Bohol day 2: The countryside tour

I’m back from Bohol, and back with awesome memories. As promised, I’ll be telling you about the rest of my trip. Here’s what happened on day 2.

After a late breakfast from the resort, we headed out to the beach where we knew people offered countryside tours. As I mentioned, it’s really not hard to find these tour guides, and the one we hired had a nice new car and set us back PhP2,000 for a 6-hour tour. Split between 4 people, it’s not so bad considering the prices in the area.

First stop was the Blood Compact Monument, which was built to commemorate the blood compact between a Spanish explorer and the chieftain of Bohol. They basically cut themselves, mixed their blood, and drank of the mixture as a seal of friendship — handshakes apparently didn’t quite cut it back then.

After a brief stop at the Baclayon Church, we were off to see what I consider a highlight of the tour: the adorable Tarsiers.

These cute little bug-eyed primates looked insanely adorable up close. Since Tarsiers are nocturnal, they were very calm and they barely  moved, though I still saw a couple hop around and one cling to the ceiling. I even got to touch one of them! It was a small area with only 19 Tarsiers, but just seeing one of these guys up close is worth the stop.

Next stop: The Loboc river. We went on an hour-long cruise through the river while enjoying a simple Filipino buffet lunch where I had a mountain of shrimp. You pay PhP400 per person for the food, but don’t expect fine dining and don’t forget that you’re there to see the sights!

Passed through a man-made forest full of German trees, quite unlike the usual Philippine forests, and then through the rather underwhelming Butterfly Garden. We were told the butterflies were inactive due to the cold, but I really expected to see more. But whatever disappointments that came were quickly out the door, as we soon we found ourselves looking at the famous Chocolate Hills.

They were really wonderful to look at in person, even if they weren’t sporting their more celebrated brown color. We stayed there for a bit, took a bunch of pictures, and after a few more deep breaths we decided to head back to the hotel.

Suffice to say that I found the tour really enjoyable, perhaps also because of a newfound pride from seeing this side of my home country from the perspective of an outsider. I’ll spare you more of my contemplation over this trip until the day 3 update!

Related posts:

1. Bohol day 1: Alona Beach, some tips to share