A weekend on Mindanao

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Last Friday night after work, I took off on a weekend getaway trip to another regional island south of Cebu called Mindanao. I packed my backpack for the weekend to see one of my best friends for roughly 36 hours of non-stop fun. My friend Mike, who used to live in Los Angeles last year, moved back here to the Philippines for his corn milling business in an area called Initao Beach. I haven’t seen Mike since last year prior to him leaving nor have I had the opportunity to take time to go visit him since I’ve been here. I did tell him before he left that I would find a way to come visit him here in the Philippines no matter what. Thankfully, with the internship here at BigFoot I was able to live up to my word. As soon as I was able to clock out for the weekend, I jumped into a cab, headed to pier 4 to catch the Cebu Ferry bound for Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao.


Before I continue on typing about my journey, I want to express my love hate relationship with cab drivers and their lousy attempt of foreign taxing. When I got into the cab, I told the driver to take me to pier 4 to catch the ferry, and the guy offers me a ‘rate’ of 350 Php. I looked at him with a look of ‘do you really think I’m that big of an oxy moron?’ No, I’m not a moron and one thing that fires up my engine and revs me faster then majority of situations is a cab driver trying to take the piss out of me. I told him to turn his meter on knowing it wasn’t 350 Php, he just looked at me as if I was silly American for not taking his offer of his special ‘rate’. I watch the meter and how he shifted gears taking his time over to Cebu Island, I watched him like a hawk. What’s even more entertaining about this whole ride is as soon as we finally get there the price is 177.50 Php. I give him a 500 Php note and he gives me back 150 Php, which then blows my motor and I’m fuming. I was so furious and so annoyed with him telling him to give me money and he had the audacity to tell me I should give him extra. Needless to say a few words were exchanged, I made him feel like an idiot and told him do not try that on anyone again cause its bad business. He just said ‘thank you thank you’ but I knew he was really saying in his head, “f*&^ you.” I got out and walked into the entrance for ferry boarding heading to Cagayan de Oro.


The ferry ride was something I wanted to try out to add to my collection of foreign affairs, with it being a common means of transportation here from one island to another. It takes roughly 8 hours from departing time to get to Cagayan de Oro situated north of Mindanao. Prior to me getting on the ferry, you have to go through dog inspection of your belongings, which I’m not sure if they are bomb sniffing dogs or searching for drugs. You set down your belongings in a line along with others, then stand there and watch the dogs do their thing before collecting them and head out to the ferry. After I did that, I walked up the stairs, gave my ticket to the worker and he escorted me to my cabin. I was probably the only foreigner on the ferry, and with the amount of beds that are set up for the journey it’s like flying a Boeing 747-400 on water. My friend wanted to make sure I slept in the cabin, as it was slightly quieter contrary to the rows and rows of beds out in the open. The cabin holds four people, bunk bed style, and a bathroom. When we left the dock, I had myself a ferry meal before I went back to fall asleep on my top bunk and getting some sleep during the journey down.

There was one guy in my cabin who I met and told me he worked for Mindaue City Prison as security officer showing me two of his identification cards. He was heading home to Cagayan for a holiday break and then returning end of the month. When we docked at 4:30 am, he and I were chatting and said if I ever wanted to tour the city prison, he would organize it. Nice of him to invite me to a prison, I don’t think it will happen unfortunately for him. Once he gave me his number, I said bye and walked over to see my friend Mike standing there excited, tired, slightly in shock, and anxious to see me. His last friend who visited was 5 months ago from the states, I did tell him I would find a way to come to the Philippines to visit. Again, ironically enough, I had an internship offered to me that allowed me to do and close enough, so it all worked out. After giving each other a big hug, we piled into his SUV along with three of his cousins and headed towards Initao Beach forty-five minutes away.

The drive to Initao was typical pinoy driving, ruthless and crazy. Mike’s cousin, Marshall, was driving us back so Mike and I could catch up, chat, call each other out, and whatever else defines a platonic relationship. He is one of those that are few and far between, that, no matter what, is your friend. We don’t pass judgment on each other, no expectations, there are a few things I don’t like about him and vise versa about me, but overall he’s someone I deeply respect who, if you give respect to, will give twice as much in return. Meanwhile, during our reconnection is his cousin driving us on one-lane roads due to all the roadwork spread out on a main road. I couldn’t really see anything as it was still dark from it being around 5:45-6am in the morning. Shortly after driving through the town of Initao, we turn right onto a private dirt road leading down the hill to a house on a private beach.

I knew Mike came back to the Philippines for business as he’s quite a sharp entrepreneur for his age, but I had no idea he had what he had really. We often talk when I am back home in the states or anywhere in the world, most of the time skyping. He always tells me of projects he had in the works and he’s also savvy with numbers so he’s continuously brainstorming ideas to increase capital, buy property, etc. So when we pulled into the dirt road, he had Marshall stop to let us out while they drove down to the house, and he took me on a guided tour of the property he lives on. He showed me the house being built, areas that use to be used for farming, fishing and what’s being rebuilt. I was very proud of him for all he was doing, I can tell though he has been lonely since being there on his own most of the time. He has parties and people over but no one from the states, and obviously with it being different here as oppose to back home. He’s full Filipino, born in the states however, but grew up here in there, here in the Philippines and Guam.


That morning was action packed despite the weather’s presence of ever-constant rain. Around 7:30 am I asked if he had something to eat for breakfast, and of course being a single guy no he didn’t. So we piled into the SUV and drove to a local meat market to collect some fresh meat to cook. We bought some pork, a jumper for my battery (and this jumper charges any type of battery out here.), and fish to make Kanilaw with. The market wasn’t even fully open that early in the morning, not to mention there’s Mike and I being there in this traditional Filipino meat market, slapping the meat with leaf fans to drive away the continuous gathering of flies. After we collected meat, we piled back into the SUV and headed back to the beach. There, Marshall and Jitu, his other worker, cooked breakfast for us to eat while Mike and I sat outside talking and watching the waves. When breakfast was done, back into the SUV and I drove them all over to Mike’s mill just down the road to see where he sits when we skype, how the mill operates, and meeting some family of his. Cock fighting is quite common here as well, so we watched them have a go at each other a couple times before loading the suv again and heading north of Initao to a place called Midway, with me behind the wheel.


It was a twelve-minute ride from the south to the north of Initao to get to Midway resort. We parked the car, got out and of course being goof balls that we are, we took pictures in the rain, one with me on the cliff, holding onto a post and getting splashed by waves, him modeling on the limb with the waves in the back, great promo shots for the resort to use. After midway it was back to his place where I wore a wife beater and a pair of his boxers into the ocean as I forgot my bikini to bring down. There isn’t a soul in sight on this beach except for me, and the warm ocean all to myself. I did cart wheels in the sand, modeled a coconut on my head, took more photos, and went back in to hang out with the workers while they played Wii. Once I hit a bed though a couple hours later, my body went into siesta mode so for four hours I slept waking up to the rain still coming down. Marshall, and Hinday who is another worker for Mike, is 21-years old, very small guy but is core strength is impeccable. He was fun to mess around with, not to mention he is still a virgin so his nickname was ‘virgin’ all weekend I was there, all in good fun of course. He even started singing at one point, ‘Like a virgin, heeeey!’ and from what Mike was saying, he can sing every song thanks to the karaoke machine.

Later that evening, Marshal and the rest of the crew made dinner for us and it was absolutely stellar with rice, kanilaw and fresh meat from tuna collar. Usually here in the Philippines, the workers eat after the ‘boss’ so I had to tell them it’s ok to eat with us because they were there too shy to come over on their own to eat. Finally the rain also stopped so we were able to go outside under the full moon and build a bon fire on the beach watching the fishing boats make their way up and down the high tide with a light to catch fish. It was very peaceful to sit outside and listen to the ocean watching the fire, sitting there thinking to myself, ‘some people spend thousands of dollars to fly somewhere remote and have a beach as nice as this all to themselves, and here I am at my friends place doing that same thing, getting treated just as good, and have anything to complain about.’ I live in America’s Finest City back home in the states, but at that moment, I was able to really understand how fortunate I was to be there. Then again, in your life you make choices, and I’m only there due to the fact that I made a choice to go there by taking up an opportunity. It may not be a Shangri-La, 4 Seasons, or a Wynn hotel, it was better actually because you are one with everything around you in it’s natural environment. When 10 pm came around, we went into the house before watching a few episodes of 24 on the computer, and then retiring for the night.


Sunday morning we woke up around 6:30 and had coffee on his roof talking about stories he had while living there, what he wants to do with everything, and looking out into the sea with it’s low tide. We went to his mill after to have Filipino breakfast consisting of rice, fish, and a salad made from their garden that was also amazing. Not your typical breakfast consisting of eggs, milk, toast, and potatoes, it was an authentic traditional Filipino breakfast that’s filling, healthy, and simple. When we were done, we headed back to his place for a while to hit up the empty beach and play with baby goats that roam his yard who were absolutely precious. One in particular wouldn’t leave me alone and kept demanding attention, and seeing that I grew up with farm animals such as pigs, chickens, horses, geese, goats, ducks, rabbits, hamsters, and birds; I love animals. Mike also taught me how to do Muy Thai in his room so that was my 20-minute work out and it’s intense. I think with the conditioning those fighters put themselves through its so disciplined more so then any other sport I’ve seen because of the constant coordination of the feet, the combinations, and core strength. So essentially we were beating each other up for 20-minutes until I was spent with energy, needless to say that’s the type of work out I should force myself to endure, it’s grueling at first but in top notch once you get into the whole routine.

I spent sometime on the beach taking in the whole scenery before we were to start heading back to Cagayan to catch the ferry back to Cebu later that day. Mike didn’t want me to leave, as I was there to keep him sane from being so lonely. Sadly enough, I had to go so I can make it back to work in time the following morning without getting myself into any trouble. I was sad as well as Mike’s in the small selective group of amazing friends. I even told him I’d live there to help him with his companies and help run it the way he needs it ran, but it had to be after my contract with Bigfoot is fulfilled which is end of March. He knows if there is anyone to regulate on finances (though mine aren’t the best, I can always prioritize others), he knows he can leave me with an assignment to get done and I’ll execute it. I never once expect anything from him and he respects that of me, I just go with the flow, and am there if he needs me to work.

Sunday was the day the sun came out so the beach looked even better then yesterday, and the humidity was starting to really pick up. I took a few last photos around the property before we drove over to the mill to collect Marshall and Jitu to head back into Cagayan. On the way up we stopped at the entrance of the new international airport they are building here on Mindanao this is only being built approximately 25-minutes away between his place and Cagayan. The value on his property went up substantially as the area around the intended airport is lush with trees, tropical, remote, and a perfect location for future resorts. He did mention he wants to build a resort down the road at some point, and seeing that he is still young and determined, he will. He took some photos of me standing in front of the road of the future airport and then off to Cagayan to catch my ferry bound back to Cebu at 8pm that evening.


We got into Cagayan early enough to make a stop at the shopping center for a few errands and to buy some stuff to eat. Then Marshall was to take us to a friend’s house for a bit but instead, we got lost. We end up driving through some dodgy places, it didn’t seem dangerous but it’s in the heart of the hustle and bustle of Cagayan where the streets are laced with bodies, tricycles, vendors, jeepneys, anything you can throw into the mix to make it condensed as if you’re in the midst of a street festival, only it’s a typical Sunday evening. Marshall wouldn’t admit he was lost, but we were until he figured it was a better idea to stop and ask for directions. Not to mention the time Mike needed to urinate, so Marshall drives onto the sidewalk and just parks it while Mike gets out in the middle of the street to do his thing. Anything goes here that’s for sure, it’s the Filipino wild wild west. Once we arrived at our final destination at the port, I said my good byes to Mike and his crew before heading into the terminal to make my way back to Cebu eight hours later to clock in at 8 am for work.

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Photos

bonfire
The bonfire and the boat in the backround catching fish