Nothing like a good lunch to make us feel better)

(Sylvie and Dhana fraternizing with an old lady)

(On the way back home)

Then came October 3, the day of the departure to Manila in the afternoon of our guests. I had hesitated to make the trip up there with them but given their level of English we all thought it wiser to do so. We will see later that we were well inspired.
In the morning it was the traditional photo session to select the one that would appear on the refrigerator along with all previous visitors. Then after a great departure meal prepared by Nora, the Thalatta van took us at 1:30 pm to drive us to the airport for the 4:45 pm flight. You should have seen the look of dismay of my dogs from seeing the leaving of those whose caresses they had so much profited.
It's around 3:30 pm that a tinny speaker told us in English that for technical reasons, our flight was canceled. So we took placed in a huge line of waiting passengers to be informed about the follow-up, especially for those who had an international flight from Manila in the evening or the next day.
We were rebooked the following day on an additional flight at 3pm.
So we went back to the Mag-abo house to the delight of the dogs and we rebooked the van to the airport the next day
At 1 o'clock we were again at the airport and immediately it was announced that due to bad weather, the 3 pm flight was canceled and again we were rebooked on the regular flight of 4:45 pm.
It was really no surprise because the rain had intensified that we were told later that the last flight was also cancelled.
Well, we restarted all over again, queue, luggage etc. Only now it was more serious because our four friends would definitely miss their international flight in the evening and worse, they had already made an Internet check-in.
As our turn came, I increased the volume of my hearing aids a notch or two so as not to miss a single information. Meanwhile my male friends giving me a blind trust were photographed with Miss Philippines 2014 who was in the same boat as them.
An employee of Cebu Pacific then informed me that she put a phone call at our disposal to inform Cathay Pacific in Manila and change flights. Only neither we nor she had the phone number. When I asked her to do an Internet search, she told me that his company had no Internet at the airport. It was then that another employee of Cebu Pacific came to our rescue by telling us they put us on hold for now and to report immediately to a travel agency in Dumaguete, named Orient Wind, to perform the change flight dates. It was already 4:45 p.m. and a Saturday. Luckily we had booked again van to return to Mag-abo which, allowed us to arrive at the agency quickly.
This is a highly competent employee who took care of us and that measured on the issues. Thirty minutes later, everything was settled and our friends were booked again the day after on their international flight with a penalty for change of date of 50 € per passenger but it was a lesser evil.
Finally we were back at the airport where we found seats on a flight the next day at 9:30 am. Then again we returned to Mag-abo always to the surprise of the dogs.
On Sunday it was finally the real start and everything went normally. I accompanied my friends to the check-in then we had lunch together before we parted.

As for me I would spend a night in Manila before returning to Dumaguete the next day without any problem.