Guimaras: of sweet mangoes and good laughs at Guisi Lighthouse.

All roads lead to...

After a few 'Me' time at Trappist Monastery and Balaan Bukid, our tummies were starting to mumble and rumble like a concert symphony. It sounded more like there was some entity about to start a revolution. So before we could get to the next tourist attraction, we needed to get some quick stop overs to tame down the beasts within.

Quick Stop-over 1: World famous Guimaras Mangoes
Manong Jalandoni [driver] brought us to this mango stand. It was a haven for mango lovers as there were different sizes, shapes (?!) but the same colored sweet mango Guimaras IS known for.

Meeeengga!

Heaps of mangoes were spread over for our consumption; each one having that natural sweetness only Guimaras mango could offer.

Umuulan ng Mengga, maygas!

Quick Stop-over 2: Pitstop's Mango Pizza
I could only imagine the different products made out of these babies - mango jam, mango syrup, mango soup, mango shampoo, mango-flavored toothpaste, mango perfume and mango cookies; but never Mango Pizza. Intriguing, indeed. The Pitstop Restaurant offered a variety of grubs for the desperately hungry soul but the Mango Pizza's their best seller.

Pitstop Resto. Photo taken by Osang

Quick Stop-over 3: De Za Buko Station
A perfect partner for a sumptuous afternoon snack was an equally fresh and delicious drink - Coconut water or locally known as Buco Juice.

Fresh na fresh buko meat. *Yum!

And here I thought only humans eat coconut meat.

We brought the Mango Pizza we bought to the DeZa Buko Station which was also the starting point of our next destination.

Osang on her PG Mode

PitStop 3: The Guisi Lighthouse

The Guisi Point Lighthouse is an 18th-century lighthouse built during the Spanish-colonial era, located in  Nueva Valencia, Guimaras. Built to guide ships passing through the strait during the hispanic era, the original lighthouse still stands proud on top of a mount looking over a scenic view of the Guimaras Strait.. 

Guisi Lighthouse.

The 2nd [old] lighthouse.

Though now rusty and almost broken down, the old lighthouse's stance is a reminder of our past with the crumbs of what seemed like old offices still present around the erected superstructure. Based on the research I made, it's one of the oldest lighthouse in the Philippines, next to the one in Aparri, Cagayan.

..where old meets new. 

Since both the old towers are no longer operational, a modern white lighthouse [which looks like a space rocket] accepts the challenge of guiding sailors across the strait at night time. It's amazing that both the past and present co-exists; which goes to show that you can move forward without forgetting your past.

After a refreshing snack, we started the short trek going to the lighthouses. On the way, we got to take a sneak peak of Guisi Beach. It looked so damn nice from a far.

When we got to the lighthouses, the place felt both surreal and eerie. I could only imagine how massive and grand the lighthouse must have been back when it was still operational. It made me think of what it was like to run the place. People must have been very busy at night making sure no ship encounters damage along their course. But now, it resembled a ghost town. The only inhabitants were vines, wild shrubs and critters enjoying the shelter of a once grand assembly. What's left were slabs of broken walls which bear witness of its once so celebrated past.

 

I've read that it was already prohibited to climb the top of the lighthouse, what with all the rust and unsteady steps. But we were still curious as to how it would look like up top. Fortunately, Manong Caretaker was there to approve of our daring feat. We gathered up some balls courage and took a step, careful not to trigger a chain reaction of God-knows-what.

Translation: Climbing up is prohibited because it's DANGEROUS.
Another Translation: Goodluck sa tetanus.

When we got up, Manong Caretaker pointed to us what looked like a mountain from Negros. We also got a 360 view of Guisi and its shorelines. It was pretty windy which made all the Final Destination scenes flash right in front of me. I couldn't stop sweating so after taking a few pictures, we decided that it was time to stop being brave and head on down.

The view of Guisi Beach on top of the old lighthouse.

It was almost dusk when we decided to leave. Too bad, it was too cloudy so witnessing the sunset was a no-go. We headed back to Alubihod Cove for dinner and a Filipino-style socials - videoke!

Mandatory Group Picture

Special thanks to Tabian for some of the pictures.

..to be continued.


Getting around Guimaras from Jordan Port.
After signing off the registration form on the Tourism Booth, there are a lot of pedicab drivers at the port area  you can negotiate with on how much their rates are when going around Guimaras or to a specific destination. Travel time depends on which destinations you have in mind or which spot the driver [slash] tour guide offers.

Guimaras Series:  of sweet mangoes and memories

Iloilo-Guimaras Hullabaloo [Teaser] 

Iloilo-Guimaras: the bitter-sweet escape

Our Lady of the Philippines Trappist Abbey

View of Iloilo at Balaan Bukid Shrine

Of sweet mangoes and good laughs at Guisi Lighthouse

..the good, the bad and the ugly side of Alubihod

A Sandbar Island Beach Resort, Concepcion, Iloilo Sidetrip

Check out the video we made just to stop that damn Nicki Minaj from ringing in our heads. Talk about LSS.