The Blue Mantle: The city of majestic waterfalls

The visit to the beautiful city of Iligan, also known as the City of Majestic Waterfalls, drove home once more the realization of how beautiful my country is, a fact that have been clouded over by the negative things that have tarnished our reputation internationally.

Iligan is green and lush, and nurtures waterfalls that have attracted tourists over the years and have given livelihood to many resort operators.

Photo below was taken at a stop over in our ride aboard the school bus from Cagayan De Oro to Iligan City. We look like friends of long standing, but mind you, that was our first meeting and as always when i am on travel, I remember this quote from Tennessee Williams:" I rely on the kindness of strangers." Then they or we cease to become strangers.

On the last day of the evaluation we were driven to the famous Maria Cristina falls, for sight seeing and to the ancestral home of the former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, which was beside the Timoga Cold Springs resort. It was a running tour, which made me wish they had scheduled the tour at the beginning instead of at the end of the four day activity. But I had to remind myself that I was there for serious business, not for a picnic so I had to be thankful for whatever there was to offer at the end of the accreditation activities.Anyway despite the fact that my battery was already running low, I was able to take some pictures. At other times, I had to use my cellphone when the former failed to work.

They say that on Sundays when the falls was open to public, the viewers can see it in its original double split form. On weekdays, (we went there on a Wednesday and were lucky we were able to come inside the hydroelectric plant despite the day and the late hours) the NPC controls the flows so that it appears as only one falls.

Photo above was taken on my samsung cellphone.

These are stone figures of two former presidents of the Philippine Republic, incidentally, father and daughter, President Diosdado Macapagal and daughter President Gloria Arroyo. These are found in the lawn garden of their ancestral home, where the latter was known to have spent a lot of time in her girlhood days.

This is Timoga resort where they say you can dip a bottle of beer in its cold waters and after thirty minutes, voila, you have ice cold beer.This the view as seen from Pres. Arroyo's Ancestral Home.

There are many places we had no time to explore, but even for the short time that we were there, I would say to my kababayans who have not gone to this place in Mindanao, it is a must-see or must-visit!

Meanwhile you might enjoy this video of the dance troupe of the university we visited. The dance was presented at the opening of the activity. I should have recorded the finale too, which was a folk dance with a story line, but my power source had run out.