It was Day Four and we barely had any sleep from last night. All the vigor and excitement for our planned Boracay get-away quickly faded away when we heard that our hometown, Iligan City, was deeply stricken by calamity.
PAG-ASA only gave a heads-up about an upcoming storm on the eleventh hour almost literally. But both my boyfriend and I never took that warning seriously because tropical storms in the Philippines normally go up North and never bother the part of the country where we live. To top that off, Iligan has been known to be closely guarded by nature and has been dubbed “Typhoon-free”.
But on that dreadful night, this tropical storm named Sendong decided to take a strange detour. Nobody was equipped for what was going to happen that night.
Sendong came like a thief in the night. It severely hit both Iligan and our neighboring city, Cagayan de Oro. The constant heavy downpour, strong winds and power interruption during an unholy hour was the perfect blend for disaster. Over a thousand of lives were instantly lost (and some are still missing up to now) in a blink of an eye.
People were very quick to post photos of the storm’s aftermath. We not only saw that Sendong drowned both cities in muddy flood waters, but it also dragged along with it tons and tons of logs from the mountains which destroyed everything that crossed their path… It was very ugly and heartbreaking.
Obviously, we were both in shock and in sheer disbelief.
I never knew about the illegal logging activities going on in Lanao del Sur until Iligan and Cagayan de Oro felt the fury of Mother Nature. I have never hated illegal loggers this much in my entire life and I am still extremely indignant of what had happened. Their selfish acts for personal gain has stained their hands with so much blood. I believe that Karma shall slap them in the face with a mighty sledgehammer andI cannot wait for the day of their retribution.
We really wanted to go back home right there and then, to be with our families and to help out our fellow Iliganons but can’t. The soonest that we could go back home was not until three days later.
So we took solace in making long-distance phone calls to our families and friends to feel assured that they were okay… And indeed they were.
With a big sense of relief, it was easier to carry on with our vacation. However, my boyfriend decided to postpone our trip to Boracay anyway because of the bad weather that day. Instead, we went to Capiz (a little earlier than initially planned) which is just a 3-hour bus ride away from Iloilo City (but depending on traffic and weather conditions it could only be 2 hours).
Hello and welcome to the Seafood Capital of the Philippines (Roxas is the capital city of Capiz) where every mollusk, fish, crustacean and everything edible that comes from the sea here are probably mutants on steroids! Nothing is exempted from being jumbo in size. Not even shrimps! Oxymoronic, I know.
To all seafood lovers of the world, this is paradise! Fish, shrimp, squid, oysters, scallops and everything seafood are priced ridiculously rock-bottom here that they’re almost for free! Must I mention I blitzkrieg them all. Hey, it’s not everyday I could have “last supper” meals you know.
In this post, I won’t be showering you with photos of food (because it won’t suit the black and white theme too well) so just simply take my word for it.
Pedicabs are the main mode of transporation in Capiz. I bet there must be only 1 four-wheeled vehicle, be it a jeepney or a private car, for every 20 pedicabs at the very least.
La Capiz Provincial Capitol. This is located in the heart of Roxas City. In its vicinity is Colegio de la Purisma Concepcion (a school where my boyfriend finished his highschool), Parish of Immaculate Conception Metropolitan Cathedral and a plaza if I remember it correctly.
La Museo de Santa Monica. This is now located in Pan-ay, Capiz. We did not have the opportunity to take a look inside unfortunately. This is just right next to a beautiful church established in the 1500s.
Glorious isn’t it? That’s now a wrap for our Capiz trip. Up next is Alkan and Boracay!
Have I left you hanging? For bits and pieces that I missed, you can check out my fave Filipino travel blogger’s post here on his trip to Capiz. Enjoy!