Travel experiences: Off the beaten path

Cagayan de Oro: Certified Gold!

Experts do not agree on the etymology of the “cagayan” part of the Cagayan de Oro name. Local historian Dr.Antonio J. Montalvan II insists it means “place of the river,” as mentioned on the Olaging, the local epic chant. Folk epics, according to Dr. Montalvan, are handed down from generation to generation through authorized chanters who are the only ones allowed to do recite it. As such, the history it contains is authentic and free from error. Others, however, disagree.

Whatever the origin of “cagayan” may be, one thing is certain: the “de oro” part is true. Cagayan de Oro is certified gold.

I know. I have been here ten years.

It was May 1997. I was then the newly-assigned branch manager of a company and I was checking out my new assignment for the first time. With me was my son, he to enroll in sixth grade in a local Jesuit school , I to find a house for my family to move in.

As I am wont to do, I had a window seat and it was through one that I first got a glimpse of this city in northern Mindanao, Philippines. The one-and-half-hour flight from Manila was so smooth that I dozed off, to wake up only at the sugary voice of the flight attendant asking me to straighten up my seat.

Then I saw her. An uneven carpet of green punctuated by white sand traps with teeny-weeny tiny people walking lugging golf bags. A golf course! A highway presented itself next and I espiedas in a silent movie a slew of tiny cars going the same way, perhaps to the airport to meet the passengers of the plane I was in.

At the other side of the highway was more greenery: trees in a rolling terrain interrupted by magnificent houses. Then I saw an imposing Mediterranean structure with tennis courts and two deep-blue swimming pools. “Hmm, must be a club house,” I said to no one in particular.

As the plane made the final approach and before the whole vista was swallowed up by hangars, I saw this huge farm house surrounded by at least a hundred lean-tos. Fighting cocks! Interesting.

As the plane taxied down the tarmac, I remember thinking: “If I would be staying here, at least the place looks good. I hope the locals are friendly.”

They were. Friendly to the max.

I found out just how when I came back with my family two weeks later. We arrived in style in a manner of speaking. Our well-appointed room was more like a deluxe room of a first-class hotel than a cabin of a ferry: two queen-sized