A little more than a month before I officially assume my role as Foreign Service Officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs, I decided to go on a 15-day sojourn to places in Central Visayas that I have not been to before: Dumaguete and its neighboring towns in Negros Oriental; Moalboal in southern Cebu; and the island province of Siquijor.
It was sort of my way of reviving a type of eagerness for the country I am now duty-bound to serve. Something like going on a trip with someone you love to rekindle a love affair that has staled for a while, I wanted to experience a renewed passion with the Philippines by seeing more of it, especially of those places I’ve never visited before. Also, of course, I just simply love traveling, and a half-month backpacking trip before I start work, where I might never be able to do extended holidays anymore, sounded like a good idea.
This trip began with a proper vacation with my family during Holy Week break in a luxury resort in Dauin in Negros Oriental, a town a few kilometers south of Dumaguete known for its exceptional diving and diving resorts. None of us in my family were scuba divers, however, but it did not mean we did not have a fantastic time. It was also a celebration for my mom and my brother’s birthdays. During this trip we also had the chance to see dolphins swimming in the wild, gliding through the calm waters of Bais, and spend some time at the Manjuyod sand bar.
The week after, I stayed behind while my family flew back to Manila. I then began my trip to Moalboal in southern Cebu, with the objective of learning scuba diving in order to get a license and earn certification as an open water scuba diver.
The week after was spent in Siquijor, an island province in Central Visayas known in my generation and those preceding mine for its mystical folklore, but is nowadays renowned for being a young millennial backpacker’s paradise and now forms part of the backpacking circuit in the Philippines many Western backpackers now undertake.
I eventually find myself back in Dumaguete for the final days of my trip where I catch up with friends from law school who have made this part of the country their new home.