Today's morning roam brought me to Tinago Falls. And, I had a tour guide, ye! But this wasn't a simple or ordinary tour arrangement (as far as the tour company was concerned). The primary condition was I and my tour guide were to take public transportation, to all sites I wanted to see, if/when available!
Excitingly fun, realistic and natural (economical) for me, the solo traveler, right? Very! It had the effect that, as if I was a local, just roaming around with a friend. But no ordinary assignment for a tour guide. This is difficult for them, since they're used to the comforts of chartered airconditioned vans or buses.
How was this even possible? Ah, a friend introduced me to Lakbay Diyalogo. It is a travel services and consultancy agency based in Iligan City (I think), but they are experts of anywhere Mindanao. They are a different breed of tour agency (they can customize trips), and they agreed to my requirement above!
Nakarining na kayo ng guided tour na nagco-commute lang? This is it! Let's go!
My roam started with the tour guide fetching me at my hotel. We walked to this corner for a jeep ride!
I was very excited on this tour arrangement, that my guide told me she could see it written all over my face! Well, I am also now very proud to tell you my fellow travelers, that if you're alone, or if there's just two or three of you, wherever it may be, try talking to your tour provider, to offer you this arrangement!
And I challenge you all travel and tour providers: offer this kind of rolling tour to your visitors traveling solo or as couples! It realistically immerses guests to true life (and culture) of a place being explored.
Well, it can take a little more time, but shouldn't traffic be part of the experience? The beauty of this is: I move around like a local, but every experience is timely annotated by a guide who is always with me!
Here's an example: after jeep crossed Roxas Ave., guide pointing left said: doon ang Gaisano Iligan.
Jeep then passed by this church, and my guide told me this is the St. Michael Cathedral of Iligan City.
See the learnings & discoveries? And I even thought that was it about the church. Yet she continued to tell me, that this is the main church of the Diocese of Iligan; that Iligan became a parish separate from Cagayan De Misamis in 1834; that originally, the church was by the river (Tubod?), but due to floods in the 1840s, the parish transferred their church to its present location. Wow! That was a barrage of info!
We had just started, but I was already loving this commuting tour! Oh, you don't have to be Catholic to appreciate what the guide was sharing. Examples: 1] this was the first time I heard about Cagayan De Misamis. She continued to tell me that that was the old name of Cagyan De Oro. Woah, saliksikin yan! 2] I deduced from her historical fact that Iligan was already flood-prone even in the 1840s. Interesting!
The jeep rolled on, my guide kept talking, we passed by this monument called Tomas Cabili Circle...
Anyway, she continued telling me about Tomas Cabili, a notable individual of national stature, whom I have never known, nor have I ever heard of - in all my life (shame on me)! Imagine these: among other things, he was 1] a noted assemblyman and senator; 2] he died together with President Magsaysay on that plane crash in Balamban and 3] he was the only delegate who did not sign the 1935 constitution!
OMG napa-research ako online and pronto while the jeep was rolling along the streets of Iligan, eh I do not even answer calls when in a jeep! I particularly like that third fact I wrote in the previous paragraph where out of 202 delegates to the ConCom, all 201 voted for the 1935 Philippine Constitution, except Cabili. Yet his worries befell, that we the succeeding generations suffered of - or are still sufferig from.
I really liked his contention that, if our constitution was patterned after the USA then we (especially for Muslim Mindanao) should also have a federal government like that of the USA, and not a unitary form.
I salute him for what he said about what will happen to the Mindanao Muslims. It was prophetic!
Our jeep ride kept on, I saw a long building named Ludo. I asked my guide if we were somewhere near a pier or the ocean. She said yes, just about a block behind that building is the Port of Iligan, this area is still Brgy. Poblacion, the original settlement where Iligan City started. Then she continued telling me that Cebu's LuDo & LuYm, the coconut and corn-oil pioneers, started in Iligan even before world War II.
Wah! Too many interesting facts about Iligan to see, listen to and learn from! Guide then told me, that their public market is still by the water's edge, as it had been before, although it has grown a lot wider.
On the next turn, our jeep was already cruising beside the 'modernized' Iligan City Public Plaza...
I said "wow, but isn't that slippery for those wearing leather-soled shoes"? She giggled a little saying si sir talaga and proceeded to tell me that even showbiz and high-ranking people here wear rubber-soled shoes, but she qualified that with at least dark-colored or black naman - so no slipping accident, so far.
The interesting talk of the town, she said, is what children do in this plaza when it rains. She informed me that when it rains, kids (even teenagers) run and slide their bodies on the wet floor [hydroplaning]!
I asked if it wasn't dangerous, and she said "mao na na ang issue". She says many 'responsible adults' and medical professionals consider it dangerous, as the youngsters could hurt themselves; while the younger generation think of it as "cool", that it should even become a competetive sport in the future!
All I could say was Kuyawa! Unsa na, bodyboarding? We laughed at the word, but that is what came to mind since it's like "skimboarding" - you run, then throw on the ground not a skimboard, but your body!
Guide says there are videos of those kids doing that at the plaza on a rainy day. Hahanapin ko yan!
Oh good there was trapik! We weren't done on the plaza yet. Guide told me this is actually Rizal Park.
I learned from my well-informed guide that there's even a joke about Jose Rizal being imprisoned for a second time, this time in Iligan City. The story goes that, during some beautification activities (repairs) at that plaza (yes Iliganons still call it just plaza), workers had to temporarily move the monument to a safer place so as not to break it. And, the best place they saw for it was, an empty cell at their city jail.
Thus, your dear national hero, even in stone-and-plaster form, was temporarily incarcerated there!
Malupit!
Anyway, our commuting tour went on, and I think this was the most interesting part of my whole ride. Our jeep forded a street where besides all kinds of motorized vehicles, Kalesas were on the road too!
Yes Tartanilla or Tartanilya, that's how they're called in most of the Visayas or Mindanao. Well, they're also called either Kalesa or Calesa in Manila or other parts of the country, that still have them anyway!
Today I learned that in all of Mindanao, it's only on this street (Badelles St.?) of Iligan City, that we may still find Tartanillas plying a real human and/or cargo transportation route, not just for tourists. Woow!
She told me though that from time to time they see/hear on news and social media, that some people complain about the presence of tartanillas on the said street. I asked her what she thinks about it, she was quick to respond (with some kind of indignation in her eyes) saying: eh di 'wag sila dumaan dyan!
In my mind I was laughing and saying da, nagalit si madam! Because I didn't expect such a 'young pro' (or maybe she's even still in university, sorry I didn't ask) to show concern or sympathy for a 'primitive' mode of transport. Then again, she's a tour guide, so she probably still admires "cultural preservation"!
Anyway, I asked if she would still be my tour guide tomorrow or the next day. She said 'maybe' but was not sure, as it depends on their already booked assignments. I said "if it is still you tomorrow, let's ride the tartanilla ha? if not, pls tell the one taking your place, I want to ride a tartanilla". She noted it down!
Oh back to our commute, our jeep came out at what seemed to be the southern portion of Roxas Ave., (National Highway), we got off and hopped on another jeep that was so full (siksikan), so no pictures.
I realized there's a little disadvantage with "commute touring" - you can't just twist or turn anytime you want to see something or take photos of some things. Even our conversations had to be toned down!
But that was on the highway, the second siksikan jeep! Aw, by the way, I think that southward jeep ride goes to 2 other towns, until you get off at a junction going to Tinago Falls (which is in Iligan)! Anyway,
Next thing I knew, we already hired two motorbikes (habal-habal) for the ride to Tinago Falls, Iligan!
So we went to Tinago Falls. Ah, we better talk about all of that in my next blog entry, okay?
Itutuloy. Abangan!
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