Batuan in Butuan

A lot of friends told me that Butuan usually served a drop-off point for those out to go to distant and much farther places. I decided to make it a personal challenge to search for something interesting with nothing specifically in mind until I found the infamous Batuan fruit. What is it exactly and why am I on the search for this unreachable yet tangible thing? The only reason was so that I could try out this morsel seeing as it was where a city was named for it due to its abundance.

l into my explorations, I was accompanied by my friend Aubrey, who was also a very skillful photographer in her craft. We first went to the National Museum which contained a huge array of paintings and a large exhibit of ancient artifacts such as bones, bags, and even a boat! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take any footage. You can view their memorandum below

We then went to the Balangay Shrine Museum which housed the oldest Philippine watercraft – Balangay 1. This was carbon dated and found to be aged at 1630 years before present (110 years). At present, it currently is under renovation.

The next place to go to was Bood Promontory Eco Park since it was nearby. “Bud”, which means hill in the Butuanon language. The park is the site of commemoration of the First Mass where Magellan and his men erected a cross on March 31, 1521.

We then visited the Bequibel Shell Midden which was located at Bonbon and about a 30 minute motorcycle ride. We had to ask around though since not a lot of people knew about this place. This was quite a historic site since it was an old trash bin of sorts that was 7,000 years old. I wonder how they discovered this area since it looked quite ordinary despite the bits of old bones and shells.

Guingona park was next which used to be the public square or plaza of Butuan for many years. On its ground is the Shrine of the Philippine Flag in Mindanao. This said flag commemorated the first formal raising of the Philippine Flag in Mindanao on January 17, 1899.

After that, we went to the Capitol Provincial. They held an Ani-Con which some of my friends took part in during my visit.

The Batuan Fruit Quest

Remember the Batuan fruit I was talking about? Well, I decided to look around the Langihan Market in hopes of finding it. Plus, there is always an opportunity to take photos amidst the hustle and bustle at the market. Check out my photojournal for more photos here. We circled the place and asked several people who had no idea what the fruit was. I guess it wa virtually nonexistent. Until we came upon an old lady who told us we might find it. But to our tough luck, we met another lady. She then told us that it wasn’t in season. It was also uncommon to find it in the city, unless we lived in the mountains. I guess it just wasn’t the right time to go searching for the Batuan fruit. Seeing as it was an impromptu trip, our chances got slimmer.

A 24 hour trip to Butuan with the thought of getting to try everything in a short span really did not suffice. But the best thing about this travel was that every place I went to was free! Excluding the transportation costs. Till next time, I hope you follow me on my future adventures!