Gardens of MalasagBenigno D. Tutor, Jr.
ABS-CBN Star Studio Japan
February 2009
This is how it looks from one of those thatch-roofed cottages down the slope of the Gardens of Malasag, which gives a sweeping view of the Macajalar Bay below. Cagayan de Oro City usually brings to mind an industrial belt and a bustling commercial metropolis.　And that’s not wide of the mark, considering that CDOC is sprawled strategically at the center-point of the coastal stretch of Northern Mindanao, making it the most important economic nexus to the region. Going by the floor space of its shopping centers—SM City, Limketkai, Robinson’s, Gaisano, Ororama, among others—CDOC does not fail to live up to its image as Mindanao’s shopping mecca.
Under a cool canopy, a pause for a pose in the long and winding mountainside path.On a recent visit to the “City of Golden Friendship†after 20 years, I was taken aback by the dramatic transformation of the cityscape. What used to be a swampland in its coastal front and rugged highland in its backdrop are now fully integrated into the urban sprawl, with the old commercial center called Divisoria now conspicuously decongested. The most famous landmark of the city center, my high school alma mater Xavier University, is now a tight cluster of buildings apparently to accommodate the more than 40,000 students that have made it the largest academic institution in the country. The traditional hub of hoi polloi trade—the notoriously putrescent Cogon wet market—is now a two-storey structure that looks and smells sufficiently sanitized.
8-year old daughter Sarah snaps this photo of Golden Shrimp or Lollipop Plant, whose scientific name is Pachystachys lutea (name provided by a botanist friend).Jaded urbanites like me and my three kids, however, could not find anything dazzling enough to keep our attention in the malls. So we approached a taxi driver and asked to be taken to the Gardens of Malasag, which we have previously surfed in the internet. The soft-spoken driver agreed without fuss to a return fare of Php 300 (I suppose haggling in the locally inflected Visayan helped).Though widely advertised, this eco-tourism village seems to be accessible only through private transport or hired public utility. The taxi cut through the city’s main thoroughfare, wiggled itself out of the bedlam at the Cogon market to a bypass that led to the coastal road towards Gusa, turned right and finally wove itself through the zigzag on the slopes of the Cugman watershed. Winding uphill, we saw crosses at intervals on the roadside which the driver told us are used by penitents during the Lenten season. In about 20 minutes, we found ourselves at the gate of the Gardens of Malasag, welcomed gracefully by a troupe of lumads in full tribal regalia.
Overhanging cottages dot the slopes of the Gardens of Malasag, looking out to the Macajalar Bay.Nestled on the slopes of the verdant mountain overlooking Macajalar Bay, the 7.2-hectare Gardens of Malasag is a tranquil retreat brimming with unusual flora and fauna endemic to Mindanao. The maze of footpaths wind up and down the terrain, which are interspersed with thatched workshops where natives demonstrate handicraft-making. If you want to immerse yourself in the routine of the lumads and breathe in the smell of wind and earth, you can also stay in any of the tribal houses, dormitory or overhanging cottages that look out to the sea. A wade in the palm-fringed pool in the lower terrace can complete your holiday relaxation in this mountain hideaway.
Bathing in sweat at the end of the long walk, Paolo and Raya banter with Sarah, "The long walk was no sweat, I'm Rexona-refreshed."Linkback:
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