The Wanderlust: Cruisin’ Mindanao

I found myself all wrapped up in the preparation for our family trip down south at the beginning of May. It’s my husband and kids’ first time to see Mindanao (or parts of it). We would be away for a week and it’s not a nearby destination, so you ‘d realize how that unsettles me. In terms of making sure we have a place to stay, enough clothes to wear, ready budget for food and other incidentals…well, suffice it to say that I was the go-to person, as other moms in our company were. My female cousins and I have been spent a considerable amount of time pouring over our itinerary---but the husbands and kids seem imperturbable and blissfully unaware of the nitty-gritty that had to be dealt with. Surely, the dirty job rests on motherly hands.

On to the trip, I was glad to have a much smaller camera with me. My big cam has served me well, and it’s always going to be put to good use, regardless. Oliver got us an EOS-M on our wedding anniversary last April, and I decided to bring that, together with the dainty prime lenses which I never really got to use. Being a photography enthusiast, I’ve naturally planned and imagined taking many amazing pictures and portraits of people, but reality strikes me that I’m a mom, and time-honoured, it is my utmost job to look after my kids’ needs first. So forget about amazing. I just took photos, period. Below are images of people and places captured whilst cruising the route of Davao-Samal-GenSan-Saranggani-Surallah-Sultan Kudarat. The ones where I appear were mostly taken by Oliver, or one of the people in our group.

That was a trip. Literally. At some point, in between plane and jeepney rides,we were cramming ourselves inside a pretty rundown van that my brother and a cousin took turns to drive, for hours and hours, on the wide, at times deserted roads of the south. We were 7 adults and 7 kids, almost new to these territories, and all wide-eyed. But the beaches we’ve been to, the roads we passed, the clear aquamarine waters and cold spring we’ve dipped our bodies into, the horses, yes horses! we've said hello to, the rough stony roads we braved, the mountains and waterfalls we flew over, the novel food we’ve partaken of and enjoyed, the unexpected token of warmth and kindness of strangers, the joy of familiarity in cousins, uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces, or the most random of people, and the stories shared —all that inundated the senses, and certainly filled a huge part of each one’s personal memory bank. And it’s the memory of mesmerizing Mindanao that we name it after.

Sta. Ana Wharf , Davao City

Badjao kids diving for coins. This boat is bound for a 9am trip to the Samal Island

Samal Island

with our host family, my cousin Gloria Dawn

Road trip!

Saranggani Bay in the background

Coco Beach, Glan, Saranggani

peace, serenity....

el caballero

fisherman fixing his boat

local girl cleaning her pots with beach sand

I had the opportunity to chat with this girl, and listen to her rough life. She just graduated with first honors from 6th grade, but her grandma couldn't afford to send her to high school as five other siblings left in the grandma's care have to be fed. The family fish as their main source of income, but enough money hardly comes by.