A few weekends back, we went on an outing with office mates and friends. We went to a nearby province called Guimaras. Guimaras is the Mango Capital of the Philippines. It’s sweet and tasty mangoes are legendary. That’s why the most popular festival celebrated on the island of Guimaras IS, you guessed it, the Manggahan Festival.
Why did we go there? You ask.
Not to unwind but to join the fun run on the first day of activities of the Manggahan Festival as was planned. But we ended on the beach, anyway.
Let’s do the boring anecdote of our Guimaras trip.
How to get to Villa Igang Resort, Guimaras?
From Iloilo City, you take a boat ride on the Brgy. Ortiz Wharf that will dock on Jordan, Guimaras. The fare is 14.00 Php. From there, you ride a jeep to Nueva Valencia, that will cost you about 40.00 Php. i am not sure if that is the normal price as we hired the whole jeep to accommodate all 19 of us.
What to do on Villa Igang Resort?
There are a lot of beaches on Guimaras. But I am writing about Igang because that is where we stayed.
We paid 100.00 php for the entrance. With this payment, we can go swimming on the beach, go caving and swim with the fishes on the Coral Cave and of course Explore.
If you want to swim on the pool you pay an additional 50.00 php.
And if you want to go boating, that’s 300.00 for 6 persons.
And as Filipinos are very fond of videoke, they also have a videoke machine were you can sing your heart out, as we did.
If you want to swim on the pool you pay an additional 50.00 php.
And if you want to go boating, that’s 300.00 for 6 persons.
And as Filipinos are very fond of videoke, they also have a videoke machine were you can sing your heart out, as we did.
Where to Stay?
We also stayed on Villa Igang for the night, and we paid 300.00 php per person. But that’s alright as the room assigned to us was very ‘roomy’ and that’s saying something as there are 11 of us staying on the room.
Where to eat?
You can bring your own cooked meal and pay for their corkage fee of 35.00 Php per person.
Or you can bring uncooked meat, fish, pork, anything and pay 100.00 Php per kilo of that but the resort will cook that for you.
Or you can order from them and eat. Each meal serve is good for 2-3 persons and costs 180.00 Php or more depending on the food preparation.
Or you can bring uncooked meat, fish, pork, anything and pay 100.00 Php per kilo of that but the resort will cook that for you.
Or you can order from them and eat. Each meal serve is good for 2-3 persons and costs 180.00 Php or more depending on the food preparation.
And that’s the way with Igang…
Upon our arrival which is late in the afternoon already, we ordered some dinner then went swimming on the pool. After the swim, we ate and some drank beer and videoke-ed, others played mahjong and other games.
The next day, some of us went to Jordan to join the fun run. Ate breakfast on a diner that served Hawaiian Pizza with a Mango Twist and return to the resort.
Then, we spent the whole morning swimming on the beach. By noon, we ate lunch, packed up and left the resort at 3. Then we stooped over the Manggahan Festival Fair for ‘pasalubong’ or take homes.
Then Goodbye Guimaras, Hello Iloilo!!!
Whether you want to be alone staring at the night sky, or stroll around, goof with friends on the pool, drink and sing with buddies, swim with the fishes and dive to unknown depths, just take everything in stride and enjoy yourself.
I hope you are excited to go on your own trip to Guimaras.
