We spent most of January 31st in transit. We took a trike back to the ferry terminal to take a bangka back to Caticlan. Another short trike ride had us back at the airport, where Lisa put in another 2.5 hours of work! The flight to Cebu was under an hour, but the taxi ride to the Cebu Port took longer than expected due to awful traffic. We joined a long ticket line and were pleased to eventually be on the 2 pm sailing. The ferry took two hours to get us to Tagbiliran on Bohol. From there, it was a 40 minute trike to Alona Beach on Panglao Island. [Many people (including us) visiting Bohol actually stay on the small island of Panglao that is connected by a bridge to Bohol.] After all of that, we were relieved that our room and hotel on Alona Beach are lovely and pleasantly surprised by the welcome drinks just before sunset. We began February by waking up early... early enough that I enjoyed photographing the sunRISE! After coffee and fried egg sandwiches, we negotiated a price for a trike driver to take us to the Bohol sites that we wanted to visit. It meant approximately four hours spent in a trike, but our "private tour" had us back by 1 pm. Our first photo stop was the Blood Compact Shrine. Captain General Miguel Lopez de Legazpi entered into a "blood compact" with Datu Sikatuna, a Chieftain of the Island of Bohol for the purpose of insuring friendly relations between the Spaniards and the Filipinos. Both leaders made a small cut on their left arm with a dagger and poured their blood into a goblet filled with wine, which they both drank in honour of the friendship being established. This formed the first treaty of friendship between Spain and the Filipinas. We happened upon a local youth parade. We made a brief stop to admire the Bilar Man-Made Forest. Next were the adorably ugly little Tarsiers at the conservation centre that protects them and makes it easy for us to see and photograph them. I was enjoying these little guys until I noticed their long rat-like tails. We continued our "tour" of Bohol from the "comfort" of a trike. Finally, we made it to Bohol's most famous attraction, its "Chocolate Hills". The hills were green during our visit as they only become "chocolate" brown when they dry out in the hot season. With our exploration over for the day, we grabbed a quick lunch (and a San Miguel) and then rested awhile before heading back out to the beach. We walked all of the short beachfront, and then it began to rain for the first time on this holiday. We returned to our room and watched the rain fall on the swimming pool. Once it had stopped, we ventured out again for dinner - grilled chicken breast, a chorizo kebab, and a veggie kebab with rice. Due to the cloud cover and grey skies, tonight was the first evening without a wonderful sunset.
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