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Bohol is a island near Cebu just a little over an hour away by high-speed boat. It's economy is based on agriculture, fishing and tourism. It seems to lack most Third World problems - no beggers, no squatters, no garbage in the streets, no pollution, no traffic jams - just warm people who seem to really care for their land. |
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The tarsier is a small primate that lives only in Bohol and the island of Samar. They call it the smallest monkey in the world as it fits in the palm of your hand. It looks like a little gremlin with huge eyes, cat-like ears, hands that are proportionately huge, a long tail and a big round face which it can turn a full 180º to look behind. We got to hold them. |
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The Loboc River is the only major river in Bohol. We boarded a covered barge just below the falls for a lovely lunch while drifting down the river. The barge was three canoe-like boats joined together with a bambo deck and a roof. We had wonderful Boholano food consisting of grilled eggplant, tuna, shrimp, chicken and salad. |
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We started drifting on the Loboc just below the falls in a Mahogany forest. The tropical forest in the Philippines has been largely denuded by logging. It pleased us to see this reforestation effort. Near the mouth of the river, an old cathedral greeted us. |
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Bohol is famous for the Chocolate Hills which are weird mounds that look like Hershey Kisses during the dry season. We arrived at the end of the rainy season when they were covered with grasses and looked more like the lime gumdrop hills. We climbed to the top of one for a panoramic view. The cool mountain breezes were nice. |
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