It had been almost 20
years since the last time I went to Mindanao, the southern region of the
Philippines. A few years back, my whole family (excluding me and my older
sister, Jessica), had a vacation in Cagayan de Oro and Camiguin in Northern
Mindanao. So, when the opportunity arose (i.e., Jessica and I were
available at the same time for a three-day getaway), we grabbed a flight to
Cagayan de Oro.
We arrived at Laguindingan
Airport at around 10 in the morning. We hopped into one of the fixed-rate car
shuttles from the airport to take us to the hotel. Since there were only two of
us and the car was good for 4 people, we had to wait for about 30 minutes in
the airport before another passenger arrived and the car finally left. The
bigger vans left earlier and are probably the best option. I think our shuttle
was the last to leave the airport but on the brighter side, the car brought us
directly to our hotel, Pearlmont Inn.
White water rafting
We chose Kagay because
it was the same operator that my family used and they were said to have the
safest white water rafting in CDO, with state of the art equipment and well-trained
guides. Plus, they were the only operator who had available seats in the
afternoon, at that time.
We quickly checked in
at our hotel and had lunch at DV-soria, our meet-up point for the white water
rafting. We later learned that we
could’ve simply requested to have the operator pick us up at the hotel. On our jeepney transfer from the city center
to Cagayan River, we made friends with two girls from South Cotabato. Since
there was just the two of us, we paired up with them in one raft.
.JPG) |
| White Water Rafting |
When we arrived at the
starting point, we were given safety gears and a safety briefing. The guide
taught us how to hold the paddle, what to do if we fall, and the paddling
commands we needed to know for the beginner’s course. The first few rafts were
quite exhilarating. One of the things that made the experience enjoyable was
our guide. He was informative and entertaining. During the calm portions of the
ride, he would give stories about white water rafting and Cagayan de Oro. He
also did pranks on us, like pushing us off the rafts.
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| Paddle! Paddle! Paddle! |
One of the good things
about white water rafting in Cagayan River was the remarkable view. Since I
decided that I’d be relying on the photos taken by the Kagay photographer, I
didn’t bring my camera with me. Sitting on the rafts and admiring the green
scenery conjoining the river, I regretted not bringing my camera.
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| Cagayan River |
Jessica and I are both
in poor shape. We don’t exercise and hardly do any strenuous activity. So, the
white water rafting experience was quite a work out for us, but nothing we
couldn’t handle. This was in both our bucket list, so we were very pleased.
Dahilayan Adventure
Park, Bukidnon
We had a hard time
deciding between Camiguin and Bukidnon. Since we wanted to go on an easy pace,
we decided on spending our second day in Dahilayan Adventure Park, Bukidnon.
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| Bukidnon: Pineapple Country |
We started our second
day at Coffeeworks, DV-soria, the meet-up point of the ZipZone shuttle to
Dahilayan Adventure Park. We made our reservations the night before, at Ayala
Centrio Mall. The ZipZone shuttle passed by Camp Phillips and through the Del
Monte pineapple plantation.
 |
| Camp Phillips |
The only ride I was
interested in at Dahilayan Adventure Park, was the Dropzone, a 120-foot free
fall drop. Despite being afraid of heights, I’ve always wanted to try bungee
jumping but I’ve never had the opportunity to do so. This was, for me, an
acceptable substitute. Of course, I didn’t have the guts to pull the string
that would trigger the drop, so I made my sister do it. My sister also rode the
840-meter zipline, the longest zipline in Asia.
 |
| Dropzone: a 120-foot drop |
Dahilayan is a nice
place with a cool climate but there’s not much to do. Since, the shuttle was scheduled to leave 4PM
(and we were already done with our rides before lunch), we spent the rest of
our time, eating, relaxing and strolling around the park. I was starting to
have a cold at that time so I was glad we went to Dahilayan, instead of
Camiguin.
 |
| Dahilayan |
Expenses
Category
|
PHP
|
Transportation
|
6,354.74
|
Airfare (Cebu Pacific)
|
5,397.24
|
Local Transportation (tricycle, taxi, jeep)
|
207.50
|
Shuttle (Airport-Hotel and v.v. )
|
400.00
|
Shuttle (DV-Soria to Dahilayan
|
350.00
|
Accommodation
|
1,400.00
|
Food
|
693.00
|
Attractions
|
1,075.00
|
Personal Expenses
|
373.00
|
Souvenir
|
238.00
|
Gifts
|
135.00
|
Medicine
|
52.00
|
Others
|
210.00
|
Total
|
10,157.74
|
