Siquijor and Bohol are two islands located near the island of Cebu. We would fly into Cebu before making our way out to these islands by various ferries. We had initially travelled here with the idea of seeing whale sharks, but learned of the improper and endangering practices that treats them as a spectacle and disturbs their migration patterns. None the less, we had a wonderful time in these two very different islands.
In Siquijor we would do snorkling, find beautiful waterfalls near Lazi (not pronounced lazy ;) it would sound more like lasi, such as the drink, mango lasi) and do some small sightseeing.
Siquijor is a small island and allowed us to rent a moto for our stay and we were pleasantly surprised by how nice the roads were on the island. We would end up doing an entire circuit of the island and it allowed us to have the flexibility to go on the snorkle tours to Apo Island where were would encounter a lot of turtles up close which was a real treat.
By the end of our time in Siquijor we had discovered our love of buko shakes. A coconut shake with vanilla that was so refreshing and delicious. We also learned that we should have spent more time as it was a really special place.
Aina in paradise
There were churches all around the island and this one was extremely large and had three services in the morning. Church of Our Savior would be impressed by the devotion of this small town. We passed the church on our way to the waterfalls.
Bohol is a much larger island than Siquijor and is a couple hours from Cebu by ferry. Again we decided to get around by a moto we rented in Tagbilaran. I think this was our best introduction to air pollution thus far in SE Asia. Jogyakarta probably had worse air, but we were in grab taxis the entire time there. The air literally made us filthy (white shorts are now greyish) and gave us coughs we are still attempting to dispose.
Once outside of the city it was so much nicer and also really enjoyable on the moto. We traveled the long way to see the Chocolate Hills of Bohol and probably got a better experience in this way, as it was 30 minutes longer, but we were driving through the hills themselves on this route.
The hills are a geologic formation formed by a combination of tectonic activity that lifted them up and also wearing away of the limestone over years and years through rivers and rain. Their formal name would be conical karst hills. Why are they called chocolate!?!?! During the dry season (note the hills are green in our photos with a little brown) they turn very brown and make a heavier contrast with their surroundings and look like chocolate drops.
The Chocolate Hills of Bohol
After visiting the Chocolate Hills we drove to the Philippines Tarsier Center, which is the official center and manages the wildlife properly in contrast to the other similarly named center.
These adorable creatures are nocturnal primates. It explains the large eyes they have for hunting down their prey of insects at night and one eyeball is about the size of their brain. When active they are very active. They can leap up to 5 meters and are very rapid when on the move. We were there during the day and had to be very quiet with only whispers to not disturb them. We managed to see a few and they were all quite sleepy.
Sleepy little tarsier dreaming of crickets and other yummy insects.
Our next stop would be to Palawan in the South West of the Philippines.
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