It’s time to update my travel history according to Lakbayan!

A short sojourn in Masbate while passing through Ticao on my way home to Cebu and a few days stay in Naujan, Mindoro Oriental finally made a difference in the map. From A-, I’m now an A traveler!

Culion, for a time was nicknamed, unfortunately, The Island of the Living Dead. Not that creatures of the underworld roamed the streets at night or scared its inhabitants but it was an act of government that made it compulsory for lepers in the country, from Luzon to Mindanao, to be segregated into this forlorn of places. Leprosy is an ancient scourge and before the medical breakthroughs in the later part of the 20th century, there were no known cures. Sufferers were treated like pariahs and left deformed for life.

The write-up was my intro and first saw the light of the virtual world, exactly a year ago as I finally decided to make this travel blog: Langyaw – Sojourns of a Solitary Traveler. And what better start than to distill in a single post the joy and thrill of going places, experiencing people, food and the act of traveling where the destination is not always the end all of one’s journey.

This is the second time that I’ve been to this old settlement that was originally inhabited by the Tagbanuas. During the 17th century, the Augustinian Recollects arrived and evangelized here and in the mid-18th century, this was part of an important network of a defensive system against Muslim piratical raids. In 1906, the island was established as a leper colony. One unique trait of the island is its very heterogeneous population that can be attributed to the forced segregation policy of the country during the American period where lepers from all parts of the country were put.

One of the best things to see here in Coron is the approach to the island while passing through the spectacular karst limestone cliffs that comprise the islands of the Calamianes group of North Palawan. And the best time is early in the morning as the sun is still a few degrees from the horizon. Its golden rays striking the greenery and yellow to gray walls of rock. Only a boat ride can give you this pleasure.

I was already set to sail for Puerto Princesa: my ticket has already been paid, I already boarded the ship bound for the Palawan capital and my things were already at my assigned cot. On 10 June 07, 8 months after my Cuyo trip, M/V Catalyn D sunk off Mindoro As it was still in the afternoon, a few hours before the night trip schedule, I ventured out. Directly infront of the ship was M/V Catalyn D. Walking along the street just outside of the pier, I saw the smaller ship’s ticket office and out of curiosity, I asked about their schedule.

Agutaya town is a small place. Within less than an hour, you would have toured around the town center. After taking photos of the fortress church that dominates the town, I just went around. Typical provincial area: an elementary school with bright welcoming gates, a large clearing serving as softball field with grandstand at one side, a basketball court and at one end is the concrete town hall.

What was a sunny afternoon across the open sea turned out to be a scary trip. Despite this, I arrived from Cuyo in one piece.

For the past few days, it has been raining in Manila due to typhoon Helen hovering above Batanes with torrential rains dampening one’s dispostion but this didn’t stop me from going home to Cebu. Well, I had to attend to some urgent matters even if this trip was unplanned. Luckily, I was able to get a roundtrip ticket a week before and guess what, it is Philippine Airlines which was offering their Buy One – Take One promo.

Having a free afternoon in the town proper, I hailed a tricycle and went to the next municipality of Magsaysay. I was looking for other old churches but found none*. While walking around, I found this wooden house. It was beautiful. While abodes like this are common in the rural areas in the provinces, this one was a lot bigger than what I have seen, say in Oslob or Boljoon in Cebu.

Typical of its construction, it is elevated with wooden posts.

Early one morning, just before sunrise, I woke up early to take a short walk and take photos along the shore where a fishing boat was beached into the shallow water for a few days already. After a few minutes of seeing, composing, setting and clicking, I started to notice a group of fishermen starting to pull at a rope. They were trawling the shallows and this got me curious since I haven’t seen this before.

Be careful of what you wish for, it might come true. For many years, Cuyo is a fascination. A sprinkling of islets between Panay and Northern Palawan, I have wondered many times about its isolation, its people and the rich religious cultural heritage found on its soil. It all started way back more than a decade ago when I used to collect butterflies.