Clarin, Bohol

Alrightie! Our second morning in Tubigon and I was up and raring to roam. Plan this time was to explore the area/s north of Tubigon. Being a good Friday, I was ready to ‘get disappointed’ as there would either be too few or even no available transportation. That’s how it is especially in rural areas, and I have observed that even as a kid. Yet, I was determined to still go and try. Otherwise, if I could not really move around, then resting at the hotel’s pool area, waiting for the 3PM “siete palabras’ at church would not have been a bad idea. Thus, at 7:57AM, the light breakfast was over and we were out on quiet streets looking for a ride going north. None, hehe!

A tricycle was entering town from the north area and I hailed him. He probably thought I was just going to the nearby plaza and market areas hehe. His eyes grew a bit wide when I told him “Clarin” hahaha. That would mean he has to turn back to bring us to Clarin. I asked how much for the two of us. He said thirty pesos, we agreed and there we were…

The church. Its new! Well, newly refurbished – not only from the looks of it, but from what that “lapida” says at the very front of the church grounds. Save your giggles for the next paragraph, for now be amazed to learn that the “facelift” of this church façade mostly came from natives of this town who now reside in the US of A. commendable! Ah beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My companion said this church is beautiful, I said its new. With a smirk, he turned to ask me if I meant to say I disagreed that it was beautiful. Whoa, come to think of that, I almost said yes hehe. You see, I have this penchant for old churches – I mean old architectural designs, old materials and everything eerily old hehe. My wishful thinking is that, if an old church is refurbished or spruced up, it should still retain the look and feel as it was when first constructed. No smooth ‘palitada’ with bright hues of Boysen, Island or Nation paint! Ganyan! Anyway, this one is dainty nice for me.

Now the “lapida”! For non-Filipinos, you’ll have to know that it means (in general) an engraved tombstone or gravestone – usually a marble slab. The sight of it is common in all of the country’s cemeteries even columbaria, that anything similar becomes associated with the dear departeds. Okay, now you can laugh. For me, why on earth did the church make that marble slab look very much like a lapida hehe! And being on a stone wall very low almost on the ground, it does look like someone is buried there. Actually, I even thought that the original parish-priest of this church is buried right on that spot – reason why we went near it. Only to find out it acknowledges the contributions of Clarin people from the states! Anyway…

Inside, the church is airy and bright, thanks to those stained-glass fittings atop the walls. And the altar seems to have retained its minimalist look. The retablo looks ancient, probably an original fixture just spruced up with shiny paint. What’s with those two round holes? Turn for my companion to get comedic… he offered that they probably had a grand idea but did not have the funds. So they punched those little holes behind the altar, small enough so they could afford the expensive stained-glass hahaha! But folks get serious, try imagining much of that concrete space converted to stained-glass… wouldn’t it be loveliest? Well, its not cheap. The companion (previously worked in a cruise sip) says they’re like “port holes”! Stillm I consider the altar beautiful with not so many curving lines – save for the lecterns that look like tall fruit baskets hehe. Kidding aside, we loved the hum and the muted sounds from the many folks who were praying the “stations of the cross”. It added to the “holy” feel inside this church.

The municipal hall. Wow! New building and nice design. Its asymmetric but beautiful. It may be still unfinished or it may have been made to be really so. Whatever, it looks clean and smart a building. Look at the left and right sides of the façade. They’re not the same, right? And I like those trees surrounding the building. I like the entirety of this municipal hall’s compound. Its green and simple. I also like the pond surrounded by flagpoles. Even if three of said poles seem to have been spirited away hehe. Even if the pond maybe a fantastic mosquito breeding ground – proof are those two frogs enjoying this paradise. Hmm, it’s a fountain at center of the pond, right? Must be wonderful to see it spouting water. The Clarin Cultural and sports Center also has a nice façade, and fronted too by another expansive grassy green park with Jose Rizal at center. Even if between it and the munisipyo seems to be the parking area for a bulldozer hehe. Nice center of town!

Mangrove Forest. After the town center, we hailed a trike to bring us to the town’s pier. Nothing to much that we expected to see there but just to have a breezy view of some little islands beyond this town – that we have seen from google maps. On the way there, we saw this Mangrove Boardwalk that had very prominent signage. Closed, though there was a shirtless man resting inside that hut straddling the boardwalk entrance making the start of the boardwalk its very floor. We thought it might have been a nice place to roam around but it was “Good Friday”, so no-can-do! Trike driver told us of the many things to see on that walk. Reminds me of the wetland park in Kota Kinabalu. Anyway, there’s something below the entrance that caught our sour attention. Trash. Not sure if people use it as their dumping ground or rubbish just gets washed to the area. One thing is sure, them trash accumulate there, so chance for the town’s officials to scoop them out and show to their fellow residents what they’re doing to their precious and lush green mangrove forest.

On the way back to town center, trike driver said something that made him scratch his head…


If you want to read the chronology of all stories on this tour, click the following:
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

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