“Reconnoitering” Sto. Nino and Almagro

After Sto. Nino, my friend’s group of engineers and officials (w/ me the kibitzer, of course) moved on to survey the island-town of Almagro. You may want to see this map of this whole island hop.

Going there however, our boat had to skirt a bit of the island of Sto. Nino to reach a village named Barangay Baras as there were 2 ladies in our group that needed to visit for some official service. I realized this is how they do it in remote islands – it doesn’t matter to them if it’s a Sunday. What matters most is if there is a way to reach these places. And our boat was ‘occasion’ enough! Hey, I overheard most of the folks in the boat were appreciative of this barangay. They were saying that many houses here are relatively bigger and made of concrete compared to the town center where we just came from.

The reason? They say there are many girls here who are married to foreigners! And they even joked that many mothers in this barangay sternly watch how their lasses learn the English language to ensure they later marry foreigners hahaha!

Anyway, after Sto. Nino, we headed towards the main island-town of Almagro. Ah, that island-mountain in the distance? That is already the island of Maripipi in the province of Biliran. See map to check where on earth that is!

Saw the map? Our boat went surveying (a la reconnaissance hehe) along those eastern shores of Almagro. I think they were looking for a probable landing area where heavy equipment can be debarked from a barge to start the construction (or is that re-construction) of a circumferential road on the island. Since they did not actually get off this boat (we just kept going along the shores and back), I did not have a chance to set foot on this main island of Almagro, Samar. But, I did observe there are interesting coves, beaches, ridges, etc., along the shores of this island. And the waters? Not much different from Sto. Nino, meaning clear green you’d think it’s shallow because you can see everything down the bottom! And clean – if I really have to mention that.

These are islands that have not been beaten by the tourist or commercial trades (yet), though I think have a whole lot of potential. Who knows, my friend’s project (road?) might be the start of all those crazy things crazy people like us craze about. Mind you, I asked my friend and some of the folks with us, they tell me diving and snorkeling are just a part of the many wonders on this island. Wow! And I think that last village I saw is named Costa Rica! Calm down, we are not in South America hehe, we’re just in Samar!

Anyway, after some going back and forth along that shoreline, they decided the boat should proceed to the last and final stop – another nearby island named Kerikite, still part of Almagro. I find that name amusingly ticklish, I don’t know why hehe. But the roamer in me got all the more excited because, I knew we were going to set foot on that island. And friend told me we were even going to have lunch there. Now that got me even ecstatic – lunch, rural style of course!

Let’s do that next!

For a chronology of this trip's stories, click these numbers:

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ISSN: 2516338.375-0959

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