things i learned about bohol

here are some tidbits i learned from my trip to bohol

-like the mexicans, boholanos pronounce the "y" as "j" so "maayong adlaw"(good day) becomes "maajong adlaw"

-because of the 85-year rebellion led by francisco dagohoy , all the churches in bohol are built only around the periphery of the island as dagohoy's men controlled the mountains.

-there are no NPAs/rebels here because there were no sprawling haciendas here so most of the lands the boholanos till are their own.

-nowadays, europeans own most of the property by the seashore because according to our driver, mang jun, the locals didn't think much of saeside land because it was not arable.

-one property owned by a german has a huge balete /banyan tree which old people say is the home of spirits and elves. he did not believe in that but consulted a shaman anyway who said the spirits allowed their tree to be included in his property. what's curious is that there is another balete tree they didn't fence in and they had to make the gate go around it. maybe those spirits didn't want to belong to the german's land?

-sinigang is called tinola in the visayas and they use tomatoes to make it sour. they also put ginger and red bell peppers. they also put red bell peppers in the bam-i , their version of the pancit. i love how they serve colas and other bottled drinks here with the straw firmly held up by tissue to prevent flies and sand from getting in your drink.

-sandugo /blood compact (from twink's first trip to bohol)

-contrary to popular belief, Sulayman and Lopez de Legazpi drew blood from their chest and not from their wrists to signify their friendship.

-baclayon church

-the oldest chruch in bohol is made of coral, limestone and eggwhites. in the olden days only the rich had pews with chairs, some of which can still be seen there. for the more snobbish, there was a special area on the second floor where they could hear mass without mingling with the indios.

-tarsiers

-do not touch the tarsier's heads as the top of their heads(bunbunan) is very delicate

-tarsiers can rotate their heads 180 degrees and not 360 degrees like the possessed in the exorcist

-tarsiers are very territorial and may commit suicide by banging their head on a tree if transferred to a different location.

-tarsier sex lasts only 2-3 seconds but may last longer on a full moon.

-in contrast, the butterfly, which only has sex once in its lifetime lasts 6-10 hours (ay bastos!)

click here for more pix of bohol!