Mindanao Trip Day 1: Exploring Begins
Capturing as much as I can remember of our Mindanao adventure. This is Day 1 of 9 in Zamboanga City.
Sulu, Mindanao. This is one of THE Philippine destination that I am most looking forward to. Sulu has been in my volunteer bucket list for a long time now. Since 2009. To finally have a date for this long overdue adventure EXCITES ME! Maybe now is the right time for me to experience it. This trip includes a special mission: to trek 3 peaks in 2 days.
Since we’re spending time in this side of Mindanao, I wanted to be able to explore Zamboanga City as well. I’ve been to Zamboanga City but only for a few hours. It was for a flight to Tawi-tawi, back-and-forth, a few years ago. So we booked a few days earlier than the scheduled boat trip to Sulu with Team GK and the trekkers.
We also added to our itinerary: volunteer for Kids Who Farm, a non-profit teaching kids and local communities to farm that I’ve been following on instagram!
These were our main agenda for the Zamboanga City trip:
Explore and eat local food
Find their market’s composting facility
Volunteer and learn from Kids Who Farm
Meet and spend time with Tito Kholee and Tita Bing of GK
Move. We have to continue putting hours of exercise because we still had a week to go before the trek.
This is Day 1 of 9 of our Mindanao Adventure. November 16, 2023.
From Bohol, I traveled to Cebu a few days earlier since we’re taking a flight to Zamboanga City from Cebu. I was finally able to use our CebPass.
Our flight was delayed so our morning was wasted spent in the Cebu airport. Good thing Bo’s Coffee was already open at 4:30 AM. Early morning conversations with Trizia included waste and waste management. Uhm nganu diay ta oy?? LOLz
We arrived safely in Zamboanga City at around lunch time. When we got our baggage, we repacked it again into our individual bags. It’s okay to share your check in baggage allowance with your travel companion to save. Relevant to real life baggage/burdens too.
If our flight was on time, our initial gameplan was to find a coffee shop to have breakfast. After breakfast, Trizia will then find a place for us to check in while I work. But because our flight got delayed, we need to adjust our plan. We need to find a place to stay in first, drop off our bags then find a place eat. We were already hungry and sleepy at this point. I was also a little anxious because I want to continue working.
We walked out of the airport and started walking towards the direction of the first hostel in Trizia’s list. We only started to look for accommodations as soon as we landed, a first for me. Learning as I follow Trizia’s lead. Thanks to Trizia’s pinned locations in Google maps and research, it was faster to decide where to go.
DIY trips always include lots of walking. So I’m grateful that I’m currently able to do so. At times, there could be added weight = lugging huge bags. I noticed my body getting stronger these days, free from back and leg pain. #notetoself: borrow a backpack next time for convenience.
The first hostel we found was already closed for business during the pandemic. For businesses, please update your Google Maps from time to time! #notetoselftoo I recommend to also create a social media account that walk-in customers like us can search for. Ay, naging digital marketer bigla? Hehe
The next on the list was located in Zamboanga City’s downtown area so we rode a jeepney. Grateful for helpful strangers. We immediately checked in in the first hotel we found. What was important for us was a stable internet connection or working mobile data for work. I also have a talk to prepare for. At this point, we were functioning on less than 4 hours of sleep. Even when traveling, sleep is NOW an essential for me.
We found an old hotel, it wasn’t updated and the room ~feels~ dark. So I won’t recommend it for those visiting. But I’m glad we found our way downtown because I enjoyed the time we stayed in this part of Zamboanga City.
As soon as we dropped off our bags in our room for the night, we found our way to Dennis Cafe. I was also hoping I can already work there. Good thing Dennis was our first stop because it immediately uplifted my mood. I enjoyed the ambience, the colors, the food! There were painted walls and curated artworks. Felt like an art gallery. The staff was kind too. I tasted my first Sulu coffee in this trip.
Because it was already a 2 PM meal, I wanted to order so much from their menu! I have to quickly remind myself that it’s only day 1! After eating, I planned to continue working but mobile data and internet connection was down wherever we went. Although we overheard that there were internet challenges during that day.
Oh well. That means time to explore the city then. We walked our way to the boulevard with Trizia taking the lead. We also took note of key landmarks and establishments that we needed to drop by for the next 3 days. The city market, the port, banks, food places to try. We also discovered that the city has 2 boulevards too. We went to both.
The first boulevard was bustling with students-in-uniform hanging out after school at around 4 PM. Looks like their classes end earlier than ours back then. Makes me happy to see open spaces filled with young people. There were also vendors selling street food. We even spotted a parked private vehicle selling coffee.
We continued walking to reach Paseo de Mar, the second boulevard, where there are more food options. There’s so much food that we wanna try but we were too full already from our Dennis experience, so we stuck to knickerbocker! I enjoyed it and love the huge chunks of watermelon in it.
Thankfully, the weather was gloomy so it was great for walking. I always dress myself with the basics so I can walk comfortably from one destination to the other: (1) a waterproof jacket (I like bringing a windbreaker around), (2) water bottle, (3) cap and (4) be in my comfy shoes and jeans.
One thing about this trip is that I overpacked. I was having a challenging time deciding what clothes were appropriate. Even if we were tourists, I want to be mindful of the clothes I wear and respect the culture of the place. Especially since we’re visiting communities, beyond the tourist places. Plus this is the first time that I’m travelling for a trek. I’m not sure if we can wash our clothes at some point.
We ended the day early so we can catch up on sleep. We were asleep at 9 PM already since we also planned to be early the next day to have breakfast in the local market.
Stay tuned for Day 2! :)
Here’s the rest of the series of this Mindanao Adventure:
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3