infinitepossibilities

july 21

ortiz wharf - ortiz st., iloilo city.
this is the boat station in iloilo to hoskyn port at jordan, guimaras. wooh! that’s the first word that came out of my mouth. i thought the cab driver was joking. the place was very, ah… "not pleasant." it’s like in the middle of a squatter’s area. there’s some odor that’ll offend those with delicate sensibilities. well, it’s not really offensive - but the place is far from clean. the cab driver assured me that he has indeed taken me to ortiz wharf going to guimaras. so then, i hauled my ass off the seat and took my backpack out of the cab. "all right, vet. you can do this. you’re intent on doing this side trip before heading to ibajay, aklan to attend a birthday party."

off i went. carried my backpack on my shoulders and the gift in my left hand. walked straight and found a very tiny booth with a sign "TICKETS" [if i remember correctly]. asked the ticket attendant if the tickets were for ferries going to guimaras. the woman nodded yes, and thus handed her a 20-peso bill [hehe, i saw a man before me hand the woman a 20-peso bill, i sorta just followed him as i had no idea how much the ferry fare was]. the woman handed my change [i counted 9 pesos, thus fare was 11] and a makeshift ticket. hehe, super ingenious. the ticket was made of a used prepaid cellphone call/text card. front part was just covered with a white paper and the name of the ferry written on it. with the ticket in hand, i proceeded to where some people carrying bags headed. mein, notwithstanding the poor state of the boat station, the view from across the station was simply amazing. well, i found the view spectacular. it was one big island surrounded by very calm waters. it was unfortunate, however, as i didn’t take any picture. this was because i allowed fright to get the better of me. as the place wasn’t conducive to displays of possessions worth grabbing, unsafe at least to my mind. i couldn’t back this up with statistics though. anyway, i hopped on the ferry and 15 minutes after, i arrived at hoskyn port in jordan guimaras.

now, where to vet?

hmmm, last i remember from my ever reliable Lonely Planet Philippines book and some stuff from the net, the place i was headed for can be found in the town of nueva valencia at sitio alubihod. i was actually headed for Raymen Beach Resort found in Alubihod Beach, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras. According to a Virtual Tourist forum member, one may take a jeepney and ask to be dropped off at the town of Nueva Valencia. From Jordan [hoskyn port], it’d take roughly 45 minutes to get to the town’s center and then transfer to a trike for a 15-minute drive to the resort.

wookie, i got it covered. not.

the jeepneys parked near the port don’t exactly have the same signboards that we have here in cebu. thus, feigning thirst - i went to a nearby sari-sari store, bought a bottled water, and asked which jeepney was bound for nueva valencia. the store attendant gave me directions using a dialect i didn’t understand. it was a good thing she pointed her fingers to where the jeepneys were parked as i had no clue what she just said. hopped on the jeepney. interestingly, the jeepney didn’t wait for the vehicle to be full. as we were nearing the town of nueva valencia, an "only-in-the-philippines" scene greeted me. the jeepney was filled to capacity. more even. as in the jeepney’s whole middle aisle was occupied by more passengers sitting on what we referred in cebu as "extension seats." what’s even more interesting was what i saw at the poblacion. take this: passengers hand a makeshift claim tag to the jeepney’s "konduktor", then the "konduktor" goes to a store in the market to get what the passenger has purchased earlier. additionally, unlike here in cebu where passengers fight to get the seat nearest the jeepney’s rear, the people in guimaras actually move towards the driver to give room for those who just came in.

45 minutes… hmmm… where the heck is nueva valencia? nagkabukid man, hmmmm…. only then did i ask the teenager beside me and learned to my horror that we’ve passed by the poblacion several minutes ago [the stop where makeshift claim tags exist]. paets….

"ah, miss…can you tell me when we get to the next stop?"
"okay."
"where’s the next stop, anyway?"
"sa alubihod"
bingo!
"hey, that’s actually the place i’m headed."
a few minutes after, the teenager told the konduktor that i’m getting off at alubihod.

waahhhhhhhh…. the jeepney stopped in the middle of nowhere. "patay na jud ka, vet. nag bora na lang unta ka, at least you’ve been there and you’re a little bit familiar with the place. hala na… just walk."
bless me, a few steps and there it was: Raymen Beach Resort.

nice place. nice beach. let it be said that if given the chance, i’d like to visit it again.

[carousel at iloilo airport - raymen beach resort at alubihod beach, nueva valencia, guimaras - trappist monastery [san miguel? guimaras] 2nd to the last - hoskyn port, jordan, guimaras …last pix - ortiz wharf, iloilo city… taken on my way back to iloilo]