February 22nd 2015 Guimaras Island- Day 1 Trappist Monastery accommodations

This is where I am right now in the Philippines. Guimaras island circled in red.

Old Trappist Abbey. My accommodations for the first day on Guimaras island. Not even close to the beach. About 20 km from the beach. It is located inland but has many plantations like mango trees, mahogany trees, corn, and other stuff.

The guest accommodations and eating quarters.

Down the hall to my room.

My room.

Bathroom.

An "all you can eat" buffett.

Just chowing down. Had some rice, veggies and chicken with some mango.

After getting checked in at the Monks monastery and had lunch I decided to hit the road and walk along it to see if there was anything interesting along the way as I planned to see the beach tomorrow. It is around 20 km away from the beach.

You find SARI-SARI STORES in the most remote locations. There was nothing on the road as I walked 5 km and just saw landscape and then I see this sari sari store out in the wilderness. Another "BABU" looking for customers.

Walking along the road I saw this place. It looked very tranquil.

I got this glimpse of the ocean from up above on the road. It was at this point I ran into some old filipino guy who said he was retired and now a highway patrolman for tourism (whatever that is) and wanted to help me.

I got dropped off near the beach but had to pass through a resort to get access to the beach. I have been in the Philippines for 3 weeks and this is the very first beach with sand that I have seen. I am sure wherever there is a beach with sand in the Philippines there will be a resort there.

Guimaras is known for the sweetest mangoes so I picked up 5 mangoes for the road to eat back at the Monastery. She was selling oysters too but I just took 1kg of RIPE mangoes for 120 pesos ($3 cdn). I am sure they are marked up quite a bit considering it is located right outside the resorts.

When I arrived at the Trappist Monastery there was no one there or any reception. I was starting to wonder if this was a good idea. Then someone told me to go into the dining room and there was a woman there who worked there and she waved me in as she was sitting down eating. She got up from her dinner and took me to another spot and I heard her calling for someone and she said "There is a guy here who wants to rent a room. He is very tall! He is a very very big guy" and then I heard her laughing as she knew I was within ear shot. 

The Father who runs the place came out to meet me and asked what he could help me with and I said I wanted to rent a room and he said he had a big group of people checking in today so had to check on availability but did find a room and told me it was being cleaned but that I could go in for lunch which I did. 

I had some rice, a vegetable dish, chicken and some fruit. By the time I was done my room was ready and I went in to settle in and have a short nap. An hour later I walked around the monastery property and then decided to walk along the road to see if there was anything interesting. I didn't see much as I walked 5 km. 

I got a sea view from up above on the road (see picture above) and then I saw an older filipino guy asking if he could help. I asked him where abouts on the map I was and then said maybe I will grab some transportation to the beach. As I said that, a young guy in a jeepney stopped along the side of the road looking back at me trying to get my attention and the old man was waving his arm at him trying to get rid of him but I told him I wanted to hear what this guy was going to offer for a ride. At first he said 150 pesos and I said I could get a trike for that much but he is a jeepney and is suppose to be cheaper and then he said 50 pesos so I jumped in. I got to watch my pennies you know!!

His name was Ricky and said the jeepney was his grandfathers and as we drove asked me what I planned to see on Guimaras and I told him I didn't know but just wanted to check out the beach for now. He told me there were many mango plantations and wind turbine generators which supplied power to the island and parts of iloilo.

Ricky dropped me off near the beach and I went to the first resort to see how much they were and they said their cheapest rooms were 1500 pesos ($40.50 cdn) which was a little steep for me and she said they were fully booked but to call back tomorrow so I just passed through the resort and checked out the beach. It was nice and refreshing being down at the beach as I saw people swimming and the nice ocean breeze cooling you down and palm trees were all lined along the beach. Small boats coming into shore regularly dropping people off from a day of island hopping. 

I decided to try another resort RAYMEN RESORT and they were fully booked as I could see they had a conference going on but said they had rooms at 700 pesos ($18 cdn) which was ok with me and booked it for the next day when it was available as I only planned to spend one night at the monastery as there wasn't much to do beside checking out their property. 

So I left the RAYMEN RESORT and picked up some mangoes to eat back at the Monastery. A lazy trike operator was laying down in the shade and I asked him how much to the Monastery and he said 200 pesos and I told him I got here for 150 pesos and he said it is 200 pesos, "take it or leave it" and I said I will "leave it" and kept walking. As I walked 50 feet down the road another trike operator pulled up beside me and asked if I wanted a ride and I said how much to the Monastery and he said 150 pesos and I said "OK lets go!". 

I got back to the Monastery and it was around 5pm and I basically went to bed early. The monastery is advertised as a spiritual retreat way out in the province away from the noise and racket but at around 8pm I start hearing a boom box from a distance which I know cannot be part of the monks music as the base of the music went "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" all through the night and kept me up all night. I hated it!! I have heard that filipinos will play their music very loud without caring about their neighbors peace and quiet but I was shocked to hear this where I was. It was completely out of place!!