Limasawa: The Most Underrated Island in the Philippines

one of the pebbly beaches in San Bernardo

As a rule I don’t start a story with the hackneyed ‘ask a question’ style. Most experienced readers abandon a story at the sight of the question mark on the first two lines of a write-up. But I see no better way to start this story other than a probing question. But as I have already given you this prelude, I have already saved my rule.

Limasawa! What comes to your mind when you hear the name? Most of us would think of the first Catholic mass in the Philippines. After that, nada! Some of us don’t even know where Limasawa is. I, for one, never knew that it was just south of the province where I grew up until my history professor taught us to put emphasis on the root saysay in Kasaysayan. Sadly, the DECS (now DepEd) of my time was more interested in feeding us with plenty of trivia instead of the saysay of each story in history. As long as I could verbalize a fact, that was enough. I never bothered to investigate where Limasawa is. And that is the reason why Limasawa had remained trivial, unlocatable and uninteresting for me for a very long time. And if you try, you’ll find out that Limasawa has also remained uninteresting to most travel bloggers in the country. But I don’t blog. I tell stories. So here is the story of a place which made me stay longer than I had stayed in any other travel destination.

Mt Cabalian (the hidden mountain)

a panorama of Lake Danao

I went to Mt Cabalian last week! Now tell me if the name rings a bell at all. This mountain has never been heard of by Facebook climbers in the Philippines. That is the reason why it has remained beautiful and sacred all these years.

Sibulan River: A Film Review on Princess Mononoke and Madagascar 2

this is what's left of Sibulan River in 2011 during the rainy season.

The year was 2010

First you read this…

If you are in Davao City and if you love river adventure, well, you are not that far away from this exciting wet and wild outdoor adventure. Whitewater tubing is already in the Davao region and it gives you more than the river escapade you crave for. The Sibulan River in Darong, Sta. Cruz Davao del Sur is known for whitewater tubing and has been a favorite destination by water sports enthusiasts, local and foreign tourists through the years. Often visited during summer, the place surely makes people wet and wild. Even frequent Davao City tourists come and take a plunge in Sibulan since it is very close to Davao’s southern boundary.*

But even before the destination could establish a name this happens…

Why I don't Organize Climbs

The First Lagataw Invitational  Climb

Sa tinagal ko sa larangan ng outdoor activities, I seldom organize events. And when I do, it is in small numbers. And many have asked why I always wanna go solo or minimalistic. So here’s the story!

Stirring Images 2

The story by default

Some climbers enjoyed the view of Mt Apo from Lake Venado. They camped in the evening, partied all night and felt lazy to carry their trash back down the following day!

And then the image was posted on Facebook and there was a feast of opinions and criticism taken part in by everyone who knew everything!

The other version

The photo was taken during the yearly rehabilitation period of Mt Apo. Tourism office personnel gathered garbage and put them on the dry area of Lake Venado and carried all the collected garbage down the mountain after two days.

The point

Every image makes you a witness of just a millisecond of a long event. Don’t be too quick to tell the story. Let the real witness do that.

The heads up

Every story is just as good as how much the real witness wants you to know.

The untold story
The guy who took this photo was a climber who was not really part of the rehabilitation activity.  During rehabilitation, NO CLIMBER IS ALLOWED ENTRY into the natural park!

The lesson

Things do happen. The question is Can you make things happen?...You’ll get the relevance of the lesson if you’re among of the few who get my drift!