Exploring the Mountain Behind Home

Around two weeks ago, my husband suggested we must explore this road we can see at the top of the mountain. We had been here before but not to the top where we could see a view of the main town. I am up for anything new so I nodded. It was also Matti, our son's first time riding a motorcycle. For some reasons, we have not let him ride one back in Bohol maybe because he was still very young to do it but I guess it was just time for him to try.

So with our motorcycle which has been in Oslob the whole pandemic, we cover Matti with his jacket and went on our way to the mountain behind the in-law's house.

The road is concrete and new, I guess it was finished during the start of the pandemic and according to the husband's family, a lot of locals started jogging here everyday during the pandemic, however, as soon as the restrictions were lifted, they slowly stopped and now, the roads are empty again.

The funny thing here is that they don't know what this area is called. My husband tried searching it on Google, the mountain has no name. The people around the neighborhood do not also have a single idea what the road's name. It is as if this area here is unnamed!

Can you spot the dog at the middle of the road?

Even if it is unnamed, one thing's for sure, this is part of the Purok Jasmine, Barangay Lagunde. They only call it ibabaw. In here, there are already houses built. There's even one huge house owned by a foreigner. The only problem is water supply though.

The road is like an intestine, it is has a lot of curves and slopes. But the good thing is that there are a lot of coconut trees, grasses, and in fact, it is just covered by green as we ascend to the top. We spotted some locals who were just sitting at the roadside, the usual province scenario.

After just around five to ten minutes of driving, Matti hugged his father's back and won't look at the road anymore, perhaps he was annoyed by the wind hitting his eyes. And then we had reached this part here.

The road going to the top of the mountain is very steep and I told the husband it is not worth going up there anymore as it was already sundown. I suggested we go up until the cemented path instead. And so we did.

Obviously, a lot of trees were down because of Odette. There was this avocado tree that was uprooted but still, it was alive and it even shows new fresh leaves.

Then we found this area here where there were so many garbage, as per the husband, this is where the town disposes their garbage. They have a machine that shreds the garbage but it seemed like the workers had been caught up by the numerous garbage collected that they had occupied the whole half of this hill already!

We turned our attention to the other side of the view but first, I asked the husband and son to pose for some pictures. I always believe in take photos or it never happened so they have to submit and it's always challenging with a toddler. I'd often call his attention by asking where's the camera and he'd point what I am holding. It works most of the time.

With the use of my smartphone, I tried taking photos of the surrounding islands and here below is the beautiful Sumilon. This is still part of Oslob and it is quite famous for its clear waters and white sand. We had been there too once only, I told my husband that we must go again in the future, perhaps even explore the Sumilon Blue Waters Resort for day use and he agreed so hopefully we can visit that soon.

Behind Sumilon is a tiny shadow of an island and that's Siquijor. It was year 2016 or 2017 I guess when we had a two day vacation in Siquijor. We rented a motorcycle and toured around the island. It is a small island and it will not take a whole day to drive around it.

We could also find Bohol Island as if it was just near, the sky was clear enough to see the island. In most days, this is not visible. And also, the town's Catholic Church can be spotted from here too.

There are actually boats traveling from Panglao to Oslob, they are those types of boats which can take many passengers for island hopping. Its operation was stopped during the pandemic but it has resumed since the restrictions have been lifted. Most of the passengers are tourists who are in Panglao and want to go on Whaleshark watching.

Our stay here didn't take long, we decided to go back as the skies were starting to go dark, rain might pour and we didn't have any raincoats with us plus we don't want Matti to be out here this late.

Thanks for coming with us in this short drive to the mountain behind our home. I hope you had a great weekend!