Two Days as a Bohol Tourist

A couple weeks ago, we had a very special event with all the senior couples in the Cebu East Mission.  One couple, the Bells - - the only other couple assigned to the island of Bohol and the ones who got us oriented to the place when we arrived - - would be going home later in July, so we wanted to have a big get-together with all the couples before they leave.  We have six couples in the mission now, including our president and his wife, and some had never been to Bohol before, so we convened here.

Bohol is one of the three top tourist destinations in the Philippines.  There are so many attractions here and we hit several of them in two days' time.

After everyone arrived by ferry, we piled into our van and the Bells' pickup and headed into the hills to the Bohol Tarsier Sanctuary.  Here's a place where you can walk among the trees where tarsiers rest during the day, and observe these little primates close-up.  We'd been here once before but found them to be more accommodating this time, as in, easier to spot.  They're nocturnal and are out and about all night, hunting insects, but they are territorial, so they return to pretty much the same tree each morning.  Even so, they're only about 5" tall, so they can be hard to see among the leaves.  The guides go out and locate them each morning so that they can point them out to the visitors.  This is all done in near-silence, so as not to disturb the little critters.

Our next stop was the town of Loboc.  Loboc's claim to fame is their Loboc River Cruise, where you can eat a buffet lunch on a large pontoon boat while cruising up the river and back.  The food was good, the live music was good, there was a lovely breeze, and it was really enjoyable.

It was all quite lovely, and along the way back, our boat docked at a platform where some local kids danced for us.

Purely delightful!

Our next destination:  the Chocolate Hills!  This sounds like something in Candyland, right?  And the Chocolate Hills actually have sort of a "gumdrop" shape to them!  Why are they shaped like that?  Nobody really knows.  There are theories and legends, but no known facts.  And why "chocolate?"  Because, in the dry summer months (March through May), the grass on them turns brown.  We didn't really have much of a dry season this year, though, so they're not so brown as they'd typically be.

The viewpoint we went to is called Hilltop 360 View Park.  It encompasses two mounds from which you can see for miles and miles.  It was our first time there and, unfortunately, our camera had run out of juice by that point.  So the photos here are some taken from another viewpoint, Sagbayan Peak, on another day and borrowed from the internet.  The hills go on for miles!

After some time at Hilltop, we headed back down to the coast.  The others were all staying at a sweet little resort called Isla Hayahay, on the small island of Pangangan.  It's just off the coast of Bohol at Calape, where we live, and it's reachable by car, via a long causeway.  (Tony rides his bike around Panganan most mornings.  From our house, around the island and back, it measures about 19 km.)  We had dinner together at Hayahay, in their nice open-air dining room.

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The next morning, we met up with the others again at Isla Hayahay, where a boat was waiting for us all.  Off we went to our first destination:  the island of Mantatao.  Elder and Sister Bell had visited here before and noticed that the kids in the school playground were throwing around a ball of styrofoam, from a buoy, and had nothing more to play with.  So we all came equipped with lots of playground balls for them, and school supplies, too.  Sister Bell had made arrangements to meet with someone representing the school, since it was Saturday, at a given time, to present them with these gifts for the school.

The ride out to Mantatao was about 30-40 minutes, I guess.  Very enjoyable.  Here's a map.  Isla Hayahay is on the south side of Pangangan Island, so we had to go way around the north end of Pangangan and head northeast to Mantatao.

https://www.google.com.ph/maps/@9.9145937,123.8635317,14z

The Bells and our crew

Outriggers keep the boat very stable.

We docked and walked in on a long pier and immediately began to attract the attention of the kids in the neighborhood.  I doubt they ever see white people on their island, and here came twelve of us, carrying shopping bags full of things.  As we progressed toward the school, our following grew and grew.  I'm sure we'd gathered a hundred kids by the time we got there!  I felt like Santa Claus, or maybe the Pied Piper.

Unfortunately, the person who was to meet us at the school wasn't there, and we waited awhile.  Then we decided to walk over to the barangay hall - -a barangay is a neighborhood organization - - and see if we could leave our donations there.  The barangay captain accepted some of our school supplies but not the balls, so we ended up just throwing them out to whomever caught them.  This resulted, of course, in a lot of cheers and happy faces, but ultimately a lot of sad faces, too.  We didn't have enough for every kid, of course.  So that was a bit of a letdown, but there wasn't really anything else to do.  Hopefully, the lucky recipients will share their good fortune with their friends.

So, back to the boat and on to our next port of call:  a sandbar.  This little patch of sand and rock, surrounded by open sea, is under a few inches of water much of the time, but was exposed when we arrived there.  It's a good spot for beach-combing and for trying out snorkeling.

Way off in the distance

Sister Weatherston's beautiful sea urchin, which, unfortunately, broke apart soon after this.  Very fragile.

Tony

Before we left the sandbar, we had lunch on the boat:  pancit canton, rice, and fried chicken.  Delicious!

Then the long ride back toward Pangangan.  Out some distance from the shore is a wonderful coral reef, where we stopped for some good snorkeling.  If you've ever seen "Finding Nemo," that's really what it's like under there!  Incredibly beautiful.

The water is so clear, you can see the reef a few feet below.

Who says serving a senior mission is boring?!

What a perfect day!!  The sky was overcast, so it wasn't too hot, and the sea was like glass.

That evening we had dinner together again at Isla Hayahay.  Elder and Sister Bell have stayed at this little resort several times when they've had family visiting, so the owners and staff all know them and knew that this would be their final stay at Hayahay.  They made a special presentation to the Bells when it was time for dessert.  What a sweet farewell!

These dear friends will be leaving for home this weekend, and they'll be sorely missed in Bohol!  They've accomplished much and touched so many lives.  Farewell to the Bells, and salamat
 for organizing such an awesome activity for all of us!!!  We love you!!