This is How Our Weekend Getaway to Guimaras Turned Out

The May 23,

In my article Summer is No Longer The Summer That We Used To Know, I mentioned that one of the places that I wanted to go to with my family is Guimaras Island. Last week, that chance came unexpectedly. With my wife's aunt, uncle, cousin, and a couple of neighbors we went to Guimaras on a one-day trip last Saturday. However, it did not turn out as we wanted it to.

Greetings once again my wonderful readers.cash family. I was planning to write this as soon as I arrived home last Saturday. However, we arrived past 10 in the evening and were too exhausted to write. Yesterday, I could not get myself to write either. Aside from the feeling of exhaustion from our trip, my tooth, (or teeth, I'm not sure if it's just a tooth or two) was aching. It wasn't that painful, but it was enough to bother me.

So, how did our little adventure to Guiamaras turn out? Let's just say it was rather a MISadventure!

Manggahan Festival

Guimaras Island is known for its sweet mangoes. The mangoes from Guimaras Island were scientifically proven to be the sweetest mangoes in the world. Every year, they hold the Manggahan Festival on the third weekend of May.

When the pandemic struck, however, holding any festivals in any place in the country was not allowed. Thus, in the last two years, there was no Mangahan festival.

This is the first Manggahan Festival after two years. One of the highlights of this year's festival is the Eat-All-You-Can event. For only PHP100.00 you can eat all the mangoes that you can in the event area.

The Trip From Roxas City To Iloilo City

We woke at three in the morning. We had to start our trip at four-thirty. We have to be at the port before seven. The trip was smooth. Around six o'clock, we stopped at the plaza of Passi City to have some breakfast and to relieve ourselves. After half an hour, we continued our trip.

As we neared the port, however, we were surprised to see how heavy the traffic was. It was about seven-thirty already. This is where our misadventure began

Chaos at the port.

There are hundreds of vehicles trying to get on the ferries that will take us to Guimaras. The ferries are scheduled to leave every thirty minutes. My wife's cousin went ahead on foot to get us our tickets. Less than half an hour she returned with the tickets.

However, we did not know where to go next. Port personnel directed us to join the queue for one of the ferries. That's what we did.

However, after a few minutes, the queue did not move. My wife's cousin went back to the ticketing booth. That's when we learned that we were in the wrong queue.

Most of the port personnel don't know where to direct their passengers. Later that day, I heard a lot of complaints from the other passengers that they were going in circles before they got to the right queue. Just like we did.

The traffic was heavy and it was already eight in the morning. The right one was on the other port. It's not fair. But because of the traffic, it took us about 20 minutes to get there. Then there were already may be close to a hundred vehicles lining up.

The trip to Guimaras would take only 15 to 20 minutes. However, it took us more than four hours before we could board the ferry. Some vehicles tried to cut through the queue. They were unsuccessful though.

We had to take our lunch under the blazing heat of the sun. It was a good thing we brought some food with us on this trip. There were no restaurants open nearby. Some had to endure the hunger.

It was past noon when we finally got our chance to board the ferry. At least for a few minutes during the trip, we can relax.

The Festival

We went directly to the activity area. The mangoes displayed look mouth-watering. They were selling at PHP 100 per kilo. That's just about $2. We just looked around for a bit. Looking for something to buy. One of our companions asked about the eat-all-you-can event. To our dismay, they limit it to 100 persons only. To think, that was the main reason why we went there. Not that we can eat so many mangoes in a single sitting, we just want to join the fun and see how much we could consume.

We just bought their fresh mango shake and decided to leave. We saw some vendors outside the trading area selling mangoes at PHP80 per kilo. But we found out, they were a bit smaller but it's ok.

Finally, we decided to go home around three o'clock. We wanted to stay overnight. I already contacted my cousin who lives there. But there was another confusion regarding our ticket going back. The shipping line should train their staff on how to explain their policy to their passengers.

At the port, we waited for another hour before we could board the ferry. However, we were confused because some vehicles that came in late got ahead of us. The port security explained that they have already booked their trip the previous day. We complained because we did try to book ahead last Wednesday but we were told that it's a first come first serve basis. Again, the problem is with the shipping line's policies.

Nevertheless, we boarded past five in the afsadfternoon. The sun was already setting. We had our dinner on the road again. We finally reached home around ten in the evening.

In Closing.

It was rather a disappointing experience for us. Partly due to a lack of planning on our part. We never anticipated the number of people going to witness the Mangahan Festival. I guess most people never expected that a huge number of people will go. The shipping company also should have a more proactive policy and their people should know where to direct their incoming passengers.

I guess, one of the few takeaways that I got is this sunset photo I took while we were on the ferry going back to Iloilo.

I will surely go back to Guimaras with my family soon. But it should be properly planned this time.

If you ever plan togott Guimaras for their Manggahan Festival next year? I suggest you plan for at least an overnight stay and make your reservations with one of the numerous resorts way ahead of time to avoid the inconvenience.

Thanks For Reading.

All images are mine