On our way to Pescador Island. One of the divers eagerly look on. For a few seconds that felt like eternity, I could not move. I watched the dark giant swim gracefully, majestically, as though in slow motion just a few feet beneath me. Its perfect, shiny black tail splashed the water as it moved…
“You should go there – it’s beautiful, and looks like Scotland.” These were the words the tourism officer for Catbalogan, the capital of Samar province, told me. I had no idea what he meant, but my curiosity was piqued. I only know Samar for its caves, waterfalls and beaches, so what place could he be…
Note: This is the second of 2 entries about Higatangan Island. Read the first entry here. Higatangan Island in Biliran appears like a paradise with its white, shifting sandbar and its stretches of white beaches and rock formations, but it is scarce in drinking water and electricity. Electricity for homes is powered solely by generators…
Note: This is Part 1 of 2 entries about Higatangan Island. Read Part 2 here. Higatangan Island sandbar in Biliran Here at Higatangan Island in Biliran, the sands are never the same. Its sandbar could snake into several meters one day and spread out in a few directions the next. The differences are most pronounced…
I felt that I had just died and gone to heaven – a heaven for health buffs and nature lovers like me, that is. This was my typical day in Paruparong Bukid (Mountain Butterfly) Nature Conservation Center in Babatngon, Leyte – in the morning, I watched the sun rise from the balcony of a nipa…
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,…
Traveling Light 