ian the pedestrian

J and I are celebrating our 10 years of being besties this year so we made a promise to each other to do 10 things we haven’t done together. It could be doing a pilgrimage, beach combing, visiting historical places, traveling abroad, trekking, attending concerts, dancing… the list goes on, whatever kooky ideas we can think of. Old stuffs, antiquated ones, also attract us. Yeah, we’re both antediluvian and seeing archaic places is pretty much part of the list we haven’t finished figuring out.

To jump-start our 10 bestie activities, we decided to journey to Cagayan De Oro. The only goal is to see and attend mass in the Divine Mercy Shrine. The rest, we kept the spontaneity. June 02, 2018, we’ve finally laid a check mark on item 1.

We left Cebu 8pm on a Friday night via TranAsia Shipping. Cruised the ocean for almost 12 hours. Arrived in Cagayan at 7 on a Saturday morning. We believed it was too early yet. On the spur of the moment, we decided to go to Del Monte Plantation, Bukidon.  Riding a Motorela (Four-wheeled trike), we headed to Agora Bus Terminal. This bus terminal has two kinds of buses: The Super 5 and Rural Transit Mindanao Inc (RTMI). The Super 5 comes in different colors while RTMI in red. You can ask a native which bus is passing through Manolo Fortrich. Fare is around P145.00. As for me, I was equally dependent to J and her mobile map app.

Once we reached Manolo Fortrich downtown, we rode habal-habal going to the plantation. Fare was around P100 one way. That’s a haggled price already. We asked the drivers to wait for us since we won’t take long. In between, we made quick stops to take good clicks of the sceneries along the way. It’s breathtaking.

J and I haven’t really gotten the chance to enter the building when we reach the field since we didn’t know anyone there. However, we found ourselves in love with the ravishing beauty of pineapples sold by merchants-on-trucks outside. There was already an add-on to the price. I didn’t mind. I just wanted to take home some for my loved ones in Cebu. I bought a dozen. Oh boy! It was hefty but thanks to Kuya habal habal driver for being kind in helping us out.

After Bukidnon, we went to our hotel to drop our heavy loads. Then, straight to Divine Mercy to attend the 3pm Mass and confession afterwards (By far, I had the best confession moments here).

From Cagayan proper, we rode Motorela going to Gaisano Mall. Got a ride with route going to Bulua Terminal. From Bulua Terminal, we mounted on a jeep going to El Salvador. We were just dropped off at the corner road going to El Salvador Divine Mercy. From there, we took habal habal going to the Shrine. (Normally, habal habal drivers would give their contacts and you can just text them whenever you wanted them to pick you up already).

Huge Caveat: Since the Shrine is the House of our Lord, no one is allowed to wear revealing clothes.  It is encouraged to wear long skirts and shirt with sleeves while inside the shrine premises.

The following day, our brain cells had again made an impulse that we check out Maria Christina Falls and Tinago Falls prior to going home. We went to the trip unprepared. We even had bamboo rafting on our undies and collared-shirt. Who cares! Seize the moment.

It was short but sweet journey. I am just exuberant we started our 10 years with a Pilgrimage (with side trips). We left Cagayan on the evening of Sunday, 8PM. We reached Cebu 9pm the following day. I went straight to work while J went to her first day of TESOL Class, bringing all memories from Cagayan.