When
I first visited Iloilo in 1998 one of the places that captured my fancy is the
Island where they say produces the best and sweetest mangoes – the Island of Province
of Guimaras. The Province of Guimaras is one of the smallest in the country and
is located between the Island of Panay and Negros. That is why backpackers
often go here from Iloilo and then to Bacolod and if you have more time you can
also go to Dumaguete.
The Guimaras Mangoes
Our
country is full of Festivals and the province of Guimaras celebrates the
Manggahan Festival every May to promote the province and celebrate its
foundation day. The Province has more thatn 50,000 Mango trees planted and
claims to have the sweetest mangoes in the world. Before, when you talk about
Guimaras, it was all about its Mangoes, but now it has become a preferred
tourist destination and I hope that in the next few years more resorts and
developments come to this province.
This is the 50-seater boat from Iloilo to Guimaras
HOW TO GET TO GUIMARAS
If
you come from Manila, take the Manila – Iloilo flight either via Philippine
Airlines or Cebu Pacific. At the Airport, you can either wait for a van that
will take you to SM Iloilo and take a taxi from there to either Parola Wharf or
Ortiz Wharf. You can also look for a metered taxi at the Airport and pay and
additional P 50 so you can get straight to the Wharf. That’s what I did, the
meter stood at P340 and gave the cab P400.
At the Wharf it takes just 5 – 10 minutes to buy a P14 ticket for a boat
that will take you to Guimaras. The boats easily fills up to 50 passengers and
will just take 15 to 20 minutes to get you to Guimaras. In
Guimaras, depending on where you will stay, its either you take a jeep which is
so crowded or a tricycle which charges up to P300 depending on where you will
go.
WHERE TO STAY
Guimaras
has five towns namely Jordan, Nueva Valencia, Buenavista, San Lorenzo and
Sibunag. The main wharf from Iloilo brings you to Jordan and there are lots of places
to stay in but I would recommend getting one at the Alobihod beach which is in
Nueva Valencia. There are four resorts sharing the same shoreline and after
checking out reviews at Trip Advisor I stayed at the Raymen’s Beach Resort and
I was quite content with what the place had to offer. The place is a 45- minute tricycle ride from
the Jordan Wharf and with lots of bumps along the way. I paid P 250 to the
driver going to Raymen’s and P300 going to the Jordan Wharf when I left the
place. As menteiond by the tricycle driver, the resort is 26 kilometers from
the Wharf.
Happy to fit in the trike
WHAT TO DO
Since
I was dead tired when I arrived, I tried to cramp all activities in one day.
The good thing about Raymen’s is that it’s all there, the beach and the people
you need to talk to when you go island hopping. At the same I told myself after
the island hopping I can go around and visit the other tourist destinations in
the province.
No Man is an Island Hopping
Good
thing with the Island hopping is that they have fixed prices with the boats so
you don’t have to haggle yourself around. Depending on how many you are, you
can actually rent a boat for yourself for P 500.00 for one hour and add P150
for the succeeding hours. Depending on how many you want to go to and how long
you want to be in one island will be proportional to how much you will pay. I
just rented the boat for two hours and snorkeled at the Ave. Maria Islet. The
rental for the snorkeling gear is P100. The other islands I just passed by and
took pictures.
HOW TO GET AROUND
As
I mentioned, read and experienced, most tourists take the tricycle to go around
the province. Recommended places to go
to are the Trappist Monastery where you can buy lots of pasalubong, the
Guimaras Provincial Hall where I took my Guimaras picture, you can also eat at
the Pitstop Restaurant, check out the smallest plaza which has the image of
Jose Rizal and Mango Reasearch Center – all of which are in Jordan. Other sites which I did not go to is on the
far side of Guimaras, the Guis Lighthouse also in Nueva Valencia and the San
Lorenzo Windmills in San Lorenzo. These places are perfect for picture seekers.
Can't wait for this resort to get finished
The
only thing missing here is the intervention of the Tourism industry to promote
and improve the place. The beaches are great but needs much more improvements.
Transportation is a chaos because of the exorbitant rates the tricycle drivers
charge because the tourist sites are so far from each other. I hope that in the
next five years I can visit again and this time check out the other areas I was
not able to visit.
