BOHOL - SATURDAY - PART 1

I woke up at 545 a.m. to get an early start to our day. I slept earlier than usual the night before so I felt refreshed and ready to go. It was raining when I awoke but by 615, it slowed to a drizzle and I told Ruther (who was half-asleep then) that I would go to the beach to take some morning photos. I was so glad I decided to do that. It is rare that I get to experience something so wonderful. Yes, I see sunrises everyday but truly, sunrises at the beach are so dramatic. It's like everything seems to be more powerful, more exciting, more moving. I just snapped away. As the minutes ticked by, the rain stopped and the beach just slowly came to life. Even a playful dog went to the water for his morning swim and dried himself in the sand. It was really all so peaceful and wonderful.

We told Manong that we would leave Alonaland at 8 a.m. and Ruther wanted to have breakfast first so by 630 I headed back to our room. The boys were awake and fortunately, we got enough rest the night before so at around 710 a.m., we were heading for the beach to get some breakfast. Since Alona Tropical was the nearest restaurant, we decided to eat there. Seeing the beach one more time, the boys were really not interested in food but instead, they wanted to walk on the sand and throw pebbles into the water. Ruther ordered some banana pancakes and brewed coffee and I just got the plain pancakes and mango juice. The food was yummy and really satisfying. When we got back to Alonaland at 805 a.m. Manong was waiting for us so we immediately left the resort. It was such a cloudy day and I prayed that it wouldn't rain soon. Once in a while, the sun would peek through the clouds and I would be hopeful. Checking my map, I saw that Chocolate Hills was going to be the farthest place we would be going to. What I did not expect were the hilly winding roads. Hurriedly, I took my motion sickness medicine just to keep myself from getting too dizzy.

The first place we passed was the Bilar Man-made Mahogany Forest. Bilar is the name of the place and it was quite hilly. We did not stop for photos anymore because Chocolate Hills was still a long way away but Ruther did take some shots of the beautiful trees. They were really tall and shady. It really looked like a forest. I wonder how long it took for those trees to reach maturity. I hope it would be preserved so people could appreciate nature more.

Our first stop was at the Hanging Bridge at Sevilla. Sevilla is an interior town located some 36 kilometers east of Tagbilaran City. I could tell that this bridge was made of bamboo and ropes. I tried to go across it but it moved too much and Ethan was too excited and was hopping a lot I was scared we would fall into the river so I told Ruther to take my photo (quickly) and then headed for solid ground. Ruther and Nikki had their turn on the bridge too. We left some money in the donation box (there was no entrance fee) and then we were on our way to Chocolate Hills.

Aesthetically extensive, Chocolate Hills are scattered throughout the towns of Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan in Bohol. (On left - Locator map of the Chocolate Hills. Dark brown indicates the greatest concentration of the Chocolate Hills in the Bohol municipalities of Sagbayan, Batuan, and Carmen. Light brown indicates a lesser concentration of the hills in Bilar, Sierra Bullones, and Valencia.)We made our way to the viewing area which was somewhere in the town of Carmen. When we reached our destination, it was around 930 a.m. We had to climb this flight of stairs to get a good view of the Chocolate Hills and we took photos as we made our way up. When we did get to the top, a sea of green met my eyes...

to be continued...