Siquijor, Siquijor (Part I)

The weather was all bright and sunny during our trip to Siquijor, so we enjoyed the boat ride very much, or at least I did. I occasionally glance at my other companions, they seem to have fallen asleep, or more likely pretending to sleep most of that time like what I was doing. Anyhow, no one got seasick, which was good since we needed the energy to cover everything in a short time. 

Upon inquiring at the ticket office outside the wharf area, the ticket officer told us to return before three p.m. as it was the scheduled time of the last boat trip to Dumaguete, so we immediately bought tickets for the last trip at the booth. We would later find out that our road trip around the island proved to be fast and furious, especially on the last twenty minutes of our tour.

Billboards featuring the island's popular tourist attractions line up the street near the port

Outside the pier, the place is teeming with people, mostly tour guides who would offer you their services to tour the island on their multi-cabs. Constantly, we had to remind each one of them that we already have our own tour guide and we were just waiting for him to arrive. The normal length of time for a relaxing around-the-island tour lasts about four hours, but since we arrived in the island past nine already, and we had to wait for our “guide”, Nong Alfredo (who is a cousin of our cousin), we didn’t head out until it was almost eleven. While waiting for our tour guide, we decided to do some exploring of our own. We walked a few meters from the pier and then suddenly there was the town plaza and the old stone church of Siquijor. The parish church stood there, small and simple, yet a  proud testament of the island's colonial past.

The St. Francis of Assisi Parish Church welcomes visitors to Siquijor