Swimming off the News

It was just another mindless impulse on my part, when I held on my mobile phone to check on any messages that might surprise and make me guess for a second who the sender of the text was. Prior to this, I have been extra touched by the very few people who, at this stage of my life, still manage to send words to my phone enough make me feel that I’m at the very least worth a peso to spend on.

I was in the middle of our family vacation in Mindanao, where my roots hail by the way, beating the heat off with my nephews and nieces in a spring pool resort in Iligan City, when I read the first three letters of Angeline’s text message to me: O-M-G, and an exclamation point. Then off to the rest of the news. I then jumped an inch off from where I was seated and went towards my mom who was just in front of me to let her read it herself…


My soon-to-be colleague and I have gratefully been granted a Korean working visa. After all the risks and emotions put at stake since last year, this could just be the least of the many consolations that we deserve, I tell you. A very few, trusted friends of mine have been shared of this rollercoaster that I have chosen to trod, and relieved is the sure instant feeling gotten out of it. Relieved in a sense that I can finally step foot on the solid path that I want to go to with life, and not skim on thin air and just drop on some quicksand of a blurry future.

Being in that far away region of the country though, with no access to the actual source of the good news back in the capital city, it was fast to remind myself not to fully succumb to the joy too soon. I have been overly jubilant the first time, that it was hard to crawl back to my senses when I was slapped off of the fact that the most ill-fating could happen to a big time punch of luck. I so let out of my skepticism and jumped back to the pool to take the usual swim of the unemployed.

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The Camiguin Island Getaway

I have always pictured Camiguin to be such a sensual place for I don’t know what reason-- some remote island that lets you enjoy the place without ever wondering what exists outside its circle. Luckily, my unemployed status allowed for a mother-paid expense trip to Mindanao, and it finally let me see what the island has in store.

The trip to Mindanao was more importantly for a reunion that I and my younger sister had the chance to attend to, after a decade, in the maternal side of the family. Personally, the last time that I have been to the province was way back in 1998. My mother is specifically from Zamboanga del Norte. It was after this family event that we then went to visit the island province.

Going back to the Island of Fire, this was how our long trail went:


Manukan & Dipolog, Zamboanga Del Norte-->Ozamiz City, Misamis Occidental-->Mukas, Lanao del Sur-->Iligan, Lanao del Norte-->Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental-->Port of Balingoan, Misamis Oriental-->Camiguin Island

If one is coming from Manila though, it would be best to take the Cagayan De Oro plane trip, and enjoy a two to three-hour vehicle ride to the Port of Balingoan in Misamis Oriental.

Camiguin Island is located in the northern part of Mindanao, and is now a province on its own, prior to being just a part of the province of Misamis Oriental.

It’s a one-hour ferry ride from the Port of Balingoan and the fare costs 120php, plus a 2.25php terminal fee. If you bring your car with you to more conveniently use as you stroll the island, you pay 850php for your car to get shipped. It is a slow ferry ride, if I may just emphasize.

For those without vehicles, there exists a tourist information desk at the Port of Benoni in Camiguin, where one can always pay for a hire:

TOUR OF THE WHOLE ISLAND (8 hours)
Multicab rental- 1500php (8-10 pax)
Van rental- 2,500php (12-15 pax)
Jeepney rental- 3,000php (35 pax)

Camiguin is one major coastal road, and I was told that you can practically drive around the whole island in a little less than a day. It’s one great circumferential trip to remember. While on the road, you muse yourself looking through the window of vast waters, from sometimes a high view. And one thing that I had to notice is that the clouds are always so low, close to touching the far-away sea line, and already covering the mountain tip of the famous Mount Hibok-Hibok.

If you are to spend the next few days in the island, it would be best to find your place of sleep in the municipality of Mambajao, where most of the tourist spots are located, and where commerce generally thrives. There are only two banks in the province, PNB and Landbank. We stayed at a pension house called GV Pension House that charges 1,100php per night for two-pax. Extra person in the room costs 500php.

Famous places of interest that I've been to are:

1.) The Sunken Cemetery (Catarman)- story tells it that underneath the sea area where the big white cross stands are tombstones that sunk due to a volcanic eruption. The place is a favorite adventure spot for divers. I was honestly hoping that the folks there could provide a way for travelers to take a dive to see the tombstones themselves, but my sister and I were amusingly warned by a red paint written on the entry gate of the place and it read, "Dive at your own risk." So much for wanting our own adventure.

2.) White Island (Mambajao)- a famous white sand bar that changes its shape depending on the tides, this is white sand beach at its best! My mom so much loved the powdery sand that she brought home sand from the place herself, to think it is actually not allowed! Haha. She sure got away with it since we had our backpack where she put and hid it. The place gives you a very breathtaking view of Mount Hibok-Hibok. Of course, the water is clear and tame, one can always enjoy bathing with the sun in it.

3.) Ardent Hot Spring (Mambajao)- a hot spring that sources itself from the Hibok-Hibok mountain, it claims to have a therapeutic benefit to bathers. Having tried it myself, it wasn't really hot-- just lukewarm. There were just some parts where it's hotter. Entrance fee to the place is 30php. Cottages are available here, but they are quite pricey, as well as the restaurant that it runs. Like, a two-pax room would cost P2,800 per night. Ardent Hot Springs is operated by the local government of Camiguin.

4.) Walkway to the Stations of the Cross (Catarman)- a sure treat for mountain trekkers. The long upward walk features the fifteen stations of the cross. Halfway along the trail, one would already feel a tingle in the ear, as altitude rises on the way to a certain peak. There's a 5php trekking fee here. Hehe. Here's my view of the whole island from where I stood above, finally reaching the top of the walkway.

This is one memorable family trip for me, and I will forever thank my mother for this. Camiguin is already a complete package of wonderful gifts from nature that I will give a sure second round to. There were places I haven't gone to that I'd like to give a try the next time. Worth mentioning are the Sto. Nino Cold Springs and Katibawasan Falls.

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The Good Ole Address Book

One may not appreciate how the most conventional and cheap-looking telephone and address book could do wonders in saving the most precious treasures in this world:

People. Connections. Relationships.

But take it from someone who has lost her mobile phone, and wasn’t able to back up her contact list in it. That’s one lesson learned already, to always back those numbers up that I add in my everyday dealings or new meetings with people. I never know when I'd be needing them. Now in deciding the source for the back-up, I think it still pays to rely on the good ole ways. Hence, the notebook! Haha.


I have secured myself of this notebook because I also intend to seriously ask for the home addresses of friends, because I am suddenly missing the Hallmark card-sending practice and those stamps on envelopes. Those were the days.

For it is also only now I realized that I don't actually know the home addresses of even the closest of my friends. Blame the easy-text messaging system that makes it a lot easier for us to just hook and meet up in the more common places. Or I may actually know how to commute on the way to a close friend's house, but seldom do I know the house number nor street, for I have relied on easier landmarks instead.

It sure is a lot easier to open this type of notebooks up, than scroll the numbers and addresses in a small mobile phone screen, or still switch on the computer and go online for my very own database.

Believe me. It may get dusty somewhere, but the ink stays inside.
Just don't tear it up, of course =p.

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Survival Korean

I’ve had this little Korean book with me since this whole I-want-to-work-in-Seoul saga, and this has so far been a mainstay in my bag wherever I go. I’ve always been the type who bring books for what I call “emergencies”, in times when boredom strikes or when I have to do some waiting anywhere when I am out of the house.

I remember having bought this out of a gift certificate from one of the famous upscale bookstores in the metro, which I got it as some prize from my previous work.

This phrase book can really come handy for short-time travelers in the country, enough for anyone to throw common greetings and probably survive a minute or two at a convenience store buying something. You’d have a hard time doing bargains and price haggles though.

In my first-time January trip to Seoul, there were just three phrases I think that I had the bull mouth of speaking out loud to converse and be understood:

Annyong haseyo (hello)
Kamsa-hamnida (thank you)
Yong-O-rul hashimnikka? (Do you speak English?)

Thanks to the book. But if I am to push my way into living with Koreans in my everyday work (for at least a year), then I think it’s time to buy a bigger, more comprehensive text.

Geez, all this waiting for the visa. It’s driving me nuts.

END OF POST. NO MORE

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