First 2022 Trip: Guimaras!

Rheane and I had planned a trip to Boracay on the first weekend of January, but we had to change our plans because of the Covid surge.

Incidentally, Noel's father died, and since we were attending his wake and funeral at Guimaras anyway, we planned to include a bit R&R in our trip.

We commuted to the Roro port to Guimaras (neighbor was one of the security guards there!) and paid P40 each to reach the Guimaras Roro Wharf. We booked an Airbnb place for our stay and it was great that our host's brother-in-law, Rolly, was a tricycle driver who was at the wharf when we arrived. The fare was P30 to the Mountain Bikers Hub (500m from the Roro wharf).

We arrived at around 10AM and were immediately greeted by our host, Sir Tommy Martir, a pioneer of bike tourism efforts in Guimaras. 

We got in through the gym (daily rate was only P40, monthly at P350!) and were led to our modest room adjacent to it.

We had a simple breakfast of rice, fried eggs, and hotdogs, quickly prepared by Mam Che (Sir Tommy's wife). 

We brought our own coffee and tea, and just requested for hot water so our meal just set us back P120.

We just rested for a bit before going to the wharf to each lunch in one of the carinderias while waiting for our friends so that we could go to Noel's together. Our lunch just cost us P130 (still less than the cost of our pricey coffee drinks LOL).

This view just in front of our place!

We went to Noel's and paid our respects and had dinner there before going back to our place.

I got up early the next morning to take advantage of the gym facilities, and I had a good 30-minute full-body strength workout courtesy of HasFit!

These bikes around us are for rent! 

We attended the mass and funeral of Noel's father at Jordan Church and Memorial Park. 

We had brunch after the service, and because we wanted to make "pagpag" before heading back to our place, we decided to go to Alibhon to have lunch before our planned bike ride and trip to the beach in the afternoon.

We bought Sandugo sandals in the market and the saleslady there told us that they were going to vacate their pwesto because a McDonald's was going to be built there (hello, commercialization causing the death of small shops).

We had an obligatory visit to The Pitstop, a local restaurant that specialized in mango-based specialties. We had their mango pizza and carbonara before heading back to Tommy's place.

Sir Tommy was excitedly waiting for us when we got back, and he already had our bikes ready for our trip. Bike rentals cost P500 per bike, and the tour guide was P500 per day. 

Unfortunately, Rheane's body gave up on the second tuklad of the ride. She was already not feeling well earlier and we decided she would just take a tricycle to Brgy. Lawi.

I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE riding to Brgy. Lawi. Oh. My. Gudness! There were hardly any flat roads, and all we had were uphill and downhill roads where I took turns catching between catching my breath (uphill) and praying to my guardian angel (downhill)! 😂 

Sir Tommy was VERY PATIENT the whole time. There were times when I really had to dismount and push my bike uphill, but he just motivated me to keep going.

Rheane and Rolly eventually caught up to us and I was pleasantly surprised to see Mam Che and Osang (Rolly's wife) going with them on their scooter.

After about an hour and a half (16km), we reached the port at Brgy. Lawi and started our trek of about 1.5km to the Lawi Marine Protected Area where we enjoyed a swim and Rheane's photoshoot HAHAHA

Sigh. This view.

I had no more energy left in me to ride back to our place at 4PM so Sir Tommy had to contend with mounting our bikes on the tryk ride back home. We requested to have dinner of fish sinigang and roasted chicken with the family and we had a great, great time sharing laughter and stories with each other.

Sleep was always easy to come and I had recharged enough to go for a good 6-km run in Jordan. The good thing about staying on the western side of the island is that it takes a long while before the rays of the sun hit us so I was able to take my time during my run.

We had one last breakfast with our view as we took in the many events of our weekend. Rheane had an upset stomach so we decided to just take a rest before going back to Iloilo.

Check out "Nessel's Place" at Airbnb!

Overall, despite the sad nature of our visit and some health bumps along the way, we had a really, really good time in Guimaras. It wasn't how we planned our first trip for the year to be, but I'd say that given the circumstances, it was a great blessing to have!

Total expenses:
Fare, airbnb, meals, trip to Brgy. Lawi, bike rentals, and tour guide: ~ P7,000