To Surigao Del Sur and beyond!

It was a hacked up plan that went fast the drafting stage. Rushed,  to get it done. Nine people, one car, rainy day and an unfamiliar destination. A disaster in the making cooked in the most nubile way possible. But alas, we went ahead ,  all in the name of fun.

“Bahala na si batman”.

For nine people (plus the backpacks) cramped inside a 10 seater SUV, we’re pretty reluctant to give up hope despite the gloomy weather, long drive and, ow, getting lost. Somehow, we’re all confident we can get through this “plan” , having been into other numerous outdoor gigs that danced with disaster.

Travel tip #1 : Know where you’re going, which road, shortcuts, type of terrain etc. Get a (google) map!
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So at around 6pm that day, seven people (Me, Joy, Chris, Jah, Sir Joy, Gayle, Chucks) left Tacurong,  and embarked on a journey none of us had any idea what the outcome will be. If  the shitty, dirty, unfinished road from Tacurong is a bad sign, well none of us is about to just turn around. Never mind the bullish rains, the one way traffic, hell ye, we’re going on. After about 4 hours of forgettable travel, picking up Onin in Digos, we reached Davao in one piece. We temporarily stopped at a caltex station to gas up, get additional provisions and wait for Jocy (from bukidnon) to join us. She did come around 11 Pm and then the group started to travel for Surigao around 12 midnight.

Travel tip #2: Know the weather for the whole duration of your trip.
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[hr] If there’s one thing I can say about the road going to Surigao (passing by Tagum) from Davao, that’s “why the hell our roads back home (Tacurong-Davao) so fugly?” It was almost an idle drive until our right rear tire hit something with a huge “kablag” and we all woke up in purgatory. It’s good Chris was quick enough to control the car and  glided it to the side road .

Travel tip #3: Ascertain the status (repairs, reroutes, diversions) of the road you expect to pass by.

“Our rear right tyre rim is broken. I have one spare tyre but I don’t have the tools to bring it down. To top it all its raining, and there’s no lighted building we can temporally take shelter! Did someone did something bad before we left??!! Maybe its karma, I quipped.
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After many unsuccessful attempts at tyre reserve dismantling, Onin called for help from one person we least expect to trouble at this ungodly hour. Erwin Emata, one of the first Pinoys to summit Mt. Everest. And yes, the first thing that came to our mind was

“pa picture tayo!!!wohooo!”

So we did.

Mr. Erwin Emata, (third from left, standing with blue shirt) one of the few first pinoys to summit Mt. Everest, came to our rescue (Photo by Anthony Guadalupe).

But then our spare tyre wouldn’t bulge a bit, even with the presence of Mr. Emata. So without much choice, we brave rain again and looked for other help. I was lucky i found trucks parked in a gas station a few yards away. And the drivers are all awake, watching us silently along the highway while we dumbly exhibited our most experienced way of untangling a spare tyre. I was able to convince one driver to look at our spare tyre and bring with them their tyre stick. And they were able to untangle our tyres in a blink of an eye. So much for our ego of course.  But we thanked the driver mechanic for the help. Then we got some photos again with Mr. Emata and thanked him too for coming in to our rescue. “Whew, that’ was awesome!”

Travel tip#3: Check and double check your car, spare tyres and basic fixing instruments before living your garage!

Just before dawn, we passed by the famed stopover going to Agusan and took our coffee break there. We really need to warm ourselves up because heavy rains poured endlessly. The coffee and bibingka there is fantastic. That and I’m beginning to feel exhausted of the long drive plus my allergic Rhinitis is acting up.

In San Francisco, Agusan which is the last stop before entering Surigao, I bought a spare tyre rim just so we’re still ready for any eventuality along the way. We left our broken tyre there and took up provisions before entering Surigao proper. Our next stop would be bislig city. On the way to Surigao we passed by this “mining” site. Just to let you know how flood is god send  these people..
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In Bislig we had our lunch in some carenderia, again had final check of our provisions and then proceeded to Tinuyan Falls. On the way we passed by the Bislig City’s seaside plaza and stopped there briefly for picture taking.

Tried some street photography at the baywalk:

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Definitely storms is brewing somewhere and dark clouds loom over the horizon. Strong winds hammer the seaside plaza so we hurriedly left towards Tinuyan Falls.

Travel tip: Bring a lightweight, compact camera with you all the time. Never get caught in a situation where scenes like these pop up and you only have your hand as camera!

Next: Tinuy-Falls on a stormy day!