Joei & Me

I am part of the crazy few who think a day trip to Guimaras is possible.  Yes, a day trip from neighboring Iloilo perhaps but what T and I did was a Guimaras day trip from Manila!





Pre-Departure 

Since our Guimaras trip isn't the usual relaxing vacation T and I usually take, we went shopping the day before we left. Well, the original idea was to buy essentials but I think we went overboard.

I got a new NorthFace backpack (I've always wanted to get one) and passport wallet (to keep our papers in order), a couple of Ripcurl tops and board shorts (have to update my wardrobe because I usually wear dresses and coverups on beach trips), a waterproof watch (to track time because we only had a day to explore), ceramic utensils (fine, I don't know why I got this), quick dry headband, raincoats, whistles, and everything else we THOUGHT would be useful for our daytrip.








How To Get There

Plane
From Manila, we took a flight to Iloilo via Cebu Pacific. The flight is around an hour.



Taxi
Then from the airport, we took a 30-min taxi ride to Ortiz Port. The port is more like a market than a port so I got confused where to go. I just followed the crowd to what I assumed was the ticket booth. I was right. I successfully got me and T tickets to Guimaras.



Boat Ride
Then I went to look for our boat whose name appeared on the tickets.



Boats leave every 5 minutes. I didn't want us to be left behind. So I diverted my full attention in finding our boat among the ones parked at the port. Since I wasn't talking, T asked me half-jokingly, "Do you know where you're going?". I just smiled. I think I made him nervous for a second there :)



The boat ride from Iloilo to Guimaras is around 10-15 minutes. Almost all trips are full with people going to and from Iloilo and Guimaras for food and supplies.



The water at the port is dark and murky. I expected the water in Guimaras to be similar because of an oil spill that happened a while back.



But as we were nearing the island of Guimaras, the water cleared up and turned green! Happiness.



Guimaras is the mango capital of the Philippines, where the best and sweetest mangoes are grown and exported to other countries. That's why at the port, there's a sign that says it's prohibited to bring in mangoes to protect their crop.




Welcome to Guimaras!
Despite being an off-the-beaten-path destination, Guimaras surprisingly has an organized tourist system. Upon disembarking our boat, we were led to the Tourist Desk. The prices are also uniform so I didn't have to go through the hassle of haggling with the tourist guides.












There are 2 kinds of vehicles available for the tours: tricycle (1-2 people) or a multi-cab (3 or more people). Since T and I wanted to be comfortable and we wanted to get to our destinations faster, we rented a multi-cab.



On the way to town, we passed The Smallest Plaza, which is, well, really small.





The Pitstop

For lunch, T and I stopped at one of the well-known restaurants in Guimaras -- The PitStop.






Everything was mango, mango, mango!




We got the famous Mango Pizza. I wasn't fast enough to take a photo before T got to eat half of it. We could've finished one each but I didn't want to be too full during our boat ride.



We also got Mango Adobo. Really good!



We even got Mango Shakes!




No wonder The Pitstop won awards.

Guimaras
Trip Date: 8 July 2012

Part 1 - Mango Capital of the Philippines
Part 2 - The Island Tour