Cagayan De Oro Places to Go

On our first day, we went to Opol which is about half an hour away from CDO city. I haven't been on a jeep and a non-aircon bus for years but since this is one adventure trip, I rode on these public transport again. At first it was kind of scary since we didn't know what to do, where to ride and where to get down, but the people there were very helpful and very nice. They gave us directions and instructions on how to get there.

We went to an Ostrich Farm in Opol. To get there, we needed a jeepney ride to the bus station (West Bound) and a non-aircon bus to get to our destination. The terminal is clean and organized. I was impressed! Tell the conductor that you'll go down at Sea Breeze Restaurant. You can have lunch here too. The restaurant is on the shore with a nice view of the water and fresh salt water breeze. More on the resto later.

To get to the Ostrich Farm, you would need to ride a motorcycle they call Habal-habal behind the market area. One motorcycle can accomodate 3 passengers! :-) Don't make the mistake of wearing a skirt (which I did!) since you'll be swinging your legs to go on and off the bike. The driver will wait for you for a fee while you go around the farm.


Oh... just a note. The locals speak bisaya but they understand tagalog. They will reply to you in Bisaya though so it would be helpful to know basic words.


The habal-habal ride is about 10 to 15 minutes, rough roads included so get your buns ready. hehehe! The Ostrich Farm houses these birds of different ages. The oldest one I saw is 9 years old but I'm sure there are some more older birds around. They are so used to humans and they love taking photos with you. :-) When you're there, don't miss to buy a keychain made from ostrich skin (I know! I know I shouldn't buy but I can't help it!). It's P80 per piece. Can you believe that!!!! They have wallets also at P700. I think they wait naman for the ostrich to die before getting their skin and they don't kill the birds just to get the skin.


Our second day started with the trip to the Malasag Gardens. A jeepney ride from the city to Malasag and a habal-habal ride will bring you to this place. I wasn't very impressed with the garden but it might also be because we didn't go around the whole park. There's a small sized canopy walk that you can take for P10. Nothing great but it's something to prep you for the basic canopy walk in Macahambus Adventure Park.


From the Malasag gardens, we rode the habal-habal again to the Mapawa Park. This was more fun! You can reserve early and have a package for P995 for a minimum of 5 people. You'll have a tractor ride where you can rapell and take a tougher zip line. There are also basic zip lines. Even if its your first time, I suggest you take the levels 4 and 5. You get to zip twice. If you don't feel like zipping yet, you can take the monkey bridge/ walk at levels 1 to 2 and short zipping at level 3.



From Malasag, you can take a jeep to Bukidnon to head to the Del Monte Plantation. DON'T MISS THIS!!!! This is a pretty long ride but we didn't mind. A very juicy steak and roast beef awaits us. Other than being an enormous pineapple plantation, they also take care of a herd of cattle which they feed with pineapple remnants so you can just imagine the sweet taste of the beef.


So, we rode the jeepney that says Camp Philips and we were there in 45 minutes to 1 hour from Malasag. There are a few restaurants around. There's the Bungalow which fronts a vast pineapple plantation. Just note that this restaurant closes at 3 pm on Sundays. We went to the Cawayanon club house though. Its the oldest golf course in the Philippines.


Our group ordered tenderloin steak and their best seller, the Roast Beef. The medium sized steak is about P600 and boy, they are the biggest and juiciest steak I've tasted. No need for steak sauce! The complete meal includes soup, garden salad and fresh fruit salad dessert. Everyone was completely satisfied with the meal. Skipping lunch for this treat helped in stuffing us! :-) The clubhouse is open until 6 pm.


Other than the steak, I was amazed at how well the Del Monte company is taking care of their people. They have their own hospital and fields for recreation for their employees. The supervisors even have housing. It's nice to hear a company taking care of their people well.


To get to Cawayanon from Camp Philips, you can go to the multi cab terminal and get a P10 ride to go to the clubhouse. You would have to take the same route to the terminal to ride a colorum van that will bring you back to CDO city. Just don't leave later than 630 since the vans don't have trips later than that. You will be dropped off at Limketkai mall. It has Robinson's, Mercury Drug and other stores you can find here in Manila. You can get toiletries or groceries from here. Don't forget to drop by Orjena fruit stand for Pastel. Its a muffin with different flavored fillings but the best seller is the yema. As of this writing, a box of 6 costs about P55. You can get them in Camiguin for P50. That's where they make them.



Don't miss the Xavier Museum and chapel (used to be Ateneo). The museum is full of artifacts from the Maranaos. Entrance fee for students is P10 and for outsiders P20. The chapel is very simple and very serene. Nice and colorful glass windows.