Day 2: Bojo River Aloguinsan Summer Overnight Team Outing for P1,000

This is my second time to visit Bojo River, and, if I was impressed the first time, I was more impressed the second time. I was with my team mates and there is, indeed, more fun in the numbers. We availed of the tour package (P650 per head) and it was actually beyond what I expected. Read on for more details.

Our Day 2 Itinerary looked like this:

6:00 AM - 8:00 AM Breakfast at Hidden Beach, pack-up
8:00 AM - 8:30 AM Meet up with Bojo River coordinator at municipal hall
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM Travel to Bojo River
9:00 AM - 2:30 PM Bojo River tour, lunch, swimming
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM Travel to Hermit's Cove
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM Travel to city via Pinamungajan, Toledo

The P650 per person package includes:

• welcome lei (cute birds of paradise)
• welcome drinks (fresh buko juice)
• welcome song
• short orientation on the history of the group and where your money goes
• snacks
• unlimited time river tour + swimming
• boardwalk
• handicraft demo (ours was puso-making)
• buffet lunch
• free unlimited water (hot and cold)
• Visayan songs while having lunch
• free use of showers and comfort rooms (walk-in guests pay P10.00)
• The Farmhouse tour
• Baluarte tour

Snacks menu — boiled camote (sweet potato), boiled banana, salbaro (a native bread), sikwate (tsokolate), and pancit bam-i. The original menu included biko but because I informed the personnel ahead that we are arriving earlier, they changed the biko to bam-i. We loved that there was also buko juice (that you can have opened so you can eat the meat). There was also free unlimited hot and cold water. For walk-in guests, there is a charge for the water.

Entrance to Bojo River.

Locals, who also serve the guests, sing Visayan songs for us. You can sing along.

We were greeted by sing and dance by the staff for that day. The staff are the locals residing near the river. They have established a system where everybody is assigned to specific "departments," such as housekeeping, etc., and they have shifts so that everyone can earn from what the tourists pay.

Following the short introduction on how the project started, the efforts the local made to improve the condition of the river, how they established the working groups, and where our money goes, we jumped into the banca for the proper river tour. Our tour guides are fishermen who were trained by experts in top universities in the country and you will be impressed by their knowledge of the mangroves, the fishes, the birds, and their habitat. What I really loved are the folk lore/ folk stories.

At the mouth of the river, we enjoyed the calmness of the sea and jumped into the water. There was one thing I did during this trip that I have never done in my whole life, ever. I swam in deep waters. With life vest, of course. But still, there’s always a first time. And I enjoyed it, and I want to go back!

Our boat was parked near the cliffs and it was not very sunny that day. Smaller bancas parked themselves underneath the mangroves. It was almost lunch time when we decided to go back. But before lunch, we participated in a puso-making activity. My husband and I instantly remembered Mr. Reynaldo Inocian, our highschool history teacher. (My husband and I were not classmates but Mr. Inocian happened to have taught in both our schools).

After the puso making, it was finally lunch, and my stomach is growling now. Our Lunch menu was rice, ampalaya salad, humba, tinolang manok bisaya, grilled fish, mangoes and camote tops juice. One of my team mates commented that the humba tasted like the humba my mother cooks. And I agree. The fish was very fresh and also very big. The tinolang manok had ample pieces of chicken and the soup was delicious. We were so full after our lunch that I was so drowsy I slept at the entrance of Hermit’s Cove. Haha…

After lunch, we rested. Some of my team mates walked along the board walk. As for me, I was so sleepy I stationed myself in one of their plastic lounge chairs. Past 2, we decided to bid the river goodbye to check out Hermit's Cove. It was a rough ride to Hermit's Cove, the road is narrow and not paved. But I loved the view of the Tanon Strait.

There was a P100 entrance fee at the Hermit's Cove. The cove is also one of the eco-tourism spots in the town of Aloguinsan. Sleeping overnight and camping are prohibited. I no longer paid the entrance fee, and just positioned myself at one of the benches in the hut at the entrance, and fell asleep.

Hermit's Cove wrapped up our team outing, and I must say it was a wonderful way to bond with each other and with nature.

I could not, honestly, say anything bad against the Bojo River tour. But here are a few things to take note of:

• The entrance to the river is about 10 minutes from the municipal hall. You will have to trek a barangay road, which means it is a one-lane road. The time we visited there was a road expansion project going on.
• The boats are not PWD-friendly. The walkways may also be difficult for wheelchairs.
• If you do not have a vehicle, you will travel through habal-habal (motorcycle). Bojo River and Hermit's Cove are far from the town proper, and at the time we visited the roads were not good.

I think the Aloguinsan Eco-tourism project is one of the best private-public partnerships that I have ever encountered in the country and I am full of admiration of the people who initiated this project and the people who are running it. During our first visit, I was impressed that the local fishermen knew the scientific names of the plants and birds thriving in the area. During this visit, I am impressed by their commitment to protect the environment because it gives them life. I am impressed by the fact that they never built anything that would destroy what is natural. I am impressed by the mere fact that they are still there, after seven years, and, winning international awards.