3rd Breakfast @ Tubigon, Hatching Tour Plans

We passed by the church, since its along our short walk to town center and started my day anyway. No we did not hear mass as it was just about to end, thanks to my companion who took 5 decades inside the bathroom, as usual hehe. Then feeling blessed and hungry, we walked to the public market area for anything to feast on – though my mind was yet again set to hunt only “tinowa” and all others were secondary fare. Adik, yes. Somehow, we walked by the back of the municipal hall that leads to the expanse of a parking area for public transport and on to the market. Purpose: just to see anything else we may not have seen and to casually ask drivers for some tour options and of course “how much”.

But food was our primary target, and it was already 7:25AM which was rather already late as per my ‘mental plan’. Then there was this clean-looking carindera with a new foyer and new signage. We looked at the food. Candidate!!! Why? Because all their viands were piping hot from the kitchen, the tinowa was still even cooking and the man of the house dropped the lid of his kaldero containing rice as it was fresh from the fire hehe. Yep, that’s Kusina Royale in the picture and I don’t have to tell you I perspired heavily not because it was warm in there (they have a new air-conditioner) but because I seemed to have drank the sabaw of the tinola and asked for more! Hmm, in case you don’t know, its ‘usually’ always free as long as you don’t ask for additional serving of the fish!

We discussed tour options over this breakfast. Ah, for a time there, my head became as hot as the tinowa, but easily became fizzled cool as coke. The companion sometimes get to my royal nerves y’know hehe. Well, doesn’t everyone? Haha, at least I qualified that with “sometimes”. When we departed from Cebu, he made clear that he’d just tag along and go wherever I planned or wanted to go. This time, he was asking, ah nope, begging that I change the itinerary. The most irritating part for me is when someone begs (because I easily feel guilty like I was being greedy or something), so I am more at ease with ‘we better fight’ cuz after that, whatever the result or outcome, I’d probably be my normal jolly self again hehe. Anyway…

My plan was to circle the northwestern face of the island since I have been roaming the southwestern portion many times as that is the usual ‘daytour’ route offered by almost all tour guides in Tagbilaran. Look at the map clip in the above paragraph. Blue shaded road was my plan and I thought all that should have already taken me the whole day. Now look at that darkened roadmap in this paragraph. Ambitious, right? But I said okay, for the benefit of a first timer. I already knew though that we’d either be cutting places very short or the moon, if any, would befall upon us still not done with that route OR we’d have to skip places along the way hahaha. I am too… whatever! Basta, I agreed to this, so if we have to point fingers and blame, I am/was partly responsible hehehe. But I did not just give up on everything here. I agreed at the “consensus”, thinking there might still be more things for me to learn or wonder about, even as I go to most of these places all over again.

Now the ride. Ahh, we got more serious on this one. The hotel’s van was P3,500 for a day’s tour. The unsightly and almost dilapidated vans at the transport terminal across the munisipyo was P2,500 and we were dead sure air-conditioning would have been a miracle with those kinds of vehicles. The habal-habal ride was charging P1,500 though declared outright that it can be P1,200. Discussions discussions… then we finally walked to the transport terminal area to accost the habal-habal drivers. Hahaha, “accost”? Nah, we returned to them with a friendlier to almost begging stance. They’re nice accommodating folks y’know. Better than the habal drivers going up to Busay, going up to Camp Sabros or going up to Ranger Station. These folks are about as friendly and UNexploiter as those at Valencia when you want to go Casaroro.

Talk talk talk, charm charm charm, joke joke joke and voila! We got a deal and listen to this --- two habal-habal rides (one for each of us) at P800 per motorbike inclusive of driver and gas. Whoa! Considering the ambitious itinerary’s distance, I thought that was a good bargain enough. The freedom of being the lone habal-habal passenger, the speed, the convenience of being able to pass through any terrain AND the individuality of the risks, I said go go GO! These two dudes became our pilots for the day. On this pic tough, we were already somewhere in the town of Carmen.

So, at 8:08AM of a cozily cloudy day, we were getting out of Tubigon to our first stop – Inabanga. Yey!

That’s next!


If you want to read the chronology of all stories on this tour, click the following:
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