Bahala na

Bohol gave us a wonderfully warm welcome to the Philippines. It also gave us a great send off to the next leg of our journey! Our driver arrived 15min early, in a fifteen passenger van! Compared to our scooter and tricycle adventures, this was air conditioned luxury! After an emotional farewell to our hosts/friends at Blue Raven resort, we set off.

The first stop was at the Chocolate Hills. These are a really interesting geological phenomenon. They look like giant gumdrops. We saw them in their lush green state, but in the hot dry season they turn brown, giving them their name.

This was the view everywhere I looked. It really was spectacular! I thought this next sign was hilarious and more than a little tempting…

I resisted the temptation and was therefore allowed to continue to our next attraction – the Tarsier sanctuary! Tarsiers are tiny primates, about the size of a Guinea pig. They are famous for their big eyes. In fact, we found out that their eyes are bigger than their brains! Furthermore, their eyes are fixed, so they have to move their heads to look in different directions.

The tarsier sanctuary was quite busy, but Leisel wasn’t worried about losing me. I did sort of feel like I had to be careful where I stepped.

After getting some souvenirs, including my new favourite T-shirt, we were on the (very curvy) road again. The last stop before our night in Tagbilaran city was a butterfly sanctuary. At least that’s what our driver told us it was… We were rather surprised to walk into this room

Yes, they were all alive! And the bravest (craziest?) of us even got to hold one.

We did eventually get to see some butterflies:

We had a great sleep in our Airbnb that night, then woke up early the next morning to walk to the nearby Hinagdanan cave. It’s almost like our travel agent planned it that way ;-). The cave was super-fun. Bats flew in and out of the narrow entrance as we climbed down the stairs carved into the rock. Inside was hot and humid and beautiful!

After the cave, the host at our Airbnb arranged a ride for us to the Cebu ferry. We’ll spend one night in Cebu, then fly to Davao city. Bye-bye beautiful Bohol!