It's so good in SOGOD

Happy Fiesta! Pit Senyor!

-These were the phrases shouted on a feverish Sinulog-driven, Sunday 20^th of January. I recall thinking about joining tomorrow’s trip north of Cebu, while strolling inside the mouth of the beast; the horde infested with wasted individuals, along the long street towards cabanas/baseline. I thought, if I ever get out alive (and not wasted), I might be able to arrive on time, set for tomorrow’s trip (which eventually, I failed to do so). Bottles and booze fly all over me while my mind is bent on something else. Sometimes I laugh at myself in silence; I must be really ‘fun’ at parties, the introvert within me kicks and cries.

I arrived home, 2:50am and barely slept an hour, for my eyes were stillborn. The rendezvous time in North bus terminal was supposedly 5:00am, and I woke up at 6:00am! Luckily, all of my travel buddies were in the same predicament as mine; all tired and experiencing individual hangovers from yesterday’s event. We departed, I guess, 8:35am from North Bus terminal via Ceres Bus. I was not sure if it was exactly the time set for the trip or was it a special trip, for we barely spent time checking on ‘time’. We arrived at Carmen bus stop, 9:45am, to relieve ourselves from hunger and thirst. Passing Catmon, my mind switch from blank to full capacity, for I sense a slight negativity present on that place. Flashbacks started to rewind at the back of my mind, and it was painful (physically, I felt a slight ‘crawling’ feeling at my arteries near my ears). For what it is, I wish not to tell, since it was something personal.

A dog in Poblacion Public Market

 

An evidence that northern Cebuanos wore friendly smiles

Nevertheless, it was a sign that we were close. We passed Poblacion, Sogod at 10:20am. We got down the bus at Brgy. Bagatayam and went on our friend’s granny; her house situated near the main road, a walking distance from Bagatayam Falls. From there, we rest for at least half an hour before we started walking our way  1-2 km from her granny’s place going to the market to buy food. Along the way, we stopped at the bridge to get a glimpse of what we were after; our quarry located almost on a spitting distance from the road!

At the market, I took off my camera to take photographs of people and things. A certain kind of fish caught my attention. It’s obviously a specie of half-beak fish but larger. In our place near the shores, we call them “Tawilis” but they were smaller compared to these fishes in the market. Out of curiosity, I ask what they call these fishes. They replied “Pilangan mana sa amoa”. My tummy, as curious as my head, urged me to buy ¼ kilo of these fishes for 45php. Since I didn’t find any delicacy present in Sogod, I might as well eat these fish a la sugba in order to not disappoint my ever hungry stomach since the fish was new to me. We got home to where we stayed via tricycle. At the place, we prepared Kilawin, Sinugbang isda and La-maw for the coconut there was freshly harvested by my friend.

You know it's fresh when it doesn't reek of fish :p

We took off from the place via Habal-habal for a discounted price of 15php. It was past noon that time, for we arrived 2:30pm+ at Binaliw Cold Springs, the repository of Bagatayam falls, to eat lunch. We therefore sampled the area for a dip and played a game of coin-locating along the cold stream that lasted at least an hour. We then packed our bags and started trekking towards the falls. Along the way, we were bothered by the inaccessibility of the stream, which in my assessment, is ½ of the entire stream. So we took a side trip towards near civilization and hit the dirt road. We arrived at Bagatayam falls 3:45pm and I took photos of the falls from the side angle, for the water flows ‘fatter’ if I shoot at the side. Following a certain protocol, I shot both landscape and portrait view of the falls. We then took a cottage located downstream and took our last dip. We drank our baon na lapad and shared stories, hitting almost 5:00pm of the afternoon. We got home dark; took showers and changed clothes then we head towards the city, hearts contented and minds fulfilled.

It’s so good in SOGOD. ~

Ciao

-j.cruz