Cotabato, when you hear of this province, what would be your perception? No wonder, you would answer "It's dangeroud". who would not forget the Maguindanao Masacre? and the Abu Sayaff, the most popular terrorist group in the country. But I swear, you wouldn't even think of these when you're already there.
Cotabato is the hometown of our mother institution Notre Dame University, every five years, it has been a tradition for the Notre Dame of Greater Manila administration to bring its employees to Cotabato and introduce and understand the roots of the Oblates of Missionary Immaculate. So fortunately, I was one of the blessed employees to participate in the tour.Obviously, Cotabato is one the provinces the Philippines can boast, but of course, minus the terrorism. :)
APRIL 17, 2012.DAY 1
It was my first PAL Flight and I was not disappointed, PAL's service as a whole and particularly the interior might be the best according to my experience. Ours was slightly delayed but it was fine. The interior was well dimmed, each row has an LCD screen that showed video presentation, demonstration and map. All seats had universal headset jock where you can listen to music. Other airlines that I had booked don't have these features. They also had free foods that include biscuit, peanuts, coffee and water. It took us an hour and a half to touchdown at Cotabato Airport. But a couple of minutes before we landed, some scenic views and landscapes of Cotabato had our attention but the Grand Mosque could be the best of all eye-catching features in the province. It's like a palace in Aladin. Awesome.
Surprisingly, Mindanao province really's got a different ambiance than Manila and other Luzon province, coconut trees were really relatively tall, unfamiliar trees were abundant and later i found out that they were RUBBER trees. Aha! :)
One thing that I had noticed, breathing here was so refreshing and lung-cleaning hahaha so I did not waste my time breathing deeply as much as I could. I felt that all nicotine in my lungs had been removed drastically. hahaha. We transfered to Notre Dame University Shuttle and they brought us to a retreat house about 20 minutes away from the airport where we would be accomodated until the next morning.
Their foods were sooo delicious. Our first lunch includes ordinary chopseuy, fried chicken and rice but man, it's like an extraordinary dish! Clue? It's home made, no flavorings added and ingredients were literally fresh. After lunch, of course comes fruit desserts, abundant fruits! Sweet watermelon, mango, melon. We could choose from variety of fruits from Mindanao, even their fruits taste differently and way better that what we have in Luzon!
After our siesta, at 2:30 we started roaming around the compound of that retreat house.We were supposed to have our city tour but due to kidnapping that happened near the Grand Mosque, we diverted to other parts of the itinerary (this is something that was kept top secret to most of the participants -- to avoid panic of course) :( at 5p.m. we headed to our last itinerary for the day, the Notre Dame University. I never thought that NDU was a huge campus, it might not be as large as my alma mater UST, it could be around 10 hectares, pardon me, I;ve got no idea. Anyway, we toured around the campus and after a tiring tour came a sumptuous dinner that was prepared by the canteen staff of NDU. Yes you read it right, their canteen staff prepared a "sumptuous" dinner that includes crabs, shrimp, letchon and a lot more. This was probably better than any kind of food presentations at Yakimix, Dads or these fine dining experience -- no kidding) before we start our dinner, fresh buko juice from Lanao was served. Refreshing!!! that buko juice was the most refreshing and delicous buko juice I ever tasted in my life, it tasted like a Pandan, and the sweetness is natural. Afterwards, we had videoke and drinking session inside the campus, talked with other NDU Employees. We were really warm-welcomed and that feeling was great! :)
After a long and tiring day, we headed back to the retreat house but we waited for 10 minutes before the caretaker opened the door. I was curious, it was just 9 p.m. and yet it was like 2 a.m. in Manila. That was scary. Forge about the revolver sounds just from a few hundred meters- and the stray bullets of course.:)
APRIL 18, 2012 DAY 2
We woke up early to prepare for the next destination, we had another heavy breakfast, delicous foods were being served again. at 7:30 we boarded the shuttle and headed to Midsayap, an hour and half away. at 9a.m. we reached Notre Dame of Midsayap, another snack was served. Even their simple Pancit tasted like special. I wonder how they cook their food here.
After two hours, we then boarded for Pikit-Aleosan mission where waiting for us is another set of snacks. another fresh buko juice, guava, banana cue and I did not hesitate to eat, drink. That was really refreshing!! I know a little later, my intestine is going to signal a full force peristalsis, if you know what I mean.
PIKIT NORTH COTABATO! Familiar with that place? This is where Midanao war of Late 90's and early 2000 took place.You got an idea how to feel? Hehe.
10:30 Aleosan Cotabato (Snack)
11:30 Pikit (Snack again)
at 12p.m. we are now Kidapawan Bound, Binoligan in particular and according to our itinerary, it would be another two hour scenic drive, a bit melodramatic should I say plus the sound of the light rain
at 2p.m. We had our LATE LUNCH at a retreat house in Binoligan, Kidapawan where Father Matas is waiting. we spent our second night here. Again, another mouth watering dishes were served, Letchon Cebu again, Adobong Manok, Tamarind Soup, and I ate of course, masama daw tinatanggihan ang grasya so here we go.
4p.m. Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporations. --
5p.m. Back to Retreat House for the mass, and some group sharing. It was really nice!
6p.m. Mass
7p.m. Dinner
8:00 Free Time, we even had no time going out. Although Kidapawan is a city, it looks like Manila of the 60s or 70s? I dont know, I am a milennial hahaha.
APRIL 19, 2012 DAY 3
Again we had to wake up early, Heavy meals again. at 8a.m we boarded the shuttle again and bounded for ANTIPAS, North Cotabato which is two hours away, Antipas is a remote city in North Cotabato located about a thousand meters above sea level. While we are on our way there, we stopped over a rural area due to (I dont know what problem it is) Instead of getting bored, we played Patintero and it was really fun! I had never played Patintero for how many years.
we stayed here for thirty minutes before we continue our travel. at 11p.m. we reached an OMI house in Antipas, We left our belongings here, prepare a separate things to bring for overnight in Pangipasan. So I had a little backpack where I put my pillow, linen and overnight shirt and sando. From our shuttle, we transferred to a ten-wheeler truck with seater called "SADAM". Wow that was an amazing experience!
We then continued our first destination with SADAM, thirty minutes from Antipas is the OBLATES GALILEE FARM locates in Bugwak. A farm that produces dairy products such as dairy milk, calamansi juice. and the likes.
FATHER JUDE AND KRIS AT OBLATE GALILEE FARM
A natural fish pond
After an hour of roaming around the farm, we had a snack that includes fresh and sweet fruits, a macaroons that's naturally made and I admit, that's one of the best macaroons I've ever tasted, fresh buko and calamansi juice and the one that really caught my tastebud, that Dairy Choco, made from fresh milk and chocolate powder! that really flushed all the toxins inside my stomach. haha
We headed back to the OMI House for the lunch. God, thank You so much for the food. Another mouthwatering dishes were served. my favorite kilawin, fried chicken, chopseuy and another set of fresh fruits. Nevermind the Durian.
At 2p.m. we were about to prepare for an extremely rough yet scenic drive (through SADAM) to Pangipasan. a community school in Matalam, somewhere in the midst of the mountains.
me and Sir Jigs, our tour guide. haha
The back drop though, a typical ambience of the province. The first hour of travel was not that rough, we stopped over at a house in Imelda, Cotabato where we could see a glimpse of the Philippines' highest peak, Mt. Apo.
That's a breath taking view of Mt. Apo, below is Kidapawan City. We boarded again for another 45 minutes but extremely a rougher ride to our destination. Everyone were laughing and some were drinking beer until we reached an intersection where we had to turn left going down to Pangipasan. This is the climax! - The very rocky road! It lasted for about 20 mins until Sadam reached the most intricate part of the trek. Our truck tilted about 45 degrees,
we all screamed that hard - nervously...Fortunately nobody was hurt, so instead of continuing, everyone decided to go down and trek instead.
But the crisis was not yet over. We had to walk another three kilometer of rocky roads and trails just to get to the community school proper.
The trail was really steep that we had to keep our balance or else, we'd end up rolling in the deep. hahaha
finally we reached this site where tribes called "?" live. Most of them are studying at Pangipasan Community School. They also guided us to another two kilometer or more of trekking but this time, more scenic view surprised us but still, the trail was really hard that we had to remove our slippers. We should have brought rubber shoes here.
While on our way to Pangipasan, we met these three kids who were happily riding on a carabao. My grandma told me that they do it when they were kids.
Kresha was having trouble going down. So Gori and me to the rescue :) seriously, we had to stop over several times to get some rest. The disadvantage of being Manilenos. Until we reached this stream, we stayed here for almost an hour to take a dip to refresh our sexy bodies. charaught. haha.
okay here it is..
Ma'am Pal our HR managers and Sir Jhigs. the water here was really ice cold. so refreshing!
Our destination was just about a hundred meter so we stayed here long until we're all satisfied. We decided to continue walking until we reached Pangipasan.
We settled down for an hour before our supposed storytelling activity with the pupils and sharing with the faculty members of the community school. The storytelling was fun while others were drinking Tuba. :)
T-U-B-A
After the storytelling, we had an experience-sharing for an hour, lights off and we could see the clear night sky with millions of twinkling stars. that was really amazing. Imagine Manila a hundred years ago, free from light pollution.
The electricity in Pangipasan is limited so the power generator was only activated at 6-7p.m. so afterwards, we expected the the lights would be turned of and we had to sleep with lights off and no fan but since it was cool at night, it was enough to let us sleep comfortably. We woke up at 7a.m. for the early boarding back to Antipas.
APRIL 20, 2012 FRIDAY
Befor we had our breakfast, we discovered a little falls down where my colleagues took a dip, just opposite side of where stream was found
We were advised that instead of trekking the yesterday's trail, we headed the alternative way but we didnt expect that this was a sort of harder way because we had to trek through another steepy yet more scenery trail
We didnt expect that we had to climb up to that hill seriously. :[
The peak of that hill as seen from below (first photo) and the peak itself (second photo)
The highest peak of the trail over looking Lanao Del Sur. This is where we waited for SADAM.
In a span of thirty minutes, Ms. Liza, our Audio visual librarian took several clips and interviewed us regarding the experience that we had in Pangipasan. Elaine, Ms. Beth, Gori, Ms. Zeny and Conie were the ones interviewed, and of course, we were the ones laughing at the background
And when the truck arrived, we all placed ourselves at our own risks haha. another rocky road! the truck was almost tilting at 45 degrees so we held on as tight as we could.
And when we reached the main road, we all took a deep breath. hahha. Define EXPERIENCE!hahaha
Our travel back to Antipas took about an hour and a half.
At 10:00 we arrived at Antipas where we transferred to our shuttle again. We did not have enough time to take a bath due to time constraints. Everybody there was asking how our experience was.
Immediately, we boarded again and we headed for DAVAO CITY!!! :)) ..... Go to next Blog Entry DAVAO CITY TOUR! :)
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