Arriving at Tagbilaran port early in the morning, our tour van was waiting to bring us to the various tourist spots of the island--the commemorative Blood Compact Shrine, the historic Baclayon Church, the home of the endangered tarsiers, the Chocolate Hills, the Hanging Bridge, and even the home of the extra long captive python that only eats live pigs.

Driving the whole day, our stomachs could no longer be silenced as we took pictures of the tarsiers and a flying lemur hanging upside down by the Loboc riverbank.

Awed by the serenity of Loboc river, we decided to have our early lunch at one of the floating restaurants that will eventually bring us to Loboc falls.

The floating restaurants offer buffet meals at P250 while traversing the river towards Loboc falls. Featuring Filipino dishes, the buffet is a steal considering the kind of dishes prepared.

As the pilot steered the restaurant out of the dock, we filled our plates with slices of battered fish fillet, chunks of chicken inasal, hot bowls of shrimp tinola, pansit, seaweed salad, cucumber salad, and steamed crabs.

Being a seafood lover, I went for seconds with the crabs and the tinola, which was tastefully sour with lots of shrimps and vegetables. These were not gourmet dishes but they did fit right into the scenery as we savored the beauty of nature.

Our tummies were bursting when we resumed our road trip to Carmen to see the beauty of the world famous Chocolate Hills. After climbing hundreds of steps to the top of the tallest chocolate hill, we were ready to sample the banana and cassava chips being sold at the parking lot.

Early the next day, we were off to Jagna to experience firsthand the May fiesta fare that Bohol is known for (thank you, Dulce, for the invitation).

We arrived just in time for lunch. As we put down our bags, we enthusiastically attacked the table laden with dinuguan, pork afritada, shanghai roll, bam-i, carabao tapa, etc. Usually, Boholanos reserve one pig for their fiesta, not for a lechon, but to make into several dishes.

Beef is not readily available in Bohol. Instead, the wet market sells carabao meat. Its extra tough meat has to be boiled first to be adequate for chewing, and then further cooked. Carabao meat has a slightly different smell from that of beef and its taste is a bit sweeter.

We could not leave Jagna without buying Bohol’s best delicacy, the calamay. Jagna is known as the best calamay maker, with the local government closely monitoring the producers and the product quality. Indeed, if you compare Jagna calamay and those you buy elsewhere, you will immediately see and taste the difference. It is not too sweet, it has the right sticky consistency and the peanuts are not just added as an afterthought.

As we returned to Tagbilaran we only had less than an hour to shop for pasalubong before the boat left. We went to Island City Mall and bought several packs of peanut kisses. I discovered 3 new delicacies made with peanut kisses: Chunki Nuts, Peanut Kringles and Milk Yato.

Chunki Nuts is barquillos rolled in chopped peanuts with some sesame seeds for added aroma. Peanut Kringles is a variation of Chunky Nuts as the peanuts are almost in powder form. Milk Kato on the other hand is like a softer peanut brittle ball. The brittle softly crumbles and has a slightly burnt taste. I am not sure if this is due to the milk as the product name says since there was no list of ingredients on the pack.

I also tried Bread Cottage’s version of cheese pie. I had received some cheese pie from a friend before as her pasalubong from Tagbilaran and it was quite good. Bread Cottage’s cheese pie was a letdown. It was just like a sweetened pizza crust sporadically sprinkled with grated cheese. It was a far cry from what I tried before and from the one I make at home.

Now I know Bohol a little better. When I go back, I know what to buy. But next time, I will also try the mushrooming restaurants in Panglao Island. I still have to try out the dolphin viewing trip, and several falls and caves are waiting to be visited. ’Till next time!