Extreme September Shindig

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Exploring Cagayan de Oro and Bukidnon in 4 days and 3 nights

That one long premeditated plan around last May this year has finally come into a full 360-degree turn, after several months of not quite being sure for my attendance and placing my RSVP safely to "Maybe Attending". It was actually a group reunion trip with my colleagues and dorm mates from college which i haven't seen for a couple of years or so and yes, upon knowing the itinerary it excited the bum out of me.

So come 4th of September we traveled at night by ship with two friends hailing from Cebu and arrived at Cagayan de Oro pier early morning at approximately 6AM. We still have other friends coming from Manila who will be traveling by plane, so we waited for their arrival at 10 AM and one of them by the way is from Davao who's traveling by bus and would arrive shortly after us. For the meanwhile, we had a quick breakfast at some random eatery near the pier while we waited for one of our hostess to fetch us. We then found ourselves in awhile at some affordable and accessible lodging house in the heart of city. It's good enough to cater to 7 people and although we found it quite a conservative place to stay in, we were just definitely grateful to Winie's mom for fixing minor glitches regarding the reservation and not to mention, it's budget savvy as well!

So to cut it short, everyone arrived safely at the grounds of the City of Golden Friendship just as forecasted in the itinerary. What was once a pending event in our Facebook calendars has finally taken it's toll! Yeebah!

L-R: Wilmer, Ryan, Maynard, Me, Francis, Winie, Kat and June (behind the camera)

DAY 1

"Cagayan de Oro: The City of Golden Friendship"

Heading to Opol Aviary

After few errands and thingamajigs in between trips from Winie's house to the lodging house where we will be staying for a night, we finally headed to our first stop, the Opol Aviary. It is located at the outskirts of Misamis Oriental, roughly a 45 minute ride from the metropolis of Cagayan. Luckily, one of our friend's brother is driving for us, thus saving our arse from the hassles of commuting. The aviary is situated near a river and the obvious landmark is the bridge adjacent to it.

Here, we found a number of animals like monkey, snake, deer, fish and yes, true to it's name, mostly colorful species of birds.

Inside the huge bird cage

Well, this is the up close and personal part here..with nonetheless a snake! Eck! I wasn't brave enough to carry it anyways, unlike the rest of my friends.

That's a real fright, right there!

After trolling inside the aviary, we had a hearty lunch at the riverside, which was hosted by Winie's family. Few laughs, chitchats, picture taking and then we were off to our next destination.

At around 2PM, we headed on the rough roads to the mountains of Malanang, Opol, to The Philippine Ostrich and Crocodile Farm. We were then surprised by huge playful gigantic birds occupying a large land area all at one time. I've already seen an ostrich before, but the sight is quite just too surreal and overwhelming. There were a number of huge fences dividing the flightless birds, perhaps, by age groups, condition or gender. I quite missed on that detail there.

Ostriches, as far as your eyes can see.

Anyways, it was not just a nook for ostriches, but for crocodiles as well. I noticed that the crocodile's compartment is not designed imitating that of their natural habitat. It was just a dull, cemented, undecorated space with an overhead bride for the viewers.

I remember seeing a crocodile farm in Talisay, Cebu, wherein the crocodile's abode is adorned with plants and one cute, perky detail there is that, the crocodiles have names. It's posted just outside their confinement. So, I was kind of unimpressed on the set-up I saw here. Well, I guess they focus their attention more on the ostriches. Moreover, I was really impressed by the ostrich's humongous egg that weighs approximately a kilo and a half. I've already seen one, but haven't carried and examined it up close. One amazing feature is that, you can actually stand on it, without breaking it!

Jun the heaviest amongst us, tried standing on it--did not break!

L-R: Kat, Winie, Me

It's as huge as Winie's head!

Goofing around!

The farm is owned and operated by one of the famous Filipino-Chinese family business tycoons in Cagayan de Oro City, the Limketkai family. They also sell ostrich and crocodile meat, ostrich eggs and t-shirts among many others. My friends decided to try out the ostrich meat and bought a kilo of the cutlets. It isn't much surprising to know that it's more expensive than the regular pork meat considering it's healthy attributes.

Late afternoon, we decided to head back to the city to go play airsoft! I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds fun and exciting. I am at the same time worrying because we have to wear the proper attire which includes long sleeves or jacket, jogging pants or any clothing to cover up the upper and lower extremities. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to bring and yes, most of us wasn't too. So instead, the group just decided to wear jackets and long sleeves only.

Looks like some terrorist group. lol

The gang, equipped and ready!

As for me, I was wearing shorts and so as expected, I got bruises and light scratches on my knees and arms. I never expected that the gears and the outfits are that quite heavy and it similarly limits movements. So, it was a struggle out there in the field. You have to be careful not to be hit by the pellets and at the same time the goal is to get the flag first and return it to home base in order to win!

My team mates are Francis, Kat, June, Ryan and we are collectively known as the brown team. The green team is composed of Winie, Wilmer, Kat and Maynard. It was absolutely fun but we were not able to play for a longer time since it was startin' to get dark. We should have started it much earlier than 4PM. Nevertheless, it kicked off our adrenaline and we only just begun!

Sweaty and bruised

The aftermath. Seems like the bullets have deeply penetrated.

So we went to our lodging house after, to take a bath and prepare for dinner. The night is young and so are we! Yeebah! It was a weekend, and it's expected that there will be a lot of people around the metropolis. Weekend nights are night market nights! Divisoria in CDO is famous for that and basically everything is sold there, like DVDs, bags, sunglasses, clothing, apparels, shoes and many others. Most people I know, said that their night markets sell much cheaper and nice items as compared to Cebu. We just passed by the long pavements and just sort-of window shopped.

We were starving by the time and so we headed to Butcher's Best Barbecue, a food house near Rafting Adventure Philippines office which is owned and operated by Winie's family. Details regarding Whitewater Rafting will be discussed later. So, we ordered sumptuous food and I have to say that they have the best beef steak. I forgot what were our other orders, but I have to say that it's delectable and affordable as well.

After the meal, we headed to one of the famous night-out spots in CDO, the Limketkai. It's quite similarly equated to Cebu's IT Park, or Ayala Business Center. There are numerous establishments already, including a mall. I can honestly say that CDO is a peaceful city as manifested by good-natured people and calm and orderly streets. Well, they are true to it's name--The City of Golden Friendship.

Me, Ryan and June on our way to Limketkai

So there, we found a spot in Cafe Macumba which is called East Wok. There were lively, busy people everywhere, a band is playing reggae in the background and yes, my friends bursting with laughter and mindless chitchats. Dominic, a friend of ours and our fellow dormer back in college who's now based in CDO, came and spent the night with us. It was definitely a blast!

Cheers to our reunion!

And yes, to cut it short I was ultimately boozed and knocked down. I can fairly say it's the first time that I was unaware of what was goin on around me, since I always have a fair amount of recollection when I'm drunk. My senses are quite sensitive and alert but, gee, this is definitely another story. I am so unaware of everything! Ha! Imagine the liquors we consumed, it was like 4 to 5 brands/kinds I guess. Liquor tolerance have decreased, so I was puking under the table the whole time and the rest they say, is history. Well, I got to see parts of the history in the pictures anyway.

I am not anymore aware of this snapshot.

Wilmer doing his thing.

DAY 2
ECO ADVENTURE DAY

Five hours of sleep, then we're set for another adventure and I think it is the main highlight of our itinerary, and by the way it is what Cagayan de Oro is most famous for--the whitewater rafting adventure! We woke up around 8AM, prepared our things and checked-out of the lodging house because we will be spending the night in Bukidnon. I was just too excited!

We had a quick breakfast at some fast food near Divisoria, which was the rendezvous for the whitewater rafting river guides and their guests. Actually, Winie's uncle owns the pioneer whitewater rafting company in the Philippines-- Rafting Adventures Philippines. Yes, his uncle is tagged as the Father of Whitewater Rafting in the Philippines. Winie, her brother and cousins works for the company. So basically, we were just at our own pace.

Whitewater rafting is categorized into four: Beginners, Advance, Advance 2 and Extreme. It was my first time to try this sport and it kind of freaked me out since were booked for Extreme. It is the longest course among the other three and has the most extreme number of challenging roller coaster rapids.

We drove to the river site for almost 3 hours from the city to Bulao, Bukidnon which is the starting point of the extreme course. Winie wasn't able to come with us since her brother did not allow her, knowing that she will be too fragile for the dangerous course (not really. but as per Winie's case, it is). I dozed of a bit and taking turns on sightseeing as well while on our way to Bulao. I wasn't expecting that it could be that far. It was a beautiful sunny day perfect for our adventure. The view is just breathless, the mountains so serene and the rivers bellow are just majestic!

L-R: June, Kat, Wilmer, Francis, Maynard, Ryan

All ready with gears, paddles and a dry bag for food, water and cellphones.

When we arrived at the site, we were given gears and paddles before we head down to the foot of the mountain where the river was. Going down the narrow, steep, muddy path was spearheaded by one of the river guides and we just followed the trail until we reached the river below. The sight is breathtaking and surprisingly on our way, we found fruit bearing trees like rambutan and lanzones. Whew! I never expected that it will take us roughly around 45mins to 1 hour. It was sort of a warm-up before we hit the waves! Yeebah!

Hyperactive river guides goin down fast with the rafts.

It was so refreshing when we reached the river, the water's amazingly clean and cold. A short orientation was given by Reynold, the head of the guides who also happens to be Winie's brother. We were taught on how to paddle, the basic commands and what to do just in case if one of the members fall off the raft.

Orientation with Reynold

It was almost time for lunch. The group was divided into two and I was with Wilmer and Maynard and two other river guides, Maldo and Karlo. The rest of the group's in another raft with their respective river guides. There were 2 river guides who are members of Team Philippines for whitewater rafting, Maldo and Allan. They're nice and funny! We had a convo of about 4 rafts plus a kayak because it also happened to be the river guide's familiarization tour. It was a huge group indeed!

L-R: Karlo, Me, Maldo, Maynard and Wilmer

Anyways, we hit the first set of waves so we can have lunch at the waterfalls. I was really nervous with those initial waves because it's huge and it looks like it's about to eat the raft! I just followed the guide's instructions, "Paddle forward, forward. Back paddle, back." I can hear my heart thumping out loud and good thing Maynard's also beside me, grabbing me when I can't hold on to my seat. Five minutes, then we reached curtains of falls,majestically adorned on those mountains. It was breathlessly stunning!

How cool is that? We turned over our rafts and had our food on it. The water from the falls is absolutely clean and I quenched my thirst right from there. Not an everyday opportunity in the big city!

With the wacky river guides

One nice thing about this Eco Extreme Adventure from the name itself, is that it's in a way we're called for responsible ecotourism. Were not just tourists and guests but were environmental crusades in this trip. Yes, it is a social and civic responsibility as human beings that we should care for Mother Earth, but some tourists on a holiday has that tendency to just disregard their waste, unmindful of the impact of it in the place. The river guides collected plastic bottles and debris around the area and it made me admire them. Well, the river is the source of life for the locals there and it's also the bread and butter of whitewater rafting.

Moving on after the meal, we went up trekking to the waterfalls. The rocks were sharp and the path's steep, but thanks to the well-trained river guides who assisted us all the way up. They have this unique strategy in leading the way, especially that the way going up is quite dangerous. One tip: Wear your slippers all the time. It was altogether surreal and amazing, more or less like that of that reality show, Survivor! I was never that close to a waterfalls before. That was just a prelude to what's in store for us for the rest of the course. Going down is not as bad as goin up, so it did not take us long.

Then, were all set to hit the rapids! Water level's not too deep nor too low, it was just as perfect. There were huge chunks of rocks all over the river bed, some of them bigger than a house and they are the ones who make the most amazing turbulent. There were also huge waves, whirlpool currents like that of a washing machine's and I just felt that it's goin to swallow us whole!

Our river guides were cheerful and entertaining. As much as possible they try breaking the silence with a joke or just merely splashing us with water. Every sets of rapids vary in their degree of difficulty and with each of them I get thrilled and excited. Of course, I started really nervous and skeptic but later, I eased up, enjoyed it and looked forward for more rapids! Every successful maneuvering with the waves, our guides would shout, "High Five!" and then we raise our paddles altogether. Also, inside our raft we have floating lanzones all over. We ate them after each successful romance with the rapids. It was absolutely fun! We saw how beautiful the river is, including those unique rock and mountain formations, the locals who live near the river, children playing, people cheering when we pass by and just nature at it's best!

High Five!

The other team with Kat, Ryan, Francis, June and Allan overturned to one of the huge rock and current. Our team triggered the capsize because we bumped to their raft when they were maneuvering to get out of that rock. Well, they had their share for that incident which we never got to experience. Kat lost her sunnies and slipper and I saw grim in their faces when they were rescued. The river guides did a good job on that! After the incident, we just laughed it off and the group shared things goin on inside of their heads when they were capsized. I think that made their adventure more extreme and unforgettable, notch level higher than ours.

Capsize aftermath

We covered the course including that of the Advance and Advance 2 and finished at the Beginner's starting point. So we're just one lucky group! It ended around 5PM and still everyone's beaming with awe and astonishment. And yes, everyone was talking about the capsize event while eating rambutan. The crew packed up everything and headed back to the city. We went directly to Winie's house, took a bath, ate dinner, packed up, went to SM and finally to Bukidnon.

At SM, all prepped for Bukidnon.

Kat's brother drove us all the way to Dahilayan, a small barangay in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon. Dominic once again came to go with us in our next adventure. We picked up three river guides on the way, because they will be the ones who will guide us for the next day's spelunking adventure. We traveled to a pitch dark road and I can vaguely see that it has endless plantation son both sides of the roads. Well it was actually, according to them, a pineapple plantation. I can barely see it because it was too dark, no lights on the sides of the road. We were warmly greeted by Kat's uncle and aunt after an hour of travel to Dahilayan in their semi-rest house/farm. We had an ocular inspection around the place prior to spending the evening, eating, drinking and singing songs. No more uber boozed nights this time.

DAY 3

"Bukidnon: The Land where the Mountains and Sky meet"

Obviously the group is tired from yesterday's adventure, missed the sunrise, woke up late 8AM to grand mountains and cool morning breeze. As expected, it was so cold because the place is proudly elevated among the others in the adjacent neighborhood. It was wonderful seeing such great heights and the scenic breathless view in the morning. We strolled around the area and there were horses everywhere!

The caretaker prepared 2 horses for us complete with saddle and guide for our horseback riding adventure. It's not my first time to get acquainted with these mammals and I just noticed that they're friendlier and gentle, unlike the wild ones I've held before. There were also huge farm dogs and I find it cute because they go with the horses wherever and they're also playful! There were also small kids, aged 5 or 6 who can paddle the horses expertly. We were awed by what we saw because they look like those actors in the movie who are so accustomed and used to riding those mammals. It looks so natural and flowing.

We took turns in riding the horses, took pictures and explored the vast area furthermore. The view is just so surreal and it feels like I'm nearly close to the clouds. I know Bukidnon has so much to offer and have. Twas mentally noted that I will be back there for more explorations and getaways later in life.

Anyways, we had a cup of coffee while were telling stories and relaxing to savor the view. We covered the activity whole morning. Supposedly, we should be going early trekking to some waterfalls but time was considered since it would take long and maybe we will not be able to cover spelunking in the afternoon.

Ostrich Adobo

We had brunch back at the rest house. Remember the ostrich meat we bought in the ostrich farm? We had it cooked like pork adobo and I can say that it's tasty despite the distinct smell. Kat's mom served us food too and I can't help myself but crunch on those fresh lettuce fresh straight from the farm! We left the rest house around 12 noon and thanked Kat's uncle for the hospitality.

When we were on our way to Sumalsag Cave, I saw how beautiful the place is in broad day light. You can actually appreciate those pineapple plantations as far as your eyes can see. I wanna drop by and see those busy people harvesting the fruits with that humongous machine because it all seemed so interesting. The van that we used has suddenly gone berserk and we have to stop because the the driver had to do some repairing.

Buding and Mao, and the driver behind repairing the van

Good thing, it did not took us longer than 30 minutes, we then dropped by the city to get some water bottles to bring with us inside the cave which is roughly around 45 minutes travel time from there. The cave looks like a private or protected area owned by a somebody,because we have to register our names in the caretaker's log book. One reason maybe is also is for safety.

Orientation with Kumar

It was my second time to try caving but this time I did not expect it would be that difficult. For awhile there, I thought I was developing claustrophobia because the pavements were really that challenging and weird, unlike the first cave I've been before somewhere in Zamboanga. You have to squeeze yourself in to those narrow rocks by crawling, walking like a duck, immersing yourself in the water for 5 to 10 seconds to get to the other side of the tunnel and hold on to the rocks because the way might suddenly go deep without you knowing. It helps also helps if you warn the people following you.

Well I got new sets of bruises and scratches from the cave no matter how I tried to be cautious enough, maybe I'm clumsy just like that. I was amazed with the stalagmites and stalactites that formed various animals like turtle, fishes and even small statues and figures. There were also bats but not as many, spiders (I forgot the complete name, but their webs are not the usual and that it looks like a needle) and stalagmites that make a good musical instrument. (Kumar tried drumming on to one of the stalagmites and it sounded so cool!)

And just like the whitewater rafting, I came to enjoy it all the while, as we are nearing the finish point. It makes me wonder whoever discovered that cave must be really adventurous and risk-taker. Imagine those small tunnels and narrow pavements, one would not expect that there would be a finish point to all of that. For awhile, I feared for my life silently and wondered when it will ever end, because we spend a good lot of 3 to 4 hours inside the earth's core. We have breaks in between and a little chitchats too, so that in a way consoled me. The guides, Kumar and Buding were also very accommodating and nice. Wilmer and Ryan have waterproof cameras with them, so we had lots of pictures inside the cave.

As we near the end point of the cave, Kumar gave us instructions to hold our breath and submerge our head in the water to the little hole in front of us where we can see little light from outside the cave. The finish point surprisingly ended with a blast. That was surely unexpected and I really had so much fun!

We went back to Kat's house where Winie and and Francis were waiting for us. Winie was again not allowed to go there with us as per Reynold's instructions, so Francis his boyfriend just preferred to keep her company. We took a quick bath, exchange stories, ate dinner and then were off again to Cagayan. We spent the night at some random bar near Winie's house and yes, obviously everyone's tired so we went home early and dozed off.

DAY 4

BYE, BYE TIME

The next day, Kat, Maynard and Wilmer woke up early because their flight back to Manila would be at 10AM. We waved goodbye to them at the airport before we head back to the city to buy tickets for our voyage back to Cebu. Winie, Jun, Francis and I roamed around the city. We went to Gaisano Mall, then to Limketkai for lunch, bought Rafting Adventure Philippines t-shirt at their office in Divisoria and the famous delicious delicacy, Pastel at Vandep's for pasalubong. YUM! One distinct food I will never forget in CDO is the taho. Too bad I wasn't able to take a picture. It's only 5Php in a 240ml plastic cup with condensed milk as toppings! It is absolutely delicious and it's my first time to try that one because I haven't seen that kind of taho in Cebu. After that, we went back to Winie's house and prepared our stuff and just bum there. June had his flight back to Cebu via airplane, Francis and I took the ship. We had a delicious dinner at Winie's grannies and they were awfully nice.

Looking back at CDO while I was on the ship, I realized that I'm already missing the place and the wonderful people I met. Cagayan de Oro is my kind of ideal city because it's close to nature and definitely not far from industrialization. The city is calm, clean, orderly and unpolluted--the kind of a laid-back nook that I want. I would want to build my home and settle there for good. in the near future and if God wills so. I shall return, 'coz yes, I left my heart in Cagayan de Oro. ♥ Chada!

_________________________________
For Bookings and Reservations with Whitewater Rafting, Opol Aviary and Airsoft, contact:
Mr. Rupert Domingo
Operations Manager
Mobile No.: 63917.7073.583 / 63920.4456.473
Landline No.: 63 (088) 857.1270
Email: riverguide95@raftingadventuresphilippines.com
Address: 14th-21st Street, Nazareth Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines