What It Means To Live | Exploring Surigao del Sur

It’s been a while ever since I’ve traveled to places outside our city due to the restrictions brought on by the pandemic. This challenging time hindered us from doing the things we used to love during the old normal such as traveling. Hence, this made us appreciate more of such things as the restrictions are lifted little by little.

Now, with the ease of going outside the borders of our place provided that one is vaccinated, I got the opportunity to travel to Surigao del Sur with my titas who are also our neighbors at home and at the same time, churchmates during my 5 years of service, together with Seminarian Giovanni from the SCJ priests, my mother, and my boyfriend, Edgar. Since my titas are already senior citizens, I was the one who volunteered as the coordinator slash organizer of this trip. After our so-called deliberations and suggestions on what place shall we go for a travel, I thought of Surigao del Sur because of the majestic bodies of water and breathtaking sceneries I usually see on social media posts. Indeed, we didn’t regret traveling to this place.

The Itinerary

I carefully researched the tourist spots of the province and below is our itinerary during the trip:

DAY 1 – JUNE 24, 2022

5:00am – Departure from Cagayan de Oro going to Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur via Claveria, Misamis Oriental route.

7:00am – Breakfast at Jollibee Gingoog City.

10:45am – Arrived at Diatagon, Lianga, Surigao del Sur at the family of home of Fr. Rechie Gier, SCJ for lunch since it was also their fiesta in honor of St. John the Baptist.

1:00pm – Arrived at Villa Rosalina Resort for island hopping to Britannia Group of Islands.

4:00pm – End of island hopping and went again at Fr. Rechie’s home for dinner.

6:00pm – Departure from Lianga to Bislig City, Surigao del Sur for overnight stay at Citiside Inn.

8:00pm – Arrived and checked-in at Citiside Inn, settled down, and prepared ourselves for rest time.

DAY 2 – JUNE 25, 2022

7:00am – Departure from Citiside Inn to Tinuy-an Falls situated at Brgy. Borboanan, Bislig City.

9:00am – Departed from Tinuy-an Falls to Enchanted River, Hinatuan.

10:00am – Arrived at Enchanted River, Hinatuan and had some tour and photo ops at the balcony near the river.

11:00am – Island hopping going to Sibadan Fish Cage and ate sutukil (sinugba, tula, kilaw) for lunch at the floating restaurant.

1:00pm – Departed from Sibadan Fish Cage, had a short tour going to the Enchanted River Rock Island Resort, and went back to the Enchanted River area

2:00pm – Departed from Enchanted River, Hinatuan going to Butuan City via San Francisco – Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur route.

4:00pm – Arrived at Butuan City and checked-in at Amigotel Inn.

5:00pm – Ed and I had some short exploration near the vicinity and brought some lemonade for refreshment and shawarma rice for dinner while the titas, my mom, and Seminarian Giovanni went together to visit Tita Elsie’s relative in Butuan City for dinner.

8:00pm – Settled down to rest at Amigotel Inn and preparation for next day

DAY 3 – JUNE 26, 2022

4:00am – Checked-out at Amigotel Inn and departure from Butuan City to Gingoog City.

6:30am – Arrived at Jollibee, Gingoog City for breakfast.

7:00am – Departure from Gingoog City to Cagayan de Oro City via Claveria, Misamis Oriental route. Had some stop-overs to buy fresh fruits at Doalnara.

9:30am – Arrived at our respective homes at Cagayan de Oro City

On day 1, during our arrival at Surigao del Sur, we were very grateful to Fr. Rechie Gier for welcoming us at their family home in Barangay Diatagon, municipality of Lianga since it was also their fiesta in honor of St. John the Baptist.

We were fascinated by their new home since it is made of hardwood produced in their province which is the magkuno or the famous iron wood in Surigao del Sur. Also, their family members were very hospitable and friendly to us. They’ve prepared the freshest seafood such as shrimps, crabs, shells, and tuna which are every Filipino’s desire to taste the delicious flavors of nature’s bounty.

Fr. Rechie is one of my tita‘s close priest friends and he is currently designated as the new assistant parish priest at our church in Aluba. We’re definitely indebted for the kindness and warmth they’ve given to us.

On the other hand, we only visited 3 islands during our tour at Britannia Group Islands. These are the Hagonoy Island, Naked Island, and Boslon Island.

Afterwards, we traveled around 2 hours to the southern portion of the province going to Bislig City since the Tinuy-an Falls is situated in the area. This will be part of our itinerary for the next day.

Fr. Rechie’s family home in Lianga, Surigao del Sur

Island hopping at Britannia Group of Islands

Island hopping at Britannia Group of Islands

Exploring Bislig City, Surigao del Sur

For our stay at Bislig City, we checked-in at Citiside Inn located at Barangay Mangagoy just within the city’s downtown area. There, we chose the dorm type room which accommodated 9 individuals. The inn was very affordable for budget travelers.

However, some facilities were not well-maintained such as the comfort room’s sliding door which can be hardly closed, air conditioner which is not cool enough to support 9 people inside, and flat screen cable television that unexpectedly turns off which halted the momentum of my titas who are watching the immortal Cardo from the sensational teleserye, Ang Probinsyano!

Lobby at Citiside Inn, Mangagoy, Bislig City, Surigao del Sur

For day 2, after our light breakfast at Citiside Inn since we still had extra food brought during our travel, we went to Tinuy-an Falls at around 7:30am. It would take a 20-30 minute journey from the highway since the place is approximately 15 kilometers from the main road.

As we went along, we’ve passed through vast rice fields and the Lake 77 which I’ve just known during my GPS navigation from my phone. With my curiosity on why the lake was named that way, I searched through the internet and discovered that it was a man-made lake which used to be a rice field and was then converted into a water reservoir by a private paper company to support water supply for the plant paper operation. It was also named with that number as it is the area size of the man-made lake and the year it was completed in 1977.

More from that, we dropped-off shortly at the registration area before the entrance at Tinuy-an Falls. One of my titas, Tita Elsie, treated us with an ethnic bracelet from the nearby souvenir store as a keepsake for the trip. You can see it from my photos below worn at my right wrist. After paying the Php50 entrance fee (Php40 for senior citizens which is applicable to my titas and mom), we were pre-occupied with having photo ops and taking photos and videos of the breathtaking Tinuy-an Falls which resembles like a flowing curtain.

Ed and I went to the farthest portion near the falls itself to have a picture for both us. Aside from the drizzle during that day, we just ignored the heavy showers from the plunging water since it’s only a rare opportunity to go to this place.

Snapshots at Tinuy-an Falls, Bislig City, Surigao del Sur

Exploring Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur

From the magnificent Tinuy-an Falls, it was another awe moment at The Enchanted River which is an hour of travel to the province of Hinatuan. We were amazed with the river’s pristine blue waters where the deepest and unexplored portion is located.

As I was looking at the blue river, I could imagine supernatural beings living in the place while playing a nature sound effect at the back of my head. I then understood why the river was named that way. Moreover, the weather was not good during that time as it was lightly raining and we had difficulty taking a picture of ourselves near the viewing area of the river. Yet, the rain didn’t stopped us as we continued our exploration to the Sibadan Fish Cage.

From the Enchanted River, we went to the boat station to ride a bangka or small boat that has 5 individual sitting capacity. We rented 2 bangkas since we were comprised of 8 individuals.

It was the most daring part of the trip since it was drizzling at first yet the light rain suddenly stopped as we were approaching the broad open sea. Despite that we wore life vests in case of unexpected events, I was slightly anxious because of the small sea waves and my inability to swim. Thankfully, there was no clue of a strong sea breeze and the sea was very calm as we then arrived safely at Sibadan Fish Cage.

There, we witnessed the caged small sharks, sting rays, and other school of fish while some tourists are swimming with these friendly marine creatures. At this place, tourists could avail of room accommodations as it also a resort and could dine at their restaurant area.

We ate our lunch there and ordered their delicious specialty which is sutukil (Sugba, tula, kinilaw), an abbreviation of the bisaya words, sugba which is to grill, tula which is to stew fish, and kinilaw which is to cook raw fish with vinegar. This dish is a favorite and specialty of every bisaya in the country as it never goes out of season. Our hunger was finally satisfied with that sutukil which was perfect during the gloomy weather that day.

From there, we went back to the Enchanted River boat area and then travelled around 2 hours to the north going to Butuan City via the Bayugan-San Francisco route.

We checked-in at Amigotel Inn situated at T. Calo Street, Butuan City and availed of their Barkada Room and Family Room which is good for 12 hours. Their rooms were clean and has a well-functioning flat screen cable television compared to the television we had at Bislig City. Also, one can have a view outside since it has a balcony. However, the air conditioner was not that cool to support 4-5 individuals in every room. Aside from that, the inn is not senior-citizen friendly as we were booked at the 4th floor and the establishment does not have an elevator. So, you better engage in cardio exercises first if you happen to book at this inn. Overall, the room accommodation experience was good except for the 4th floor situation.

While our titas and Seminarian Giovanni visited Tita Elsie’s cousin in the city for dinner, Ed and I opted to stay at the inn as I had a headache due to the heat during the day and afterwards, we explored the nearby area for dinner and bought a yakult lemonade at Lemon Time and a shawarma rice meal at Alladin Shawarma and Kebabs which were both very refreshing and satisfying, respectively. We then rested at the inn to prepare ourselves to go home at dawn the next day.

Tour at Enchanted River and Sibadan Fishcage and Resort

By Sunday, we checked-out at the inn at exactly 4:00am since the room accommodation is only good for 12 hours. We had our breakfast at Jollibee Gingoog City at 7:00am and went home to Cagayan de Oro City via the same route at Claveria, Misamis Oriental route. We then arrived at our respective homes at almost 10 in the morning.

What Stayed With Me

We’ve planned this trip just 3 weeks before and we didn’t expect that this would eventually push through.

As they say, unplanned trips are the best because planned trips never happen, but not all the time.

Moreover, I’ve mostly enjoyed this travel because I rarely checked my phone for social media updates and instead, took lots of photos and videos while enjoying the scenery, the music playlist at the van, the lively conversations with my companions, and overall, the journey in every destination that we went.

Nevertheless, what I’ve reflected the most from my travel companions are my tita’s and mom’s joyful dispositions and warm smiles that they are living their life to the fullest as they are already at their old age.

At the end of our journey, what we will remember the most are not our earthly possessions, worldly achievements, and material wealth but rather, the positive experiences and impact we’ve shared to others and the path we’ve chosen not just to exist in this world but most importantly, to live this transient life.