When I think of the beach, blue water, white sand, and waves crashing on the shore come to mind. I was thus surprised when my host in Leyte took me to Tulaan Beach, which looked like a lake. Its gentle waves reminded me of tiny, barely noticeable folds of silk. Tulaan’s gentle waves. Biliran province’s…
Before my recent trip to Bohol, I only knew of Jagna as the location of the port in Bohol for boats from Camiguin and Cagayan de Oro (CDO). Now I have come to know Jagna as a place of beautiful beaches and mountains, and of course, delicious calamay made with lots of love. Just a…
I watch as strong, sure arms stir the sweet-smelling, sticky, dark brown mixture in a kawa, a cookware resembling a wok but almost one meter in diameter. The arms belong to a young man named Ruben, who has been preparing calamay (pronounced ka-la-MAhY) almost daily for three years now. Sweat is trickling down his face,…
While I am looking forward to my seven-week backpacking adventure around Visayas, how I arrived at this starting point in my adventure is also a journey on its own that amazes me. It was October last year when I decided that I would travel long-term this summer. I initially thought of going around Northern Mindanao…
Tomorrow I am going off on a seven-week backpacking trip all over Visayas. To say that I am bursting with excitement mixed with just a little fear at my first long and mostly solo travel is an understatement. In every trip I took, the longest of which was nine days so far, there was always…
Traveling Light 