the 3 hour pumpboat ride from cebu
arrived on panglao island just off the coast of bohol. panglao is a diver’s
mecca and has some nice stretches of beach. i made my way into the capital and
largest city on the island, tagbilaran, to find a place to stay and rent a
scooter. the next morning i embarked on an adventure! is there any better
feeling than setting out, on a scooter, to explore a foreign tropical island?
first, i entered bohol’s rainforested interior and found a nature sanctuary
that is home to some endangered tarsiers. these monkey-like creatures are the
second-smallest mammals in the world, and have huge eyes that, in proportion to
their bodies, are 150 times larger than human eyes. each of its eyes is
substantially larger than the animal’s brain. they can also leap 15 feet
despite their diminutive size (about half of size of your palm), and turn their
heads a full 360 degrees. rumor has it the tarsier was the inspiration for the
film e.t., which has since informed the popular conception of aliens. these
animals have become exceedingly rare, and unfortunately are now found only on a
couple islands in southeast asia, bohol being one of them. the sanctuary allows
visitors to get a quick peek at the tarsiers in their natural habitat
(sleeping, as they are nocturnal). some locals have captured tarsiers and
display them in cages in the nearby town of loboc, but no tarsier has ever
survived for more than a year in captivity, so it is probably best to avoid
viewing them in cages.
in 2013 bohol experienced a devastating earthquake. it destroyed nearly every bridge, which are now being rebuilt. there are intriguing remains of a cathedral in the town of loboc, with only the front facade of the building standing in front of a jumble of overgrown debris.
in 2013 bohol experienced a devastating earthquake. it destroyed nearly every bridge, which are now being rebuilt. there are intriguing remains of a cathedral in the town of loboc, with only the front facade of the building standing in front of a jumble of overgrown debris.
i then scooted a bit further north
to bohol’s famous chocolate hills. on a large plataeu of rice paddies in the
center of the island there are dozens of large conical hills that seem to defy
the laws of geology. legend suggests that 2 giants in antiquity had a
disagreement and were throwing fistfulls of mud at each other, but the more
logical explanation is that there were areas that eroded at different rates due
to unique formations of limestone. you can climb the tallest of the mounds and
look out over the spectacle.
the entire afternoon remained, so i
decided to try to find a rumored adventure theme park deep in the jungles of
north bohol. it took a couple hours to get there, along mostly unpaved, rutty
trails. i finally found the place in the middle of nowhere, after having not seen
another vehicle on the roads in quite some time. the large facility was
completely abandoned except for a few staff, who were pounding back beers. i
decided that i needed to patronize their zipline called the “suislide.” this is
a 1/2 kilometer long zipline, one of the longest in the philippines, that takes
the rider high over a huge gorge with a raging river at the bottom. i lay
stomach down and head-first on a piece of fabric that had a bunch of velcro on
it, and they strapped me onto the line using (thankfully more than one) rusty
carabiners, and pushed me off! it was super exhilarating! on the other side
of the gorge you climb a bit up another mountain and take another zipline to
get back! the road home to tagbilaran took a few hours longer than expected,
all in the dark. filipino roads at night on a motorcycle were just as
exhilarating as the rusty zipline!
the next day evening i took a fastcraft
ferry back to cebu. the journey begins with a safety video, like you’re on an
airplane. then, a televized prayer for safety, during which all the passengers
subconsciously cross themselves. then, an inaudible, illegally downloaded
feature film is played. then, back to tacloban for a couple weeks in the
hospital.
