Mt. Carmel Inland Resort

The Maradjao Magbalantay College Seminary's just had their yearly closing of its academic formation. And to close the year means a bonding. So the Seminary organized a summer party at Mt. Carmel Spring Resort in Barangay Poctoy, 7.18 kilometers from Surigao City.

My mother who used to be hired to cook in the seminary during special occasions is a friend to some people their. With that, we were invited to come in the celebration. Just in time with the scorching heat of summer, i went together with my brother.

The variety of foods prepared for the summer outing was notable and noticeable. Even the whole population of the seminary who were there was not able to consume all. And while the seminarians were busy playing and making the most of their company together for the last time this season, i was also busy taking some photographs of the resort for feature here in my blog. (This is not a paid review)

Here are some:

The terrace overlooking the pool and the rest of the native huts around

Mt. Carmel Resort

Mt. Carmel Resort

Although located a little bit far from the city, the resort gained recognition and curiosity from the public due to its location and natural abode. It is somewhat carved at the foot of the mountain For an admission of P45.00 per person, one can enjoy the refreshing ambiance of the resort.

The resort is nestled in luscious vegetation

Aside from the swimming pools, for adults and for kids, other amenities include videoke machines ---a favorite requirement in hanging out with friends.

Cool and fresh-looking native huts

Road Trip: Surigao Pacific Rim

Another weekend road trip in the long and winding road of the Surigao Pacific Rim.

Surigao del Norte province being located in the Northeastern tip of Mindanao and geographically close to the pacific, with the Philippine Deep being tagged to its name, is connected to the rest of the provinces in the South composed of the Province of Surigao del Sur, Bislig City and part of Davao Oriental through the coastal road which is endowed with a scenic ocean views facing the pacific.

In August 11, 1997, under the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos, a Memorandum of Agreement was entered between and among the Office of the President in Mindanao, the Province of Davao Oriental in Southern Mindanao, the City of Surigao and the Provinces of Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur in Caraga Region, the NEDA Offices, the Mindanao Business Council and the Local CCIs to establish the Mindanao-Pacific Rim Growth Corridor Project, now popularly known as Surigao-Davao Oriental Pacific Rim or SUDOPARIM.

The objective of the project is to promote and expand an effective and mutually beneficial cooperation in the development of the said areas within the bound of their capabilities. Number one priority is the concreting of the coastal roads located in the municipalities of Placer, Bacuag, Gigaquit, and Claver in the Province of Surigao del Norte and the municipalities of Carrascal, Cantilan, Madrid, Carmen, and Lanuza in the Province of Surigao del Sur.

In the past decades, travelers from these provinces experienced the "lukso-rious" trips, with the term implying the uncomfortable bouncing and shaking of transport vehicles plying in the rough and muddy roads along Nubenta, an end point connecting the two Surigao provinces. Silly, a car passsing through that area can be recognized through the color of the mud painting its rears, the rusty light brown color of the soil rich in Chromite.

In a recent development in the SUDOPARIM Project, the Gigaquit-Claver area road concreting is 97% complete. These two municipalities located along the coastline are the last municipalities before the Nubenta. And so after learning about these developments, we agreed to take a look and experience the "lukso-rious" no more.

Taking a left turn at the municipality of Placer junction brought us to the SUDOPARIM route.

Then took a straight path following the major road down south which brought us to the next municipality, Bacuag. We took a turn at its Poblacion and rest for a while in its brown sand shoreline.

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church, Bacuag, Surigao del Norte

And then went on with the ride to the next municipality, Gigaquit.

An attention-catching river of cool emerald waters bordered with green vegetation made us stop along the bridge for a photo ops.


Then headed down to the next municipality, Claver.

Photo ops in the breezy point of Claver, with the Bucas Grande Islands from afar in the background

Along the ongoing road construction project is a good view deck of the Taganito Mining Company's mine site, a huge claim of chromite mines.

Our road trip concluded in Claver. After making the most in there, we immediately went back home. This time very confident that the trip will not cost us so many hours because it was already concreted, much more comfortable and accessible.

Nabago Island Getaway

What's the best way to welcome the summer than celebrating it in the beach especially in an island.

Luckily, my beloved Surigao has a lot to offer for summer time. Thus, the tag as City of Island Adventures really fits. We only have to choose where and how much, and the rest would be up to how we're going to make the most of the experience.

And so after scouting for a place that is something new and somewhere i have not gone to, my officemates arrived at a decided place that is easily accessible from the city... Barangay Nabago, some 25 minutes away.

Barangay Nabago is known for its vast mangrove forest, the Pearl Farm, Mariculture Farm, and abundance in delectable seafoods. Hearing about the Pearl Farm excites me at first, only to learn thereafter that what can actually be seen are the floating buoyance marking the wide area where clam shells are cultured. Well, i was expecting to at least see an actual pearl extracted from the mollusk or just a harvesting scene. But there was none.

Nevertheless, my frustration was clouded by the sights of islets with shores shimmering in white sands from afar. Aboard a boat we headed to our first island stop not far from the pearl farm. The islet is nameless but owned by a political clan in the province according to our host Nanay who spoke like a pro tour guide. Not to mention, she is talkative but very cozy and hospitable.

After docking at the western tip of the island, we hiked the shore leading to the hut where we had our picnic lunch. Prior to our lunch, we had an opening refreshment of the fresh buko reaped from the few coconut trees standing in the island. Then we shared the foods -sweet potatoes, boiled bananas, kinilaw, and grilled meat. Our host also brought us a newly catched fresh grouper and a saang, which we immediately put on the grill, and a plate of lato. Man, they tastes sweet... very fresh. Later after we had our meal, they also served a variety of fresh mollusks which we ate in raw, dipped in vinegar.

I think i overused the word "fresh", but it is how the foods and our refreshing experience in the island can be justified.

The weather was gloomy but humid, which i think marked the transition period from wet season to summer.. the very reason for dripping in the sea and strolling along the shore to cool down, wandering inside the island and of course taking pictures.

After making the most in the first island, we transferred to another islet where a floating house with fish cages raising first class groupers resides near the mangroves. After the fish cages sighting and playing at the mangroves, we then transferred to another islet that i solely explored up to its tip. On our way, a fisherman and his unique sailboat passed by...

Cant help but admire the creativity of manong fisherman. Not only he recycled the umbrella cloth but he made a wonderful innovation. With it, he don't need engines fueled by gasoline to run his boat.

Arriving at another islet, I took a stroll with the shoreline as my pathway. Sometimes it is better to be alone and commune with myself once again. Aside that if gives me the fancy like i own the whole island. It was a few kilometers walk so just as i arrived back, my companions were already set to end the island hopping and decided to go home.

As an ending phrase, here The Islander, amidst the clouds and the waves... standing still.

Cagayan de Oro Nightouts

And my first out of town trip for the year goes to Cagayan de Oro... the city of golden friendship.

I did mention in my post last year that CDO is a place for vultures. Whatta bad term. Okay, rephrase, CDO is a place for nightouts. This is so because most of its tourist points needed a devotion of time to travel. The good thing is these spots are worth of your time. But since i did not go to CDO for leisure, not able to experience these worthy places is the drawback of the trip.

Well, anyway, there are some ways to enjoy CDO. Just like what i used to do... Nightout! Stereotype for me but i dont have a choice cause as i've said im no tourist in those trips.

I left Surigao via Bachelor bus at 3:30 in the morning and arrived Butuan at almost 6 a.m. I spent half of the day processing my passport, basically starting from the beginning (1. getting NSO authenticated birth certificate 2. applying for NBI clearance 3. photocopying all the required documents and finally 4. submitting it to DFA Regional Office). I have no plans getting a passport but recently there was some developments in my job calling me to have one. The processing was a mix of easy and bloody.

After successfully processing it with the DFA, i immediately left Butuan City via King Long bus at 12 noon. I love King Long... it smells clean since they are new. And quite fast, with just 5 bus stops. The hours after was moment of quite dreams since i was asleep until we took a stop in Balingoan Terminal. The loud voices of people shouting in chorus awaken me. Macopa! Macopa! Itlog! Chicharon! Tubig!

Insensitive. Hmpf!

There were many of them barricading at the door of the bus. But since i am half asleep that time, it was too late for me to take a photo of them. Only this man left...

And some of them gathered on the other side of the bus, surrounding a dvd peddler.

Not too long, King Long went on. ..And so my moment of quite dreams.

Arriving at the Agora Terminal in CDO, i checked my phone for messages. Plenty of messages but the last one caught my attention. "JP, i need help. Please." I was so anxious. A friend from Zamboanga joining me in the seminar and happily texted earlier that he was strolling around Gaisano Mall is now calling for help. I asked why. He lost his wallet in the taxi on his way to the hotel and would like to borrow a fare back to Zambo. Haha. To his relief, i lent him 1k but told him not to go around anymore so as to avoid breaking things that will make him pay. Hehe.

I checked in at our designated billeting.. the Mallberry Suite Business Hotel located at the Limketkai Center, parking lot away from Limketkai Mall. My room was in the 5th floor. From there is a good view of the city. Too close to Gaisano Mall.


My body was still agonizing in pain. I was thinking of having a message but as i laid my body in bed after shower, i fell asleep.

The night of the following day, my Zambo friend and a new found fellow from Bislig, Surigao Sur joined me in bar hopping. Starting from Tagbuan Grill which is just around the block next to Gaisano Mall.


It was a nice place to hangout, with native huts made of bamboo installed inside. We found some group of students, lovers (pertained by the place's name "tagbuan" which is rendezvous in English), and group of not so young having fun. Unfortunately, we did not enjoy the place as the 'not so young' group kept on singing oldies songs the like of "My Way" so we transferred to Pixel Grill.


They got nice, lovely and young singers. And most of all, they got a delectable kinilaw. Slurrrpp... The place is so crowded so we did not stay longer and look for something a little private. Under the command of manong driver, he took us to Club Mics and Mags. People, it is a Rated R club.

And i prefer to keep my mouth shut about the whereabouts there. We only watched the show anyway and later on left. Ridiculous, they asked a bit expensive charges. Imagine San Mig Light priced double. Grrr...

Next and last stop was Club Mojo, the place for the youngsters. The first choice was Pulse Bar but they did not allow me to enter this time with flip flops on. So we settled at Club Mojo where an enjoyable sight welcomed us. There was a daring showdown. We stayed, have our final toast of beer and then headed back to the hotel.

The following day we attended the seminar still groggy and dreaming... as we slept 4am in the morning and woke up 9am. Nevertheless, it did not hinder us to participate in the discussion.

As an ending story, i would like to share this finger foods that we shared in the last day of the seminar showcasing the fascinating fruit carving. Well done. A fresh watermelon was transformed into a burning hot, chinese-themed presentation.

Surigaonon Heritage Center

Posting new entries these days is as hard as making out-of-town travels. Aside from the bad transition of becoming a hardworker from what must be a smart worker, I’m drowned to exploring opportunities of being a better individual. So more or less I can be seen doing worthy undertakings with my high school and college alma mater, to which i renewed stronger ties, other than in tourist places that I used to post here.

But I dont give up my passion to search the world. It still remained on top of my life-fulfilling wishlists.

So much for the acrobatic intro, since I haven’t gone for places far off Surigao, I decided to feature the local tourist points of my city once again. Aside from the fact that I haven't been to anywhere outside the town, our province is just rich with unlimited natural resources and wonders that I have not yet discovered. So posting local places is of endless possibility.

Let us take the Surigaonon Cultural Heritage and Center for Rock Study as a nice start.

Surigaonon Heritage Center

The Heritage Center is not hard to find. Visitors can either make the Hotel Tavern Surigao or the Philippine Ports Authority, both located in the city boulevard, as reference points because it is somewhere in between. I must say it is strategically located because it is facing right at the Surigao Strait where the famous naval battle between the American and Japanese fleet in the 20^th century took place.

Aside from the few artifacts donated by families of early settlers in the province that are now on exhibit, the center also serves as the mini-museum of various rock samples containing minerals that can be found in the province.
Though the center prohibits taking photos of its exhibits, I managed to convince the management that promoting the center online might be good to create awareness that the center exists. The more visitors it get, the more donations it will receive. A guaranteed experience for locals who will pay a visit there is a flashback of Surigaonon's roots. 

For example, this wooden panning plates would remind you that before Taganito Mining Company and other big mining companies in the province exist, the lumads (native locals) were already on that industry.

Wooden plates for gold panning

Another mining memorabilia that can be seen in the center are old photos showing the chromite rush in Dinagat Islands (now a separate province). 

Chromite Rush in Dinagat Islands

 Other collections that are worth the visit are the following:

A relic of the old belfry of the Surigao Cathedral

Relic of the old coffins of Mamanwas

Old sugarcane crusher

They also have collections of tools and equipments depicting the old way of living of the early settlers called Mamanwa. Here are some:

"Badjo", in tagalog "bayo". A traditional tool used to extract the rice from its husks.

I dont exactly know what are these but basing on how it looks, it might be a musical instrument. You can help me identify it, please leave a comment if you know so. Thank you.

Musical instruments.

The Surigaonon Heritage Center also houses various wares dating back to old Chinese trades.

Old porcelains.

Japanese bayonets, vintage bombs, and soldier's water container during the World War II.

 Other than the vintage memorabilias, the following are also features of the center:

Collection of different kinds of rocks that can be found in the province. Surigao is rich in minerals.

Portraits of the Former Governors of the Province of Surigao del Norte courtesy of local artist, Manuel Mendros. Surigaonons are inborn leaders.

One of the masterpieces of Ms. Ann Tiukinhoy-Pamintuan, a renowned contemporary designer who is of Surigaonon descent.

As of now, the center is privately owned and managed by Surigao’s great historian, Fernando Almeda, along with the fellow historian curator/painter, Manuel Mendros. The center is open during weekdays.

Mr. Almeda storytelling with the rare visitor, His Excellency Peter Beckingham, British Ambassador to the Philippines.