My Jordan Jetty Port To Balaan Bukid Saga

Okay, despite the misgivings as told in the previous story, I was on to my "day-tour of Guimaras". As agreed with the clerk at that bogus tourism information center, my tour would take somewhat of a counter-clockwise run starting with Balaan Bukid Shrine, winding to end at the Raymen Beach Resort.

My first view while on tour... that is the Guimaras Strait with Iloilo City out on the horizon...

But that was actually not the point why I took that picture. I was more on trying to catch this beach on foreground of photo, as I was wondering how this place could have looked like when it was still clean.

What a start, right?! You might say I'm being too negative - for in fact I was, and still am as I write this. DAHIL, I was scammed by a bogus tourist information office inside a government building at the port.

Don't worry, I'll try to be pragmatic about tourist sights. But if I cannot be objective, I'll be realistic!

Then we passed by the "real" Port Of Jordan (a.k.a. RORO Wharf). This one is expansive!

So what was it that I arrived at? The Jordan Guimaras Jetty Port with a fake tourist information office.

I was taking a picture of the vastness of this RORO Port...

All of a sudden that jejemon appeared running from one side of the gate to the other. He even smiled. In fairness hehe! Maybe he thought I was photographing him. Nge! Sige na, walang basagan ng trip!

Balaan Bukid is at that promontory hill that can be seen as the boat approached Jordan Jetty Port.

That's the place I said I have read online. It can actually be seen even as far back as the Ortiz Wharf.

And at this point, I caught my self taking deeper breaths of relaxation or maybe "sighs of relief" that I was already away from the hoodlums of this island's information center! I was now touring the island.

But not long after, I even instinctively covered my nose...

In my mind I was saying "OMG ano yan? A touristy island and they throw their garbage on the beach"?

And it's not as if just a little portion or a little corner of the beach...

I asked the driver if this was really a dump site. The reply was a very elucidative educational... SHRUG!

My heart was starting to sink... this was not the Guimaras that I have known in the late '80s. Anyway, I tried to entertain my self by musing at the barangay's name - Hoskyn! It sounds like a foreign name.

And then we approached this corner, that at least, painted a wicked smile on my face...

A public market is on the right, but this is no ordinary Y-intersection... this is also a basketball court!

Here's a clearer view of what I mean above...

The road bends to the left, and that basketball goal is in the very middle of the curving pavement. At least tricycles, even sedan cars and of course the multicab I was in, can fit on either side of that goal.

Ambot na lang... kasakit sa agtang! And mind you, the blue marker that says Balaan Bukid Shrine is misplaced or misleading. You would think the shrine is somewhere in this area, right? Well, it is still veeery far from this place. Maglagay naman sana sila ng arrow pointing to the left! Mahirap ba yun?

A few meters forward from that 'basketball corner' this one at least fascinated me...

Driver stopped and talked to some guy by the roadside without getting off the vehicle. So, I had time to appreciate this animal! Aside from it looked healthy, that orange color on its hide looks interesting!

Shortly thereafter, we reached this pathetic-looking shack.... I was thankful it was closed!

You can't blame me. I think I instantly acquired a phobia on "information centers". I was just had by a tourist information center at Jordan Jetty Port, remember? Niloko ako, and it won't be easy to forget!

Anyway, not far onward from that "information center" is a sari-sari store where we stopped and driver told me all vehicles can only make it this far, and that I have to walk going to the shrine like all people do. I asked if he won't accompany me since he was also my tour guide. He replied that there was no one to watch over his vehicle, so he can't go with me, but will instead wait for my return to this place.

I hesitated for a while, but went for it alone anyway - my teeth gritting in anger.

Why was I hesitant to go alone? Well, the ascending dirt path is a forest, I wouldn't know if snakes or wild animals could attack me, OR, if there were criminals lurking in the thicket to victimize me, di ba?

Why was I angry? Because at the f****n information center that booked me this tour, I asked for a tour guide and the faggot said my driver would already be my tour guide. Diin? Tour guides annotate things and places anywhere you go, right? Therefore tour guide does not leave you alone, right? That faggot even had the nerve to tell me I saved a lot in tour guide fees. 'Tangina, did I come to save on tour fees?

The driver's only advise was "just follow the dirt path and the stations of the cross". This is the first...

In my mind I was protesting that I did not come to this place to do the stations of the cross, eh end of next month pa ang holy week! I just wanted to see the shrine and the view of Iloilo City from up there.

This is somewhere near the 5th station of the cross...

Imagine yourself walking alone going up a mountain in this kind of environment. Kahaladlok ay. Duu!

Station seven... this means I was only halfway going up to my destination...

Look at the road at left... that is where I walked... alone... no people, no nothing... just plain eeriness!

Then somewhere near station 8, I saw these three red tricycles...

I thought all vehicles stop before the first station? Ano ito? Not just one but three! And I thought the faggot said trikes cannot climb these hills - when in fact, it was my dying multicab that couldn't. Yodi!

Onwards, I walked again, tired, thirsty and angry, I did not have water, no stores in this wilderness...

The driver btw told me to leave my backpack where it was inside his multicab as he would be there to watch it. There was water on the side pocket, but I did not bring it because no one told me I needed it and no one told me this walk that he said was "dyan lang" was like to hell. Pataas pala ang impyerno?!

Climb was getting steeper. There are a few steps, at least. And that is the 14th station up there...

Not that I did not notice, the views started getting wow at this height. But I was dying tired and thirsty.

And there it is, the chapel... I even had a hard time deciphering where I should pass going up there!

If I had a guide, he could have told me that the easier way was to skirt around the bushes where there is no clear path, just bushes, vines and trees. Otherwise, you clamber up those ruins of a wall as I did!

Lo and behold, reaching the chapel grounds, I saw there was this group of 6 or 7 tourists...

They were the passengers of the 3 tricycles I saw along the way. When I chanced upon them, one was loudly describing that chapel, and pointing/describing Iloilo landmarks that can be seen from this hill. He was tour guide AND one of the tricycle drivers. You could just imagine.., I was angry all over again!

But anger was not my primary feeling at that time...

I was literally dying of thirst, I was too weak to move any further. So I asked if anyone of them had an extra bottle of water, or I can take any opened bottle they have and willing to pay for it just to have a sip. The trike driver (cum tour guide) was holding his unopened bottle and immediately gave it to me.

As I sat under a tree to 'recover', and the group was about to go, the trike driver even asked me if I was fine as I would be alone on this hill when they leave. I said 'no problem' and I can manage on my own.

Let me describe what I saw at this 'shrine' on my NEXT entry.

But, for clarity, so this won't happen to you, let me summarize facts of my encounters and learnings on this hellish trip to a holy mountain! Yes, Balaan means Holy and Bukid in the Visayas is Mountain:

01. There is no tourist information center or office at the Jordan Guimaras jetty port, so don't bother looking for one, as you would do in Ormoc upon the fastcraft arrival. Walang ganun in Jordan, even if it is a nice big PUBLIC building that meets you - and even if some hoodlums keep shouting that you need to pass by that information office - which is A HOAX - but Guimaras officials surely know this.

02. If you need information, just ask around or read everything you can search for online. Do not go to that "tourist information office" inside the government building at the Jordan jetty port. IT'S A FAKE. It is actually a tour operator (that we don't know yet if legal, since they do not display a name). Besides, granting (without accepting) that they are indeed a travel agency, they provide not only poor service, but offer fraudulent information. - but Guimaras officials surely know this.

03. Just follow other passengers na lang kasi. No one goes to that FAKE "tourist information office".

04. A Jeep is not a Multicab. Do not ride if it is a Multicab.

05. Tricycles can climb higher up that hill. They're available out on the street near the public market or even any of the streets in the town of Jordan. Never ask that FAKE tourist information office. They're dangerously out to sell poor services by giving you FAKE information. Imagine, they even told me it is also with them that I must book a resort, and all transport needs in Jordan are centralized with them!
*Why did I believe them? Because they're (supposedly) a tourist information office in a gov't building!

Let's go to the NEXT story.