Just arrived yesterday from my action-packed vacation at Davao City. It was a blast!!! Since it’s the first time me and my brother went there, our relatives seem compelled to have us see the most places in five days.
Day One: I was a bit nervous because I only had a vague memory of my last plane flight (this from a person who wants to travel extensively in the future). We usually take the ship when we go to Negros (which is really my province, our Davao relatives are basically first cousins of my Mom already). Anyway, I was queasy most of the flight, can’t even read coz I’m so dizzy, yeah I know, I’m gonna have a lot of trouble in the future if this keeps up. We landed an hour and a half later (Dale managed to win one of the games in the Cebu Pacific flight, bwehehe).
Met up with my Tita Inday and Tito Fred (whose house we stayed at), had lunch, then went straight to destination one,
Tadeco farm (owned by Dawn Zulueta’s husband). This is located in Panabo which is already in Davao del Norte. Actually it was Dale who was keener on seeing plantations, and because of his love of bananas, we went there first. We managed to get in since my uncle worked in Del Monte (lucky us). It’s great to see the bananas getting reeled in and being “taught” by my uncle on the science behind it (he is a Doctor…something about soil analysis). Though I’m not a big fan of the bananas, I love the fact that they’re shiny (ang shallow, hehe).
Then went to the opposite end, to Calinan where the Del Monte pineapple plantation is located. The pineapples are sooooo sweet. Again, not a big fan of pineapples so you just have to imagine that I became an instant fan of it at that time. Sadly, the sweet gold pineapples that we saw are the ones that are exported (apparently the foreigners eat better pineapples than we do). Also got to see Mt. Apo from the plantation. Again, we were treated to a discussion of the mechanics of growing pineapples and the tests that they have conducted.
Went to another relative’s house to get dinner, got to meet my 19 second cousins, of course I barely remembered them all. Got back to their house super tired, but amazed at the infrastructure already in place, i.e. mga daanan na hindi lubak-lubak, hehe. There was a point going to the pineapple farm that my uncle told us that we’re actually 2 hours away from Bukidnon (where another Del Monte plant can be found). Imagine my wonder at the ease of going from one province to another (it’s because I thought it’s hard to go to Bukidnon in any case). Thank God for concrete.
Day Two:It’s whitewater rafting day! This was totally unplanned; just happened to see the ad in the magazine while in the plane and asked my mom if Dale and I could try it out (one of the things I wanna do before I die). At first, we thought we can’t go ahead with it because you have to have a reservation. But they accommodated us. We managed to be in a triak (which is just a kayak with three seats). So it’s Dale in the front (I kind of regretted that decision coz he got a kick out of it), me in the center, and our great guide, Mek (sana tama spelling ko, we’re the only ones who have a girl guide, and a cool one at that), who happened to be a kabarkada of one of my classmates in college (small world talaga). After having the preliminary safety lecture, we (the bunch consists of 3 rafts, 2 triaks, and an uber cool photographer who bravely gets to any corner of the river just to take a great pic/video) set out to conquer the 25 rapids in store for us.
I would consider this as my most extreme sport so far…and it’s so addicting (too bad we don’t have anyone near Manila). It’s backbreaking work, since the paddle is twice as long and requires more effort than that of the raft. But it’s great. What I love is the great view of the forests and the rock formations (yeah, I’m a nature lover), as Mek points out particular sites such as where the monkeys hang out, etc. The rapids are challenging, though they seem more formidable when you see it on cam. Notable rapids are the washing machine and the dip and suck (where all the rafts lost paddlers except us, yehey!). Although in the dip and suck, our guide actually got thrown off and bounced at my back (but resumed her seating immediately), so that’s the nearest we had to an actual river moment, hehe.
I was screaming (though not in a high-pitched way, more of like the screams you emit to boost up your energy and hopefully your strength to paddle hard). To think that our guide shouts instructions like
hard paddle and
go go go, I got so tensed during some rapids because I don’t want to be the first one to be thrown into the river (luckily I never got to). At the last leg, Mek asked us if we want to drift (I thought this was like in the movie
Tokyo Drift where we do the same thing to the boat, thought I dunno where I got that idea). Apparently, drifting is literally that—throw yourself in the water and the let the rapids coast you along. Not knowing that that was the idea, I said yes. Dale declined at the last minute and laughed all the way because I was swallowing a lot of water (even though I pride myself to be a good swimmer I didn’t help one bit in this case, and the rapids were huge so it’s impossible to get a head up without swallowing some water). Nonetheless, I could say that at least I got to try it.
Hay yun na, I have a lot more details about the rafting trip but it will be too long in that case. Went home with angry red forearms. My fingers ached for three days, but it was worth it. I think there’s a bigger probability of being thrown in the river at a raft, I hope I can do that with my friends (
come on guys!!!) in the future. I also want to try the one in Cagayan de Oro where my fellow rafters have already tried before.
Day Three:Our swimming day at Samal Island, particularly the Paradise Resort. I almost didn’t go swimming because of my aching body, but one look at the great beach (especially since I’m not a beach person) and I relented. The place was great, especially since there are not a lot of people. The sand was so white, and it wasn’t itchy, and the water’s great. Even though the beach was developed, I still got to swim with fishes. Only got to swim for a while, since I’m not that particularly fond of basic swimming at the beach. I mean, if I really want to swim for exercise, I go to the swimming pool where I know the depth of the pool and there aren’t any…creatures. I go to the sea when I want to snorkel, which we don’t have time to do in this case. Dale and I also got to play table tennis. In fairness, he got better, but I still beat him, hehe.
After taking a boat ride back, we went to the Philippine Eagle Center, which I loved again because of the various plants, flowers, and rock formations (in other words, I didn’t pay attention to the animals, hehe) that were there. My cell phone was full of what I dub as nature pics (anything that catches my fancy which I stupidly forgot their names (names of the flowers, etc.) so it was futile) and
wallpaper pics (anything that will look nice on my desktop…pics with me at the side).
Then we went to the Lady of Infant Jesus Shrine, which is so peaceful…then went to Jack’s Ridge, which is the highest place in Davao City. Too bad we got there in the afternoon; it is a cool place at night, with the nice restaurants strategically placed to capitalize on the view. I’m guessing this is the night life of the sosy ones, hehe.
Day Four and Five:Just spent day four at the house then went to another uncle’s house to have dinner, got to meet more relatives, hehe.
Spent the last day going to the mall, with Dale buying a lot of accessories (as usual I wasn’t able to buy anything of that sort). Mom met with her high school friend so Dale and I just wandered around. Then I hit the jackpot—a pumpkin sale in honor of Halloween, where they have a BIG book sale. I almost cried for joy (as if I don’t have my share of second-hand books in Manila). After weeks of scouting, I was able to find the last book of Nora Roberts’
Chesapeake Bay Saga, which was Seth’s story (to think that I have to go to Davao to find the freaking book). So that last day was vastly satisfying for me.
That basically sums most of it. I left out some parts regarding the plantations and of course, the local color itself. Got some insights on regional development (yeah I know, must be a hangover from my latest paper) since it is manifested in Davao city itself. I also didn’t mention earlier how many stopovers we had so that my mom could eat durian. Despite my uncles’ vow to make me eat them, I got home unscathed (it smells bad and I have no intention of getting used to it. If Dale wasn’t so keen on it when he tried it, what are the chances of me liking it at all?). If I were to work for Discovery Travel, that would be my drawback—I’m not that adventurous when it comes to trying different food. I hope we can go back again. I didn’t even got to experience the night life (well how can you if you’re with your family?), and hopefully overnight at Paradise and go island hopping; then go to Bukidnon… haha
Ok back to reality, I have a critique to finish, a koreanovela to finish, a raket to do, and two special blog entries I planned to write before. Hopefully I can do a lot since I only have two subjects this sem. Still holding on to the last few days of sembreak.
Finally saw the light and decided to have a Multiply account. Just
check it out to see the Davao pics (most are from the cellphone so it’s not that great). I was planning to trace the whole Davao trip in Wikimapia or Google Earth, but with a dial up connection, it’s quite frustrating…
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