A Day Trip to Guimaras — NASTASHA ALLI

I honestly didn’t know what to expect of my day trip to Guimaras Island. I knew their famous mangoes wouldn’t be in season during my visit, so all hope of gorging on sweet, perfectly ripened fruit plucked from a tree on the island would have to be shelved for now.

With that said, you really must take the 15-minute ferry ride from Iloilo City over to Guimaras - particularly if the weather on your free day is incomparably tropical and beautiful as this.

A number of roro (ferry) companies run daily trips to Jordan Port, on the northwest corner of the island. Roundtrip fares will run you between Php 40-50 (roughly $1 CAD).

Once you’re on the island, I suggest following what most people do: either hire an entire van for the day (popular with the “barkada trip” crowd, with costs divvied up between friends) or a tricycle, which can accommodate up to 5 people (snugly). The tricycle I hired cost me Php 1,400 for the day (roughly $40 CAD) to see the main sights in each of the island’s five municipalities.

Kuya Neljun became my driver, tour guide, and art director for the day. I mean, he’s so used to taking photos for tourists, he literally told me where to stand and when to run over to the next pillar, all so he could take this epic panorama by the ruins of the Guisi Lighthouse. Panalo ka kuya! 🙌

Guimaras is one of the smallest provinces in the country - only four other island provinces are tinier - and admittedly, beyond its association with mangoes, I knew very little about it.

Thanks to hundreds of geo-tagged photos on Guimaras Island, I learned that the National Mango Research and Development Centre was a pretty popular place to visit. It isn’t in the regular itinerary for tricycle tours, but definitely someplace you can ask your driver/guide to stop by. Over the past few years, according to Kuya Neljun, it’s become THE place for people from Iloilo to have their engagement and wedding photos taken in. “Minsan, ang dami nila!” he said, laughing. And I see why!

While many of these trees weren’t in the hundred-year-old range, as I initially thought, they are nonetheless a stunning sight. Never have I seen so many mango trees in a single grove.

And at least, I got a mango shake 😊