Our Trip to Bohol – Part 3

Our first stop on Friday, October 30 was Sagbayan Peak. After a short walk to the top we had beautiful views of what are called the chocolate hills. This is not because they are made out of chocolate but because during the dry season they will turn brown and look like chocolate drops.

  After this we drove to the remote area of Mantacida. 

Mantacida High School

This is where Elder and Sister Halladay helped to build houses for families who lost theirs in an earthquake that happened in the fall of 2013. This earthquake, by the way, was followed by a typhoon three weeks later. 27 homes were built over a period of about six months. A small group of skilled construction workers were brought in and each worked with 5 unskilled natives. After building 5 houses together those who had been trained were given a certificate and were then able to supervise a new team of 5 workers in building more houses. In this way as houses were built home builders were trained and provided basic tools they could use to make a living for their families.

 

 

Side by side view of new vs. old construction.

 This is Joselyn. She is a widowed mother of 8 children. The picture below is of her home now. She built the stairs to the loft herself.

 

 

This was her home before the new one was built for her. It was badly damaged in the earthquake.

Here is the muscle used for plowing the fields. It is called a carabou.

Carabou cart.

 

We passed a lot of rice fields and there were many places where rice was drying on tarps placed alongside and sometimes in the roadway. 

 

 In the afternoon we crossed over a bamboo bridge and had dinner on a boat that also took us for a short river cruise.

 We returned to Cebu Friday evening in a mission van on a vehicle ferry - a three hour crossing - and made it back to our house about midnight. A long but very informative and interesting day.