The walkway from the entrance of Enigmata
The inside of the main area
I have had the pleasure of experiencing a place like no other, but with hopes that there will be more like it. This humble ecolodge tucked away in the forest of Maubog, Balbog, Mumbajao, Camiguin Island has brought me inspiration and a sense of peace. And I soaked up those forests as much as I could. Ok, well technically it's not really a forest, but the entrance is so neatly hidden among the foliage of flowering vines, giant leaves and palms and green, luscious grass that it reminded me of the Secret Garden.
Enigmata is a center dedicated to sustainable living, creativity, and fostering knowledge and imagination in children. It was started by a few humble artists and musicians, whom I have yet to really have the honor of getting to know. But walking around the camp, you can almost sense their presence and hear their inner voices. I explored, excitedly, every nook and cranny, soaking up as much inspiration and imagining the thoughts of the creators as they created this place. Vines grew with wild abandon over the mixture of wood and bamboo, providing shade in almost every part of the camp. The walls were all different, intricate designs fashioned from bottles, wooden support beams of branches preserved in their natural state. Every bit constructed with love and adding to the atmosphere and homey feel the place had.
There were various rooms which we could sleep in, the eagles room, the bartenders room or the backpackers room. We stayed in the backpackers room, which meant we climbed up wooden stairs, fashioned out of imperfect planks of wood to our bed protected by a mosquito net. It really felt like the best TreeHouse I've ever been in. Art adorned the whole encampment, from the plants, the walls, the floors, to the paintings, to the necklaces, to the lights. Energy efficient lightbulbs were used and recycled plastic made up a few lamps, walls and even ceiling decorations. The bottles which were lined in the walls, made way for a colorful room when the sun shone through it. A murky looking pool gave shelter to about 5 turtles, all happily swimming around and poking their heads up to stare at us. There were cats and dogs roaming free, all well-fed, presumably off the mice that would visit us in the night and any leftovers the kitchen would have. You could smell the trees, hear the wind and feel the earth around you. If you needed a place to clear your mind and your heart, this place is it. There are no air conditioners and yet we were surprising cool, even as we slept. We would wake up to a cacophony of roosters, birds, cows, and other foreign animals as the sun broke through the loft in which we slept. We felt perfectly safe and comfortable.
But don't expect a full service resort. This is a little humble home to a few artists and musicians that try to live by the day. You won't always get what you want because they maybe will only go to the market once a day. If that. They waste nothing, but their foods are incredibly fresh and delicious. Our 3 days only gave us time to try for breakfast: the green omelette, made with tomatoes, onions, wild ferns and cheese, a pinoy medley of fried rice and eggs, and french toast and natural lemonade, and for dinner: a banana shake, a fresh, delicious veggie pizza, and 2 types of pasta, my favourite being the pasta basilica. For lunch we made it into town, stopping at a restaurant by the ocean. The days were filled with visiting the Ardent hot springs, a small resort surrounding hot springs and pools. We were told many people come to heal, and I wouldn't doubt it as the warm water seemed to soothe my aches and cleansed my skin. The following day we made it around the whole entire island, making a stop at a cliff which over-looked the Bohol Sea, and the sunken cemetery where a giant cross sits in a bit of an intimidating manner about 50ft from shore and stood 30-40ft high. I felt a little strange thinking about swimming over peoples graves, but we snorkeled around and floated around the giant cross and thankfully there are no skeletons or grave stones. I guess they were all buried underneath the cross. We observed all the fishes which have made their home beside the cross. This place actually had the most fish I've seen in all the places I've snorkeled in the Philippines*.
The whole island is beautiful and in roughly 2 hours you can tour around it. Each area of holds its own romantic aura and leaves room for exploration. The island is surrounded by seven volcanoes, the most famous being Mt. Hibok-Hibok, which rises high in the center of the island and can be seen from miles away. There are tours which allows you to climb it, although you do need to be fit. Camiguin Island is wonderful and I never wanted to leave. Perhaps it was Enigmata, or perhaps it was the whole nature of the place, but it captures a large part you and leaves an imprint in your heart. I will be back there again and I am so thankful I had the opportunity to visit. It just so happened it was on Thanksgiving.To visit the lodge or learn more, please check out their website:
http://camiguinecolodge.com/
*I suppose there haven't been many places I've snorkeled, but you can see the dead reefs and the over fishing done here is quite alarming and really turns me off from eating fish.
