For the holidays Tin decided to go home to Sipalay City. I told him we’d meet after as I wanted to have our Rizal Passports stamped in Dapitan, Dumageute and Dipolog before going to Manila on February 2012.
December 26
Woke up late, 9 am. Rushed to the Ilo-Bac ferry terminal. Bought a one way ticket from Supercat’s 10:30 trip.
Ferry ride was like a roller coaster ride. Children were screaming “Ma! I’m scared.” An old woman in front of me reminded me of Snape in one of the Harry Potter movies when he was counter attacking some sort of a curse during Harry’s game.
We arrived safely but it was raining so I took a cab and told the driver to take me to the Ceres Terminal for North (or South I do not know.) He did not let the meter run but I was to too dizzy and lazy to argue with him. I have a boyfriend to meet and I do not want some kind of bad vibes to get me down.
It was noontime and I was so hungry so I decided to eat first. Honestly, this is one of the things that I hate the most, eating alone in public.
I took an non-aircon bus to Kabangkalan. I paid 90 pesos but if I come ot really think of it, I should have paid half as my inconsiderate seatmate made his plastic of bread sit. He was fat, I am fat but I was on the outer part of the seat thus I suffered 2 hours of seating with only half of my butt cheek .
When I arrived, Tine was already waiting for me at the Ceres Terminal. We took the second bus as the first one was already filled before we got the chance to run to it for a standing position in getting to Dumaguete. The second one was the same as the first one, the only difference is that we were the first ones to secure our place for standing. Imagine, cheek to cheek, butt to butt, elbow to elbow. That is how crowded the bus is. A mother with a 9 month old kid gave up her place to stand on the bus as it was very crowded , the child might asphyxiate.
As for me, I don’t care if I am standing all the way to Dumaguete, I was with Tin, i had someone to talk to, I felt safe. Eventually, we were able to secure a seat when people started getting off in various parts of Mabinay.
Arrived at Dumaguete at around 7 pm. Ate at Jollibee first. Checked in at Kapamilya Lodge which is right across the back part of Silliman. The room had abed and that was it. The CR is public and you have to walk to get there. Its a good thing my bladder is under my command, I told myself to take a leak in the morning, I was too scared to go there at night as Tin told me that there are no lights.
December 27
Woke up at around 6 am. Ate breakfast at a 24 hour Tapsilogan in the same building where the lodge is.
Went to the Plaza to get our first Rizal stamp. There was a cool tourism employee there, she had dreadlocks. =)
We took photos of the plaza, the statue of Rizal, the tower and so on.
Since we wanted to take the 10 am trip to Dapitan, we decided to walk back to the place. It was still early so we had enough time. We checked out of the lodge and headed to the Dumaguete Pier.
We were so disappointed as the trip was canceled and there were a lot of stranded people in there. There was a low pressure and trips had been cancelled since yesterday.
There is a 5 pm trip but we decided to take the trip on the 28th instead. I had Accuweather on my iPAd and it says that the weather is going to be better the next day. We did not want to arrive in Dapitan at night with n place to go and no light to guide as, literally speaking.
We checked in at an Inn which is like a 2 minute walk away from the pier. We were planning to take the 4 am trip and we had the whole day to explore Dumaguete.
We ate lunch at Cafe Antonio and headed to the Plaza to explore the Capitol and the other sites there. We decided to check out a Museum at this school in Larena Drive but it was closed for the Holidays when we got there. We also tried to look for Mariyah Gallery but it was closed when we got there and it was a “residential” area, we were too intimidated to press the door bell.
We went back to the Boulevard. Took photos there. Killed time there and waited for hunger to come before finally heading to Sans Rival.
December 28
Woke up at 4. Ran to the terminal. Ferry schedule to leave at 5 already fully booked. Ran to Cockaliong for their 7 am trip. We stood there at around 4am, we got the tickets at around 6:40. That is how hard it is to get a ticket during the holidays.
Sat at the canteen area because I was too tired and too mad. My knees hurt a lot.
After 3 hours, we arrived in Polauan Wharf. It was a pretty laid back wharf. The hills were very scenic though.
Walked outside and took a tricycle to Dapitan. We told him to take us to Sunset Boulevard as we know there are a lot of Pension Houses there. We entered Monina’s but it was booked at the time. I met this Manong who was the owner. He was from the States and is on vacation there. He told me to go to the Monina’s extension instead. The old man is originally from Bacolod and its nice to converse in my “native tongue ” as Bisaya is the primary language here.
We went to the Plaza and they assigned us to another extension. It was a block away from the Monina’s Extension.
After that we ate at a Burger Junction at the Plaza. We waited for the “Evergood Bus” to take us to Dipolog.
Dipolog is just like Dumaguete. It has malls,Chowking, Jolibee and so on. Dapitan is more laid back.
We had our Rizal Passport stamped at the Dipolog City Hall. Before that we visited the Cathedral and its facade as well as its interiors are very impressive.
After that we went back to the terminal to go to Katipunan for another stamp site. Katipunan is where the Rizal farm is. The stamp site is at the Plaza and when we arrived, they were having their Christmas Party. It was a good thing there was a contact number to call and after a few minutes, the tourism officer came out and stamped our passports.
We took photos of the plaza, the church and the municipal hall. After that we went to the Rizal Farm which is located at the Brgy. Dr. Jose Rizal. After that, we went back to the Dipolog to take more pictures of the church and the plaza.
We took another Evergood Bus in going back to Dapitan. We changed clothes, rested for a while and headed to Gloria’s Fantasyland.
We had desserts first at a Cafe outside and then we went inside the Fantasyland. After that we ordered “to go” as it was near closing time and the bar at the corner of the Fantasyland had nothing better to serve other than shrimp and “kinilaw”.
December 29
Woke up early to explore Dapitan. Went to the tourism office to have our passports stamped but they said that all stamps are at the Shrine so we headed there instead.
We ate at Jonah’s or something like that. It was opposite the tourism office before finally going to the Shrine.
Rizal Shrine’s has no entrance fee. There are Rizalistas in there and we had fun exploring the place.
After the Shrine, we explored and took photos of the stamp sites in the Plaza.
Checked out at Monina’s and headed to the Polauan Wharf. Booked a 5 pm. Arrived at Dumaguete at around 8 pm and checked in at Bar’Ko Inn.
Ate at Ka Waway. Ordered coffee at Cafe Antonio. They have Theo and Philo Cholocates. It was raining again so we decided to go back to the inn.
December 30
Checked out of the inn. Went to Sans Rival but they don’t have thier specialty as of the moment. I am sorry, Cathy. Ate at Jollibee before heading to the Ceres Terminal for Bacolod.
Ate at Kabangkalan. Augustine took another bus. Cried all the way to Himamaylan. Read a book and eventually finished it before arriving at Bacolod.
Headed to the Wharf. Ferry for Iloilo already left so I waited for the 8:30 Roro to arrive. Met new friends at the pier. One is a mother waiting for her child to arrive from Iloilo, two are girlfriends waiting for their boyfriends. I felt a bit of envy as these girls were meeting with their boys while I just parted with mine.
Arrived at Iloilo at around 10. Headed to the tricycle area. Cried because I am so happy that I arrived safely and before the New Years Eve but also a bit lonely as I have no one to share my happiness with.
Arrived at home at around 11:30 pm.
MERA joy to the world..... 