I ditched that for some awesome adobo, garlic rice, scrambled eggs, fried danggit and to-die-for ube halaya turon.
While my friends where getting ready, I took the time to take a short stroll around the hotel area. Traffic was building up and it was a challenge to get to the other side to check out the Church of the Black Nazarene. Although the church was directly along a main busy street, peace and tranquility reined in its simple interiors. Several devotees could be found praying and contemplating the suffering Christ. I offered a quick prayer for a safe journey and lit a couple of candles for the intentions of my travel mates. And as one of them was celebrating her birthday, I decided to buy roses as the group’s surprise gift from a nearby vendor. Back at the hotel, I requested the ever-accommodating front desk staff to secretly arrange and place it in my friend’s room after we leave the hotel.
Yup! Everything was coming up roses for our 2nd day in CDO.
Today we planned a visit to the Divine Mercy shrine located about an hour away from CDO in El Salvador. But first, we needed to pre-order some goodies so we could take them off our to-take home / to-eat lists.
SLER’s Pica Pica for their ham and chicaron (address: 30 Amparo Lim Bldg., Velez cor. Del Pilar St, tel 088 855 1438)
Countryside Steak House for steaks coming from pineapple-fed cows (address: Limketkai Center, Lapasan, tel 08822 728953).
With our buying and some tasting (burp!) mission accomplished, we settled in our assigned seats in the van for the day’s road trip. Once out of CDO city proper, traffic became lighter. At one point, we made a left turn into a dirt road and some of us wondered if we were on the right track. But all that was put to rest when we saw the entrance leading to the Divine Mercy Shrine.
In a nutshell, what seemed like a daunting task to build a shrine on top of a hill overlooking the Macalajar Bay became a reality with the undying devotion of the faithful.
(read more: http://thedivinemercy.org/news/story.php?NID=3360 )
One must be in the prescribed attire to enter the grounds. No shorts, pants, leggings or skimpy outfit for women. But no worries, a shrine staff was on hand distributing maroon wrap-arounds for those of us who did not meet the attire requirements. I decided to buy an umbrella from one of the many stalls to make the walk around the grounds bearable. The sun was in full force and it was bright and HOT. The group decided to attend a mass that was in progress in a make-shift chapel that was full of devotees—mostly women. Noting that confessions were also being heard by three priests, my friends and I took the opportunity to ask for forgiveness and start our Lenten observance with a clean slate. And although the sun was bearing hard on our heads, a slight breeze kept us fresh as we next toured the grounds to glanced up at the huge statue of the Divine Mercy. The stairs leading to the top of the statue was closed as some painting was being done on the face of the Divine Mercy. Instead, we found some shade and took a moment to contemplate how blessed we all felt while taking in the view of the bay and the well-kept garden.
On the way back to our van, I noticed that there was construction at the back of the huge statue. Although I was not able to confirm, it seemed like a more permanent church structure, circular and with the crown of thorns design for its top.
It was getting close to 12noon and the feeling of joy and the walk around the Shrine’s ground had made for a hungry group. Next stop: Panagatan Restaurant ( Address: Poblacion, Opol tel no 8822 754 487) — a 30 minute ride from El Salvador. It’s a restaurant built on stilts beside a stretch of brown colored sandy beach.
Sea breeze blowing as we sipped coconut water from its shell; gentle bossa nova music in the background; and jovial woman-talk. Life could not get any better. But it did--- steamed crabs, kinilaw na malasugue that smelled divine and made tangy with the use of suwa (a citrus) and tabon-tabon (chico like fruit)-- ingredients found only in Mindanao; sea-food bam-i; barbequed liempo; fried danggit; mango salad; lato salad ( tiny clusters of grape-like seaweed); imbao soup (clam); grilled squid and tuna belly.
We were so full that a nap at the hotel seemed inevitable. But there were more places to see and food to savor.
Next stop: Phil. Ostrich and Crocodile Farm. A 30-minute ride on very rough roads up a mountain in Opol. Eventually, we found the farm and after paying the entrance fee of P25 per person, we entered and got an eyeful of the Big Birds. 750 of them!! I was told that at one point, there were 1,500 birds in the farm. Now that’s a lot of feathers and meat for the local market. There were sheep and chickens like any other farm but more interestingly there was a pen with peacocks. Close by was another pen of a dangerous kind—the crocodile pen!! One of my friends laughingly likened these crocs to those found in congress. Definitely a scary bunch.
Noticing dark clouds in the sky, we took our leave and were back on the road again. This time, we were heading for The Stoneware Pottery. An artisan pottery formed in 1995 jointly by German-Filipino partnership. (Address: Zone 8, Bulua, CDO with contact tel number 0882 273563 or cel 0916 767 8441)
When we arrived, I was surprised by what I saw. In a room, no bigger than a three car garage were about 5 men busy forming different items: plates and bowls mostly. There were two women busy etching out a pattern on some “baterol” for shipment to a big hotel in Manila. On the side was a very small office with shelves and boxes full of finished products. My friends and I took time to check the offerings out. We were told by the manager, I Elcano, that the same items will be brought over to Manila for a trade fair. This information was well received as some of us were silently figuring out how much allowable weight they had if they were to buy that elegant tall vase or that heavy serving dish. But still, we could not leave without a little souvenir of some cups, candle stick holders and other small items.
Before heading back to our hotel, we had two more stops to make: Vjandep Pastel Bakeshop and Pasalubong Store. (Branches: 78 Tiano St., Brgy 14 (088 858 4027) or Stall 17-18 Bldg 1 Angel Chavez Complex, tel 08822 714148 or Manbato St, Agora, tel 08822 714097)
If there is only one thing you can bring back with you from a visit to CDO, it will have to be the tender custard-filled buns from Vjandep.
The last stop was at The Gazebo, Divisoria . A quaint café on one side and a boutique of unique finds on the other side. As we were still full from our Vjandep stop, we lingered around the shop like any woman worth her shopping salt. There were colorful ceramic decors, whimsical chimes, linens and knick-knacks to tempt an avid collector.
Darkness had finally descended on the City of Golden Friendship. It was time to head back to the hotel for a short rest before proceeding to another well-loved local restaurant: Kagay-anon (Address: Rosario Arcade, Limketkai Center tel no. 822 729 3; 728 958)
One word to describe the food: Lami!! (delicious!) It was at this restaurant that we had our first taste of ostrich ala Salpicao. Texture was somewhat beefy but taste was a cross between chicken and beef--- if that is possible.
More woman chit-chat between bites of steamed crabs (again!), crispy beef tadyang, the crunchiest pinakbet, imbao soup and rounded off with famous fruit salad in cooked dressing.
With heavy tummies, we retreated back to the hotel but not to sleep. That would be courting the dreaded “bangongot” or getting a heart attack from a nightmare. So we did what good friends do: stay up to chat the night away. With the hotel’s wifi, we even skyped another friend in the US. As we all knew, when there are two or more women in the room, you have a chat feast.
It was very late when we broke up to finally get some sleep. Tomorrow was our last day in CDO and there was still a lot more options still waiting to be taken. Like hearing Sunday mass at the mall next door; a quick run to the Limketkai mall for more CDO products; and a promised lunch at Candy’s.
As I drifted off to sleep, my final thought was to come back to CDO in the very near future to fulfill a new set of to-do and to-eat lists.
-- --xoxoxox----
Two days after arriving in Manila, I had the craving for some fruit salad in cooked dressing-- just like what I ate in CDO. I used the following recipe I found in an old recipe book of my mother.
As I did not have enough pineapple juice on hand, I add the juice of one orange to come up with the required measurement and cut the milk by half to get a thicker consistency. I also used calamansi juice instead of dayap. I then slathered the creamy dressing on a mix of pineapple, banana, mango and guava chunks. Diving into the fruit dish brought me back to CDO.
You have to give this a try and I guarantee you that you will book yourself on the next flight to CDO. It's that good!
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