My Journey at Pan De Azucar

by: Joshua Ichiro P. Anasco

The date is June 29, 2018, morning at the municipality of Miagao province of Iloilo . Papa accompanied Mama and I to the plaza so that we will go to Concepcion to help Mama on her dissertation and for recreation. But most likely to help Mama. We are going to go back on July 2. So, we said our goodbyes to Papa and Aiko is already at school. We rode a taxi and we were brought to Tagbak Terminal in Jaro where we rode a bus going to Concepcion. It took us about 3 hours to reach our destination. Mama told me that Concepcion is a small town. Well, smaller than Miagao. When we arrived there, we ate lunch at 7-eleven which is kind of not the right thing to eat in a new place because there are 7-eleven almost everywhere. It is really a small town with a lot of  trisikad and habal-habal and they are not actually seen in Miagao. Then, we went to our hotel named Jun Bee. The name of the hotel is like the commanding word in Taekwondo which means “ready”. The spelling of the word is just like this: joonbi. So, we took a nap there and we prepared for our job.

 

We first went to an engineer where he designs best for the municipality. I was in charged for the documentation. Then, we went to the CRM. Then, I bought a charger because we forgot our charger at home. We also went to a hotel named Pan De Azucar (not the island or not in the island in Tambaliza). We ate there and Mama asked the staff of the hotel if it is okay if we will check the rooms. Guess what? It is way better than Jun Bee because in Jun Bee, their CR has a 2 doors: one for the room and one for the hallway! Their room is also kind of weird. But in this Pan De Azucar hotel, it is just like any other hotels. Then, we went back to Jun Bee and went swimming.

The next day, Mama and I went to the fishing port where we saw a lot of baby sharks that they aren’t supposed to be caught according to BFAR. Then, I also saw many fishes that I haven’t seen before. Then, we ate banana and bought some food for our journey to the island Pan De Azucar in Tambaliza.

We rode on a motor boat with some people who were having an outing going to the island. I saw a coal power plant, beautiful islands and many more along the way.

When we arrived there, we were greeted by many motor boats, children, and dogs. Pan De Azucar is a small island. They even have no roads! 

So, we went to our resort, still named Jun Bee but now in the island. When we went to our rooms, I was maybe kind of shocked because our room is not an ordinary room like any other resorts. It’s a Bahay Kubo! But, the CR is way better than the other Jun Bee we stayed last time.

We also started our job right away. First we went to Kagawad Daryl’s house because Kapitan assigned him to be in charge in helping Mama. But Kagawad was not yet there because he attended a wedding. So, Kagawad’s father-in-law who is a fisher, was the one that Mama interviewed while waiting for Kagawad.  I was still in charge of documentation. It almost took about 2 hours for Mama to interview the fisher that I slept at the bench at Kagawad’s house. After that, Kagawad came and Mama and the fisher is already finished. Mama just left the questionnaire so that we will eat lunch. After that, we rode a motor boat to another sitio with Kagawad named Sitio Punting. There are many boats because there is a fiesta. We interviewed 3 fisherman and I am still in charged in documentation. But this time, the interview just took 30 minutes. So while waiting, I took some photos and I tried to text Henry happy birthday because his birthday is June 30. Unfortunately, there was no signal! Even back in our Bahay Kubo cottage, there was no signal. Then, after eating and interviewing, I noticed that the beach was low tide and we still have to go back to the part of Pan De Azucar where our cottage was. So, we had to use the path that the children used every day so that they can go to school! Then, we fell asleep with no electricity from 10 pm and with a lot of mosquitoes biting. It was good that Mama brought Off Lotion.

The next day, Kagawad escorted Mama and I to climb a mountain. I pretty love it! I love the mountain climbing and I also love the view. On our way back to our resort, Mama interviewed another fisher. After that, Mama and I went kayaking on the beach! I tried to reach very very far from the island. I also saw a black jellyfish. I accidentally hit it with my paddle. Then, we also went swimming. I tried to swim to the anchor of a boat. It was good that my senses reacted right away because I saw a jellyfish that is color transparent. I swam away luckily. Then, we prepared our things to go back to the main land.

When we arrived back to the mainland, we decided to extend one more day because Mama has not yet received the questionnaire from the CRM. We also decided to stay at Pan De Azucar Hotel. We checked in then went to church.

Afterwards, we ate dinner at the restaurant of Pan De Azucar Hotel. Then, we watched a movie entitled Gulliver’s Travels. Then we slept.

The next day, Mama went to the tourism office and somewhere I don’t know. Mama just left me in the hotel and she was again almost 2 hours out. So I just watched TV. Then, we had lunch in Pan De Azucar restaurant with Ms. Bunjak of Conservation International. Then, we went to the tourist lounge to buy souvenirs. Unfortunately, there were no souvenirs which we were looking for. So, we went to the Ceres terminal and went home.

I really enjoyed and learned a lot in our stay in Pan De Azucar, Concepcion, Iloilo, Philippines.