Our muddy trek shoes crunched on the narrow gravel strip that makes up the road going to the main thoroughfare of Camotes Island. The darkness was almost complete except for the stars twinkling in between the whispering boughs of leaves overhead and the artificial lights of the distant houses in the neighbor. We sacrificed sleep to head for the biggest lake in the Visayas Region, Lake Danao.

The plan to crisscross the area from Poro to Santiago in Camotes Island didn’t push through. The new plan was to now stay at the Boho Rock Resort in Poro for the night and push ahead with the traverse the next day instead.

Boho Rock Resort is a public beach that Porohanons frequent. There is a minimal entrance fee and a few cottages for rent. The tourism office was kind enough to let us occupy one of the halls as our sleeping quarter.

Motorcycle drivers swamped us the moment we stepped on land. We just came from a four-hour ferry ride from Danao City to Poro in Camotes Island and the last thing we wanted was to be constantly asked if we wanted a ride.

Life is probably not that easy in an island like Camotes and the habal habal drivers here are probably just trying to eke out a living from the meager tourists that visit the island during off-peak season, but really, I hope when they hear a tourist say no, they understand that they don’t mean yes or maybe. They really meant no and expect those asking them to stop bugging them with repeated questions. It doesn’t do any good for tourism of the place.

It seemed we never have enough time. We roared through the road as the sun was setting. Palm trees bent as we sped, bleeding the golden afternoon light between its green leaves. We were leaving Dapitan City too soon, we were saying goodbye to Mindanao.

A ferry was silently waiting at the port of Dapitan City. The sun had set and left magenta embers across the sky. It started to fade as our vessel departed from the shores of the city. The lumbering ship sorrowfully howled across the open sea and darkness soon welcomed us.

The ride to Cebu City would take a total of ten hours and we should’ve been more prepared. With no dinner food for the night, we were forced to eat unawesome food at the canteen at a very unawesome price. Our stomachs filled with bland chow, we bunked down for the night and imagined Cebu in our dreams.