Escalante City

After Sagay, I still had time to move northeast of the island, and the next locale is Escalante City..,

This was a very short ride. And oh how lovely, I caught an air-conditioned bus again for a 29-peso ride!

The deal with my royal self was: wherever nightfall catches up with me, I will stay there for the night! I actually had a feeling that would be in Escalante, so I stayed alert for hotel or resort signs on the road.

That picture of a roadside (the bus was still rolling in Sagay) would later prove to be very handy! While it's not my "style", for whatever reason, this time, I didn't reserve any accommodations anywhere. Just "go travel, eat anywhere and sleep anywhere" was the "theme" heheh! Adventure, di ba? Maiba naman!

The vast fields in this province are nice panoramas, especially on a sunny day (sa loob ng aircon bus)!

No hills nor mountains.., just very wide fields of green, whether planted to rice, corn and sugarcane. Of course I imagined, at the edge of those fields would be the Visayan Sea, islands, islets, sandbars. Ahh!

Yes this is the northern tip of Negros. And did you know this is already nearer to Bantayan Island than it is from Cebu City? Yeah, I even heard there are boats that do cross to Bantayan, but not sure (yet) if those are the regularly scheduled commuter boats or "special trips" as in "pakyaw", "arkila", "kontrata"!

We will know soon. Yes, we shall 😁!

Anyway.., then the bus passed by this corner which (I think) is the boundary of Sagay and Escalante.

I quickly snapped a picture because that's the way to the famed Vito Church of Sagay (red arrow), just in case I have time later to go visit it. Notice that on the left edge of the photo, there is a "Welcome to Sagay City" billboard, while the roof of that waiting shed says "Barangay Hacienda Fe, Escalante City".

Not far from that boundary and intersection above, I saw something that looks new and big..,

Yep, I thought it was a sports/event center, but did not discount the fact that it might be a "sabungan".

Well, it is indeed a "bulangan" hahaha! Where people find entertainment in roosters killing each other!

I actually don't have anything against that vice per se. It is something that will be hard to remove from Filipinos. I just don't like these places being called "sports center" because cockfighting is not a sport!

Well, that one says "Escalante City Coliseum". Whatever!

Disclaimer: if that thing is not really a cockfighting area, aba eh sorry nalang... tao lang! Nalilito na nga ako kasi, kung ano talaga ang totoong sports center or sabungan bulangan pasugalan. Haizst, ambot!

Soon our bus entered the Escalante city center. I saw the plaza, so I asked the conductor if I could get off. He said something like "bawal" - though I was not sure if it's not allowed in the area, or if I was too late because we were already past the designated bus stop. So ok, I stayed put. Madali akong kausap!

I instead just watched the various establishments of the city go by. Oist, there is even an advantage. A bus is taller, so the views are better than if you are walking on the streets. Plus.., air-conditioned kaya!

This is the city's famous rotunda. Along with the plaza, they gained prominence sometime in 1985.

I learned later during my walk, that the city is going to build a symbolic structure in that very middle.

Bus turned right at the rotunda, I saw 'Escalante City Shopping Center' or 'Public Market' or 'Mercado'!

Nice-sounding name and nice-looking building for a façade, right? But it is a true big wide palengke all the way to the back and adjacent city blocks! Who says you can't name a lowly 'merkado' or 'palengke' with 'sosyal'-sounding names, di ba? Bottomline, it's complete and clean (viewed from a passing bus)!

Oh the bus, yes the bus.., no one was getting off along the city streets. It looked like passengers could only disembark at the transport terminal. Fine with me, if only to help maintain order in the city center, and not cause traffic jams. Pero malayo siya kuya! About a kilometer away, on the southern suburbs!

So I took a tricycle, which passes by the same highway anyway, going back to the city plaza, and this:

That's the Escalante City Hall called the Escalante City Center. It has a different look than most city or municipal halls in the country, right? A modernistic twist on the 'usual' architecture of the "munisipyo"!

While I expected something 'old-style' or 'traditional', I liked the look of this one. Maiba naman! And oh, by the way, I couldn't get a frontal shot of the building, as the park (at left) was boarded up for repairs.

Am not sure what it is they are erecting at the edge of the park, across the path in front of the city hall.

Something definitely uncommon instead caught my attention. That thing by the corner, near the gate..,

It's an old (ancient) bell. The likes we usually see at churches. But this is no church, this is a city hall!

I know, they could be using it to be banged every hour for everyone to know the time, but why a bell?!

Or maybe they use that to alert everyone during emergencies. But, why a bell? These days, we usually associate local governments with sirens or even "wang-wang" di ba? So, bakit kampana? Sino ba ang mayor nila, si Padre Damaso? And I started imagining wickedly funny things! Ang kampana ni mayor!

I asked two girls who were walking by. Their response was a giggly shrug! That reminded me anyway, where's their church? It is usually near a munisipyo and the plaza.., aba wala! So I asked a trike driver.

After a short exchange of questions and answers, driver said he can bring me there as it's far to walk.

That is the 'Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish Church' located somewhere in a nondescript narrow street amidst residential houses, after an elementary school and a football field, a few blocks beyond (to the southeast) of the shopping center (aka palengke/merkado). Not that it's an issue, it just surprised me.

I immediately looked up to see what kind of bell, if any, does the church have. Ah okay, similar to what I saw at the city hall - at least - as I'd also be stunned if that one at the plaza is older and still working.

This church is rather new, built in 1963. Ah this time I wasn't anymore surprised why it looked like so!

Modern architecture, technologies and post-war economy (I think) meant that buildings erected were not anymore lavish with thick walls and intricate ornate carved designs of Spanish / European origins.

I still liked the brightness (maaliwalas) inside this church anyway. Oh yes, I was surprised that there is a manang tindera selling her wares inside a church! Sabihin mo pang sa parish yan, tinda pa rin yan at tindera sya! Oh, those are mostly candles and donation envelopes. Vendor pa rin sya. Vendor=tindera!

Alam mo padre, kung ako kayo, also put a table at left para balanse. Then, sell there yung mga pocket novena, misalette, achaka yung mga pang-offertory katulad ng itolg (Carmelite kayo di ba?), pwede rin ostia, ah pwede rin mompo para madaling hablutin pag kumanta na ng "Daygon Ikaw, Ginoong Diyos.."

Hahaha! I better stop that kind of discourse, basi'g lipakan na ta ani oi!

Anyway, on more serious notable notes:
Escalante is generally a bisdak speaking locale. While at Sagay I sensed that their kind of "Ilonggo" is speckled with pure Bisaya (Cebuano) words, in Escalante it's generally Bisaya with a few words still of the Hiligaynon origins - such as "gid" instead of "gud" or "jud"!

I am tempted to say they sound like how people in Bantayan speak, but there is "pachada"! So, they're more like San Carlos or Dumaguete. I think I even heard somebody say "alegre". Well, if you look at a map, Escalante is after all, geographically located on the eastern(oriental) side of Negros. Ninduta ah!

Manong trike driver who drove me to the church shared useful information such as: that's why the city hall and the catholic church look rather new because this place was not the original poblacion. He told me that the Escalante settlement actually started at what is now called Baragay Old Poblacion, 8 kms away, where the old munisipyo still stands, but the old church is in ruins. Hmn, okay bucket listed!

I noticed there are no big old wooden houses in the city. And manong tricycle driver also told me, I can find some, still standing at Old Poblacion. That makes sense, oo nga naman ano? He even further told me, that their Escalante 'old rich' would either still have properties or even still reside at Old Poblacion.

Eto pa: I said being a Cebu resident, I have known that there's a regular ferry (RORO) crossing between Tabuelan and Escalante. And he told me: "ah yes, there are 2 - the Barcelona and Danao Ports". Whah!

Anyway and alright, it was nearly sunset when I got out of the church. Another surprise, my trike driver was still hanging around outside the church gate, eating snacks from a sidewalk vendor! I went to ask him what are the best resorts in this city. He named a few that (of course) I was not familiar with! So I showed him the pic above (ad of Bonista). He said that's the best but far, at about 20kms away. Awk!

Manong started instructing me on how to get there via connecting rides: on a bus, jeep and tricycle or habal-habal. Tedious! And it was getting late. So, I asked "why not I ride his trike all the way there"? He laughed and said "no". I said I was serious. AND with a little bit of charm, I got him for a ride hehe! Ye!

So, on to Bonista Resort I went. But let that be my next story!


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