It’s said that Ferdinand Magellan escaped from Lapu-Lapu’s men who were seeking
revenge for the raping of fifty women in Cebu. His ship, Trinidad, sailed towards
Talibon, where several crew members disembarked and mingled with natives,
educating them in Christianity. The morals of the western world never fail to
amaze.
Talibon – Tubigon – 60 km
By morning, I packed my mobile home and proceeded around the island. Being
blistering hot, islanders were convinced the weather was too severe to cycle and
extended invitations for cold drinks under shady trees. Albeit blistering hot, I
didn’t think one would suffer heat exhaustion.
Tubigon allowed sightseeing and an opportunity to investigate the famous
Chocolate Hills. Chocolate Hills consist of 1,268 identical-looking hills. The story
goes the hills were the calcified tears of a giant, whose heart was broken by the
death of a mortal lover. Regrettably, no sooner was the viewpoint reached when
the rain came pelting down, preventing any good pictures.
In locating digs in Tubigon, a path led down a dirt track, past people’s prized
possessions, their fighting cocks, until reaching Tubigon Beach Resort. Philippine
resorts came in all shapes and sizes, from five-star to rickety huts upon stilts. I
guessed this was the rickety hut on stilts. The walkway didn’t look secure, and the
floor of the room was springy, to say the least, but at 350 pesos one couldn’t
complain. The room even had a shower and toilet. The water, nonetheless, drained
straight through a hole in the floor and ran out underneath the hut. The bathroom
was halfway between a squat toilet and a throne, and it was best not to check to
see where it drained – hopefully, not the same as the shower.