Siquijor, The Mystic Island

When everyone else heads to Bora, Puerto, Batangas, etc., what do I, Vince, and six adventurous friends do?

We head to Siquijor.

A few weeks before our scheduled trip, a movie about the "wonders" of Siquijor came out. A couple of days before our flight to Cebu, articles about the "healers" of Siquijor were printed on practically all written media that came our way.

And still, we head to SM Supermarket, buy 3 days worth of canned goods, pack our swimsuits, masks, snorkels, evil eyes, bible and rosaries, and wake up the following morning, during the witching hour no less, to catch our ferry.

So..Siquijor. What can I say? It's really a beautiful island. The beaches are great, the marine life is bustling and the people are nice (just don't get anyone upset, you never know what could happen). There are caves and waterfalls to discover, and lots of hermit crabs scuttling on the sands to annoy. If you wanna eat proper food though, just be prepared to wait for 45 mins-2 hours. But really, it's a great place to relax and ponder on life's mysteries (pun intended).

At night, our group resorted to drinking and exchanging showbiz rumors to keep ourselves from telling ghost stories (you really shouldn't, when you're in an island known to be full of mystics and otherworldly events). From a conspiracy theory about Michael Jackson's identity, to Elvis still alive in a wheelchair, to Rico Yan's cause of death, we gabbed and laughed and drank and tried to ignore the sinister atmosphere of nights in Siquijor. When we'd run out of alcohol and gossip, we'd head to our rooms, play praise songs, and pray that nothing weird will happen. In my case however, during our first two nights, I'd wake up around 3-4 in the morning to a strange sound that was a cross between a dog's howl, a baby's cry, and an owl's hoot. Creepy, to say the least. Creepier when JM told us at the end of our trip that he saw a vision in black outside our windows during our first two nights.

Howls and visions aside, we got back to our cities safe and sound, and seemingly voodoo-free. Personally, I really didn't mind the hair-raisers. There's nothing like an exciting vacation to cure my ennui and bring me back to life.