Trekking Cebu & Bohol

This post I want to share our trekking to: Marco Polo, the Regional Correction Center, The Jumalon Butterfly Preserve & Museum, the Carbon Wet Market, and Bohol.
We took a trek up to see the Marco Polo a very fancy hotel overlooking Cebu.  

People had told us that there was a nice hiking trail up the backside of the hotel.  We missed the trail on the way up and followed the road.  

We  then found out that four huge new condos were being built behind it.  

This is the view from the back side of the Marco Polo.

Half of the people we talked to told us the trail was closed and the others pointed the way to it.

so we hiked down a fairly steep, but very interesting trail -- that landed us right at the rifle range on the base of the 53^rd Engineers Brigade of the Philippines Army.  We saw several groups of young people in training classes, walked past the base hospital, 

the base headquarters,

the base chapel

and the base goat

and didn’t arouse any interest or concern – except our own! The armed guard at the gate when we left looked pretty official.

We also heard from others of the “Dancing Prisoners” at the “Regional Correction Center”, aka

Provincial prison.  They have actually attained a certain amount of internet fame and perform the 4^th Saturday of every month.  There are over 1000 inmates who participate – most as a choreographed group dancing in the background behind a smaller elite dancing group.

The smaller advanced team of dancers appears very talented and dedicated. 

  We are informed officially that “it is all volunteer”, but by some of the locals that there are some privileges associated that are very desirable.  Also the prisoners can make handcrafts and have them sold during the performances for money to purchase necessities or desires.  

The Jumalon Butterfly Gardens was founded by a Professor Jumalon here in Cebu City as a result of his personal passion.  He planned the garden to naturally attract the butterflies rather than to keep them in.   I loved the World Butterfly Map at the entrance.

He collected butterfly specimens from all over the world and had special protected areas built for egg-laying and hatching the young.

 Professor Jumalon who established the Jumalon Butterfly Sanctuary and Museum was also well known for his lepido-mosaic art -- beautiful pictures created from tiny pieces of damaged butterfly wings.

I particularly enjoyed the "Butterflies of the World" map near the entrance.

We had a wonderful little fresh produce stand very near our apartment, 

but it was shut down to make way for a construction site and everyone assured us that the only other fresh produce stands in the area were at the Carbon 'Wet Market' (fresh produce).  So we hopped a jeepney and went there.  Imagine city blocks lined with little stalls all selling fresh food – separate areas for fish, meat, rice, fruit, and vegetables.



Vegetable stalls covered both sides of the narrow street for a “guess-timated” ¼ mile or half a kilometer. 

Other areas also had clothing, shoes, household goods, crafts, jewelry, beauty products and services, etc., etc., etc..  It was almost unbelievable.  

On one of our holidays, we decided to take a tour of Bohol, a bigger island close to Cebu, where the major earthquake had its epicenter back in September 2013.    Our friends there, Elder & Sister Talbot, 

said there was a tremendous amount of damage done, but the worst part was the destruction of roads and bridges so it took a long time to get any assistance to the central areas where the damage was greatest. It was six weeks before any power was restored even to major cities along the coast.

These pictures were taken in April 2014 and many families are still living in tent shelters.

There is still a lot of earthquake damage there and much of the aid that would have helped in its restoration has gone instead to victims of the typhoon Yolanda the following month.  Major roads have been mostly re-opened, but many have areas of construction.

Tourism and the economy are depressed due to concerns created by the typhoon, but the people were happy to welcome tourists at the historic areas we visited..

We were able to visit the Blood Compact Site (site of the signing of the first peace treaty between the Europeans and natives). 

Next we went to the Tarsier Monkey Conservation Reserve.  The tarsier monkeys are about the size of an adult fist with a skinny tail about twice its length; they are named for their unusually long tarsal (ankle) bones that allow them to jump up to 10 feet from tree to tree.  They mostly eat insects, but have been known to eat small mice, birds, snakes, and lizards. Since they are nocturnal we only saw them quietly clinging to tree branches. 

 Notice the large eyes—each eye is about 3 times the size of their brain according to the guide.

 I thought they were absolutely fascinating.

This last photo isn't mine-- none were that close or that wide awake -- it was probably taken with a

night vision camera.

Next we passed through the Man-Made Forest – a huge mahogany forest planting project.

We stopped and ate lunch on one of the famous Floating Restaurants on the Loboc River. 

Loboc has many scars left from the earthquake--  massive destruction of buildings and homes.

We were served a lovely buffet of traditional Cebuano dishes while the boat “floated” up river to the waterfalls and then back down.   Actually there was a small motor attached to the boat to keep it moving.

 Each boat had its own band and stopped at one or more of the little shore attractions. 

Where we stopped they had children singing and dancing some of their traditional dances.

Our "tour group": Elder Talbot, Elder & Sister Mather, Sister Talbot, myself & Sister Evans.

  

Next we toured through the Chocolate Hills – a most unusual geological area.  There are groups of hills that look like someone had scooped the dirt up with an ice cream scoop and plopped them down in random little groups.  They know what they are composed of – limestone from a sea floor with a clay base, but have no real agreement on what caused them to be formed.  The greenery on the hills becomes somewhat brown during the dry season leading to the name “Chocolate “ Hills. 

While we were there the landscape was a gorgeous kaleidoscope of rice paddies, rainforest, and flowers.

We got one special stop, however, that only friends can provide:  we got to personally visit with Sister Segovia.  She is a very special individual and a true survivor. 

During the earthquake she was standing in the kitchen with her grandson and her daughter and a friend were in another room of her lovely home.  At the end of the earthquake, she was the only survivor. All that is left of her lovely home is some of the tile floor

 and a huge pile of rubble.  

She now has a small tent with a small shelf in front with the few things she managed to salvage – a few vases, flowers, and small items – that still makes the area feel like a home.  

When we were there she was showing us with great gratitude the small home – one living area and one sleeping area—that is nearly completed from donated materials and labor from the government and the Church. 

She was the first person to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints on the island of Bohol.  She proudly related stories of how she became a convert to the Church: she had a dream of two young men that she had never seen before “and they looked really strange” and then she saw them the next day at the market. She says, “I got right in their faces and said, ‘Who are you? And What are you doing here?’  When they told me they were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, I didn’t even know what they meant, but I knew they were supposed to come home with me and talk to me!’”  She related stories of how she had helped during the construction of the chapel in Loon and when she stayed late at the site, she had confidence that the Lord would see her safely home and “when those noisy boys that cause trouble saw me coming they just got out of the way!” And finally she shared with us a very personal dream that helped heal the wounds of the loss of her family in the earthquake.  

She is truly a survivor – and one of my heroes!