Life in the time of Covid: Travel Back to my Hometown Part 2

There is a reason why people who we just recently met often ask, where are you from? Or where is your hometown? It is probably because the concept of hometown is something we all can relate. It always reminded us of that old house we spent every summer playing with other kids. Those home-cooked meals our parents prepared while fixing our hair going to school. Or those Friday evening memories we can not let go.

Rediscovering San Francisco and the neighboring attractions

Hello everyone, this is the second part of my previous post about my recent vacation to my hometown after almost three years of being stuck in the city because of covid restrictions. This time I will share with you the places I visited during my short stay. You see, our town is just the typical small town surrounded by lush vegetation of palm tress and rice fields, set against the mountains far from the beach. It is considered as the financial district of the province as well as the trading center. People flock the town to shop or do bank transactions. Albeit the presence of few inland resorts, some locals still opted to drive out of town to visit nearby attractions.

Sarminian Inland Resort and Waterpark In Rosario Agusan del Sur

For the most part I stayed at home bingewatching my favorite netflix series, doing some household chores while babysitting my 6-year old nephew, and sometimes sleeping in between. But when I got the chance I go out from time to time.

Barangay Pasta, San Francisco Agusan Sur

My father checking the piggery of my uncle just across our farmhouse

Here my mum harvesting mature eggplants and string beans

The place is 15 kms from the town center where most of the farming activities are located. My parents happen to have a small rice farm that is due for harvesting in a couple of weeks so we paid a visit. We also check the house of my brother and the rest of the area. If only there is a decent internet connection, I will definitely spend more time here or probably start working remotely while overseeing the farm.

They grow very fast and when my brother is busy and cant keep up, they just end up rotten

Aside from rice and vegetables, we also propagate oyster mushroom and manage a small tilapia pond. My other older brother is the one overseeing the whole operation every other day as he has some other tasks from my other relative's business.

This is the Tilapia Pond my father and siblings built

After we're done checking the farm and cleaning the debris from the previous storm, we then went to my uncle's house for lunch. My uncle used to be an OFW like all of them siblings before settling in becoming a farmer. He has a piggery, a layer farm, tilapia, and some vegetables for personal consumption.

Bogac Cold Spring, Barobo, Surigao del Sur

Few days after our farm visit my cousin from Australia arrived and invited us to visit the nearby town of Barobo to accompany the kids (and the not so big kids) to swimming. Because the next beach is too far we decided to go to Bogac. It is a cold spring just nearby the town center. The place was not crowded at the time so we were like owning the entire place and made the most out of it. Bogac is where the spring meets the river that leads to the sea. So the water tastes like a combination of saline and freshwater. Although I did not really taste it intentionally. The place is shaded with hardwood tress and coconuts so it feels refreshing.

Barangay Wakat, Barobo, Surigao del Sur

This is the Wakat Cave or we usually called Langub everytime we passed by the area from beach outing. Image courtesy of @baby.magic

After a couple of hours swimming, we prepared for a tricycle ride to Brgy Wakat where my aunt that prepared the food resided. She lives near the main road so we easily locate her just in time for lunch. The place is also 'rainforesty' with several tropical plants surrounding the house. It was built besides the limestone cliff so I am not so sure if it is safe specially during quakes. But that is not what we came for. Also, the famous Wakat Cave, is just a walking distance. We drop by their local market after lunch to buy some fresh produce and seafoods as it is a lot cheaper and then headed home.

Thanks for reaching this far and I hope I inspire you to visit your hometown once in a while specially that covid restrictions are now lifted. Have you been to this place? Let us know in the comment.

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Please check the first part here; Travel back to my hometown Part 1