Bohol Countryside Tour

Here's an older post I never finished from our Bohol trip.

Our guide JD (John Dominic) and driver Marcos picked us up for our tour of the Bohol countryside bright and early (much to Shaun’s chagrin; he kept wanting to sleep in). JD regaled us with information on Bohol and the Boholianos as they are called. For instance, they speak a different language, Cebuano or Boholano, a dialect of Cebuano, that is different from Tagalog, the National language of the Philippines. (Interestingly, more Filipinos speak Cebuano versus Tagalog as their first language.)

Bohol is a particularly religious area of the country—in a nation that claims a little over 90% Christianity, over 81% Catholic, Bohol is somewhere from 92-95% Catholic, with the rest belonging to other Christian denominations! One of the examples JD told us was about the tricycle taxis. Originally, the taxi drivers would decorate their taxis with pictures of naked women; the women of the local parish in Bohol got together and petitioned the government to pass a law requiring them to remove the naked women and instead have a phrase from the scriptures or in some way promoting their Christian lifestyle. I did see one that said "Allah protect us"; so apparently there are a few Muslims around as well.

"In God we Trust"

This one says "God is Love" (a common choice).

Jeepney's are the local bus system-run by individual families,
they have their own routes.

At the Tarsier Foundation.

Tarsier! Bug eyes for good night vision.

Check out their long fingers and toes.

Another shot of their big eyes.

Kind of an Ewok-ie looking thing.

Josh with a Tarsier in the tree behind him.

Notice his (her?) long Gollum fingers.

Ken, Shaun and Tracy hiking in the Tarsier
Sanctuary.

See how well they blend in!

Our first stop on our tour proved to be everyone’s favorite—the Tarsier sanctuary. A sanctuary guide took us into an 8.4 hectare enclosure where there are about 10 tarsiers, that are regularly monitored and exhibited for visitors to the sanctuary. (There are 2.47 acres in one hectare.) The sanctuary itself is 167 hectares, with close to 1,000 tarsiers. We were able to view 8 of the tarsiers—and since they sleep in the trees from relatively close to the ground, we were able to see them quite close up! They are certainly odd-looking creatures—only about the size of  a small rat, with the feet of a kangaroo, the tail of a rat, the eyes of an owl—and they can swivel their heads 180 degrees like an owl can! Their ears are round like a bears. Their eyes are bigger than their brains! They eat mostly insects and small lizards and frogs, and they are nocturnal. What weird little animals they are!