Thursday, July 11, 2013

Tugawe Cove to Partido Roadtrip; A Journey from Heaven to Hell

Tugawe Cove to Partido Roadtrip
A Journey from Heaven to Hell
(Caramoan  Series 4)

The coast going to San Jose post was not cleared
for sea travel after Typhoon Gorio hit CamSur.


The Tugawe Cove Resort  staff offered an alternative
route for those who really wanted to check out.




A  sea trip to Paniman port, which was cleared
by the Coast Guard for traveling on small boats
and followed by a 5 hours  road trip by jeepney
 to San Jose in Partido which they arranged for a fee.



Twenty guests including my family took
the Paniman to San Jose road trip option.


The first part of the journey was the one hour
sea trip from Tugawe Cove to Paniman Port
which turned out to be smooth and pleasant.




The boat leisurely sailed along a scenic coast
and the butler who accompanied us acted as
a wonderful tour guide, identifying places
of interests,  natural attractions,





…and even asked the boatman to sail near
some islands that we would have visited
on our one day Island hopping tour which
was cancelled due to the bad weather.




It is hard to describe the beauty of Caramoan
in words, much more it is just as difficult
the capture the breathtaking scenery in  pictures.





Awesome, wonderful, magnificent, astounding.
You say all the superlative words you would still
be underrating its indescribable beauty.




Mother Nature blessed Caramoan awe-inspiring
sights, that attracted almost all the international
“Survivor “ show franchises to film here.




The list (to name are few) includes the French, Israel,
India,  Sweden, Serbia, Holland, Croatia, and the U S.




Name a survivor franchise, chances are that may
have shot a season or two in Caramoan, CamSur
(and ironically, with the exception  of GMA’s
short lived Survivor Philippines franchise ).




Our journey  Paniman left us with the overwhelming
feeling  of contentment of experiencing
one of the most scenic journeys in our lives.





It was the same feeling we had when we traveled
by train from Berlin to the beautiful city of Prague
where we literally gloated our senses with the
mesmerizing  beauty of the European countryside.






While we had the best of the
Philippine countryside view on this trip.





Paniman is a thriving resort town where the beach front
is littered with budget accommodations, inns,
 restaurants, souvenir shops and the place was
 teeming with both local and foreign tourists.


 

It reminded me of Boracay of the late 80’s and early 90’s
without the trademark fine white sand beach.




That is where we took a huge jeepney  that would
 take us for a five hour ride to San Jose in Partido  
where we left our car in the port.


It was my young son’s very first jeepney ride
so he was rather excited and full of energy,


There twenty of us who took the jeepney
but we had a lot of free pace inside as some of
the tourists opted to ride on the roof.


It was a rough ride where we took a circuitous,
bumpy and rocky roads on steep mountain sides,
the sometimes you wouldn’t even recognize
if it is really a road or river bed that were driving through.






There are times that we had to alight from the jeep
hike in some parts as the road are too narrow,
and  too precipitous. We feared  that the vehicle would
tip over on its side or much worse, fall on a steep cliff.




The country road was scenic, but you get
depressed with the sight of poverty
glaring right at you by the roadside.

 

 The storm failed to dampen our spirits after
it interrupted our vacation in Caramoan-


…but the sight of destitution and deprivation
in this isolated place left us with a miserable feeling
of destitution and  helplessness.


Sometimes one would wonder on how can
our government be so uncaring and unconcerned
on the plight of the people living in this desolate land?


Is this the reason why they ferry the tourists by boat
as the politicians want to hide the real face poverty
beyond the gorgeous views of  the sun,
the sea the white sand beaches and  the mountains ?


As we got nearer to San Jose- the face misery
was unbearable that I decided to stop taking pictures.


CamSur is touted as the top tourist destination
In the Philippines- but this trip in my own province
 was an eye opener for me.




For whatever honor of having the most tourist arrivals
in the country may bring, do the poor people really care?


…or the provincial officials really care?
Or they may only be interested of getting
the plum title and never really bother
 to share its success to the grassroots.



This made me entertain the thought that
could the popular actor Aga Mulach made
a difference if he won the election?


With his loss, I guess these people may not
be ready to change for the better yet and
chose to be led by the same people that
put them in this misery in the first place.



When we arrived in San Jose-
It was a relief to see the progressive town.




We had dinner in Biggs Goa,



And headed back home to Naga
for a much needed bath and relaxation.
Aaaahh-  how sweet is is  to be back home.


Our journey by the sea from Tugawe Cove to Paniman
gave us the glimpse of heaven but our road trip
from Paniman to San Jose showed us  how
our insensitive government officials made the lives
of the poor people of Partido turn into hell.



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