When I started heading down from the view deck of the Chocolate Hills Complex, a young man approached me and asked me if I was interested in a tour of the Chocolate Hills. I was planning to head on to the next town but this little tour really intrigued me. He has a motorcycle which would bring me through several little towns within the Chocolate Hills. Since I wasn’t satisfied with my shots from the view deck I wanted more, I couldn’t resist and agreed to the tour.
My guide apparently is a councilor for one of the barangays in the area. He told me that the pay for a councilor is not enough, so he needed to augment his income with a little tourist guiding. He seemed to be very friendly guy and waited for me whenever I wanted to take photos of the surrounding area. He told me that quite a few foreigner have done this trip. He also understands what a photographer wants and keeps pointing out nice spots to take photos.
From the main highway of Carmen town, we entered a very rough dirt road, for a while there I thought the motorcycle would not be able to handle this kind of a road but somehow we were able to pull through. Along the way we were passing by some hills and then the motorcycle came to a stop. My guide then told me that this is the Eight Sisters Hillocks. It is so named because of there are eight chocolate hills right next to each other which form a straight line.
Okay, it wasn’t really that fantastic. But I was able to see the hills in a totally different light. The hills are surrounded by swathes of rice fields which only prove that rice is king in the Philippines. Some of the fields no longer have water and the rice should be ready for harvesting soon.
Moving on, my guide brought me to the “rice terraces” of the Chocolate Hills. When we stopped, I was looking around for the rice terraces and he needed to point it out to me. Apparently, there is a slight slope in the area. And of course whenever there is a slope and a need to plant rice, the farmers can made use of the slope and created their own rice terraces. I found it really amusing and I told my guide that I have been to the real rice terraces in Ifugao province and how this rice terraces pales in comparison to that one.
This tour is really turning out to be quite a interesting one. I was thinking that once visitors have done the Chocolate Hills Complex, there would be nothing to see here. Just looking a the Chocolate Hills may already be fascinating, but it turns out there is more to see here at the Chocolate Hills.
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