Philippine Travel Notes

Another dinner-meeting! This time at the town of Naval in Biliran Island-Province! But, it was only past noon, and we already left Ormoc's Lake Danao , where it takes only about 2hrs (or less) to Naval . Thus, I asked my driver to pass by the eastern towns of Biliran Island for a counter-clockwise route to Naval. Chance to say "hi" to some contacts at their locales, most of whom I was to meet later in the evening! Ah, that directional signage tells the way to the three C s of Biliran spanning the east side of the island! That's still at the town of Biliran, after crossing the bridge and turning right at the big rotunda junction. At Brgy. Julita, Biliran (town), the fantastic views of the sea start to beckon.., The eastern-most barangay of Biliran that sits beside the western-most barangay of Cabucgayan. But the equally panoramic views of the hills and mountains cannot be ignored.., That pointed peak in the distance is Mt. Biliran a.k.a. Biliran Volcano said to b

This is a rejoinder story to my previous post on Lake Danao in Ormoc, particularly about the girls who pull the rope so that your raft gets to the middle of the lake. For lack of a descriptive name, I call them the "Guyod Girls". "Guyod" is a Bisaya (Cebuano) word for "pull" (English) or "hila"/"hatak" (in Tagalog). Why "Guyod Girls"? Because that was/is their role that I saw in this 'family-run business'. I asked them how was their role called, and they answered " ting - guyod " (Tagalog: taga - hila ; English: pull er / tow er )! When we said we were riding a raft, I observed the two girls said something to this woman (mother?). Whatever the manang said, the next thing I saw was the two girls rejoicing, as if they were given some kind of reward or permitted to do something they have been wanting to do. They were sort of ecstatic. I half expected this, yet I was still surprised when we were told to

I finally went to Lake Danao in Ormoc as a real visitor - not passing by or checking out something else! Why do I keep sayin "Ormoc"? Because, as many of you probably already know, there are many places named "Danao" all over the country. Yes, and many of them are lakes, because, as said in an article of long ago, the term "Danao" (Bisaya), "Ranao" or "Lanao" (Mindanaoan) in the first place, means "Lake"! In fact, I wrote a story long ago that there are two Lake Danaos in this part of the country and both are good tourist attractions. If you haven't read it, click  this , or this , or type Danao in the search box above. There are several view/picnic areas around this lake, all managed by Brgy. Lake Danao, Ormoc. There are interesting sights along the way too but let's go to the lake first and see the other nice places later. I let my driver choose where to go and he opted for this 'rustic' less crowded ar