My Nature expedition: THE ISLAND WHERE YOU CAN FIND SILENCE AND PEACE (MINDORO)

The year 2010 I was invited by my uncle and other relatives to have a vacation in one of their provincial house where my ancestry sprung. I was able to visit this place 25 years ago where I cannot even recall how it looks like. What I know is that my Grandfather is a local tribe in that area called the “Mangyans”. Yes I am a third generation “Mangyan” and I have still a vast blood that runs through my veins that says I am a Mangyan.

I was so excited since I have traveled parts of the world and yet I did not come back to where my ancestries sprung. It was really an honor to go back to where my genes came from.

After a long trip from Manila (capital city of Philippines) to Batangas (a busy cargo and passenger cruise port) I was to see the big change. Before that port was just made of wood and few ship and boats docks to the pier. Now I cannot count using my fingers. There are always ships that are waiting to dock and ships that are leaving the port. It was really busy like an airport. And yes, it was like an airport. There is allotted check in time for passengers, an entrance gate, a waiting lounge and restaurants. Indeed it was so different now. Below are some of the pictures that describes my mini cruise to the island of Mindoro.

After two (2) hours of waiting in the waiting lounge, the gate finally opened and we rushed to the ship. It was pretty amazing. The cruise to our destination will be just around four (4) hours. I was then tired that I was not able to take pictures while we are cruising and we beat the rough sea since it was raining and it was so good to sleep. I was woke up by Mom and my youngest brother to tell me that we are already in the pier to where our destination is. Below is the picture of the port. They call it Abra de Ilog. As I remember before, 25 years ago, there is no actual port that we need to transfer to another port to go to the shore and around 200 meters away from the shore there are people waiting to carry you to the sea shore. There is no actually a docking port that time. But now there is already and there are buses and Public Utility Vehicles (PUV) waiting for each passenger to anywhere they wish to go. Note: there is no taxi in this island, no rent a car too, unless you know somebody who owns an SUV or sedan that you can rent. Anyway, have a glimpse of the port now.

While we are waiting to disembark, I saw a fisherman just pass by it was so great. Take a look how small he is from the top.

At last we are able to hop in to an SUV that my uncle rented for us. Look at the vast land, look at the peaceful land. So peaceful that I was able to sleep again. Amazing island indeed.