Liloan Trippers Visit Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon!

As we have promised in our previous post, we are going back to Liloan to visit the ziplines that have been constructed in our dear second home. We had two choices, Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon and dPond. Since Papa Kit's is nearer to the center of town where Swerve and I usually meet, we decided to check it out.

Entrance was 100 pesos per person, and consumable in any of the two restaurants that are in the amazingly large property. There were plenty of things that you could do and these would include horseback riding and fishing at the lagoons/ponds. These have corresponding charges, but in my excitement, I forgot to take a picture of the charge schedule found right at the entrance.

There, of course, is the Zipline. As seen from the pictures below, they indeed cross a part of Silot Bay and it's not a simple feat. You have to climb a four-storey structure and once you get to the top, they attach you via a harness to the Zipline and flung you across Silot Bay. For only 200 pesos back and forth, you get to enjoy the beauty of Silot Bay from the sky. Swerver was enthusiastic about trying it, but I wasn't. However, there had been so many people in there as it was a Sunday when we visited so Swerve wasn't able to get his turn.

Oh, about fishing... there are four ponds in which you can fish. Two of these ponds are simply game fishing; when you catch the fish, you'd have to return them back to the pond. Fishing in these waters are no simple feat. The fishes are big! When we arrived, the fishes were right in front but were quick to swim away thus denying me a chance to take their pictures. This guy, however had a lucky catch.

I have a video of him hauling his catch from the pond, and it sure was a fight! I will upload the video to YouTube soon and embed it in a separate blog soon.

To get to Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon, turn right from the Church towards Catarman. The entrance to the property can be easily spotted at the right of the road, just before the road turns slightly left and before you reach the bridge crossing to Catarman. There is also an easily seen sign that indicates the entrance to Papa Kit's.

Don't hesitate to visit Papa Kit's! The experience is certainly worth it! It was for me and Swerve.

~Immortalundead

What Happened to the Liloan Trippers?

It's been a month since the Liloan Trippers ever made a post in our beloved Liloan travel blog. Main reason is, we have never been to Liloan in a span of a month. That's because Swerver and I had been too busy attending to our individual jobs. Yes, the pressures of the Mandaue Business Month contest are gone but it doesn't mean we've forgotten about Liloan. We obviously haven't forgotten about our quest to put it on the map along with the other municipalities of Cebu.

As for me, Immortalundead, I have been tasked with so many jobs (thank God) these past few weeks. Right now, I still have Liloan on my mind with all those delicious halo2x and the relaxing breeze from the sea. Personally, I want to go back to Liloan. I'm sure Swerver does. Eyean probably does too. Well, as soon as we straighten out our schedules we'd go back there. Perhaps we might even go to other Cebu municipalities.

The contest may be over, but I still feel flattered with all the support that the people in both of our networks showed us. I still feel flattered each time I read all the comments in this blog about our posts being so informative. The best news I've had from this blog is that a group of students actually found our blog so informative that they included us as part of their references for their cultural mapping project.

This group plans to explore Liloan as soon as they have the time. Swerver, Eyean and I certainly wouldn't let this opportunity pass.

Please hang on, dear loyal readers. It doesn't matter how many you are, but we are very grateful for all your continued support.

~ The Immortal Undead

On Blogging Liloan

Yesterday, in the street of Liloan, a very prominent student from UP-Cebu asked me why we decided Liloan to be our “town for blogging”. He knows for a fact that I don’t live there.

Well, why not Liloan, I initially thought of telling him. But I did give him a short response anyway for which he deserved being a true lover of his hometown.

“It’s in small towns where you feel strongly the warmth of people, the culture and the individual souls coming more into one form of pride for what they have. I think Liloan has that. I think there’s so much more to Liloan than what people actually know. I’d like to contribute a bit to that end. It still makes me wonder about what other stuff Liloan is made of. Liloan is an old town and hearing stories about its places and history is a joy in itself. The fact that an old, intriguing town is very much accessible from the city is a huge plus as well. And, see, you have good air here.”


The prominent UP student later toured us to Silot Bay, where according to one tale was the place it all begun. There will be a good entry and pictures about that later. (Too bad for other pictures as we went there at night.) Meanwhile, the first picture is me at Hanz Refreshment, one of the highly-recommended halo-halo stalls. The second is a picture of habal-habal, a mode of transportation used in more hilly and remote parts of Liloan. Immortalundead previously blogged about Liloan's transportation.

-swerver

An Intriguing Town of Lighthouses, Whirlpools, Myths and Legends

Aside from real lighthouses and whirlpools that are present in town, Liloan is a stuff of history, legends and myths. The name “Liloan” itself is an intriguing piece of folklore as it supposedly came from a story of forbidden love.

Once upon a time, there was a couple whose marriage was objected to by their parents. The lovers, defying traditions and daring the perils of the unknown, had to sail to the big sea and flee somewhere else. They came to settle in a place with abundant supply of fish. Later on, they took to fishing and bartered their “catch” in the nearby villages. When asked where they caught the fishes, they would say “sa may lilo” (in the vicinity of the lilo). It is not clear whether the couple had a “happy ever after” but the couple certainly had found a refuge to fulfill their undeniable love for each other. The couple’s refuge is now known as the town of Liloan and “sa may lilo” refers to the presence of whirlpools in Suba River.

My first exposure to the town came three years ago. Fresh from grabbing my college diploma, I went to work in an outsourcing firm based in Liloan. It was thrilling for a first job as it involved a thing I always love to do – writing. But I was intrigued why my first job had to be, of all places, in Liloan. For one, Liloan to me was just one of Cebu’s more than 50 towns with a name. Prior to my first job, I couldn’t recall an instance that my family had actually dropped by at the town. We had trips in some parts of northern Cebu, particularly in Danao and Bogo, but Liloan always came as a passing town. There was nothing extra special about Liloan. It struck to me as a drab-looking, old and sleeping town -- full of vintage memories but had nothing exciting to offer. Or so I thought three years ago.

Hunting in vain for better words to say now, Liloan is such an intriguing place with a myriad of options for the thrill-seekers. Next to my hometown Opon, there is no place else to love than this town which was built by the Spanish conquistadores in 1845. It’s funny how cosmopolitan ways had influenced my wrong notions about Liloan. See, the first reason that endeared Liloan close to my heart was because of its halo-halo (iced mixture of fruits and root crops) sold near the town plaza’s stalls. For a cheap price of 25 bucks, I have never tasted a more delicious halo-halo from anywhere.

But, of course, Liloan is not all about yummy halo-halo. The town can claim a rightful venue for all town adventures which we will little by little show why here.

-Swerver-