Kabankalan

February 5, 2012.
The road was unusually quiet as we made our way across the island Saturday. It was a much more pleasant drive. There was less road construction and less traffic so we made good time up the hill to Mabinhay. From there we start downhill crossing from Negros Oriental into Negros Occidental. We stopped at the top for a cold drink near the caves. They had lovely ripe papaya and bananas so Riza bought some to take home. The bananas were only 30P a kilo!

We made it to Kabankalan by midafternoon. They had two rooms left – we were in luck. Dan and I had the same room we were in two years ago. It is very nice! A king sized bed, air con, hot and cold water, TV, WiFi and a deck on both sides of the room. Our room was 1800P or $42.00 CDN. Prices have risen.

They are almost finished a whole new wing. It will double the number of rooms and is designed to mirror the existing wing across a central courtyard. There will be another pool and hot tub for guests only. The existing infinity lap pool and kiddies pool welcomes non-residents for the day at 100P each. I was happy to grab my bathing suit and join the families for an afternoon swim.

We had a quiet evening taking advantage of the WiFi and watching a bit of television before turning in. We would be up early to finish the drive home in the cooler part of the morning.

The drive was much busier on Sunday. Many places have market day on Sunday. There was a motocross rally alongside one town that was drawing a large crowd. Leroy was driving as though he could smell Calibago and Anna was holding the gate open!

We did stop at Valladolid for mangos. When mangos from the island of Guimaris are ready, there are mangos everywhere. We bought bags of them. We will have fresh mango, mango shakes, mango crepes and chopped mango steeped in local Tanduay rum in our pancakes over the days to come. Yummmmmm!

By lunch time we were home. Anna was holding the gate open and it was good to be back!