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
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.
Stay Stray Play and
Feast’s
Caramoan, CamSur Series
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