Oriental Mindoro Tours: Naujan, Oriental Mindoro

Our trip to Naujan was one great escape. During those times we were not really allowed to wander outside the borders of Calapan. To find oneself far from your house in the night in the island poses one big problem – not many public transport is available. And thus the trek to Naujan had this element of real adventure and risk which I actually enjoyed reminiscing up to now.

* a view of a river towards Naujan; I wonder if this is connected with our main task that day: to find Lake Naujan

* burning stuff after what looked like a harvest session

* beautiful skies, beautiful fields in the afternoon

* a local party(?) in which, it seemed, almost all the villagers were present

* the mighty beast of burden

I do not exactly remember how one could get there. I recall that we boarded a jeep and we were the last ones to drop off close to the town center, that’s all. It was not that far for if we would check on its history (which I would omit here for I have just read about it on the internet; you could check that out yourself, chance reader), there has been a time when Naujan has been actually a part of Calapan. There has been a dispute over the jurisdiction of some agricultural lands and Naujan won most of it. Thus the presence of the vast rice fields we saw on the way to the place.

* Naujan plaza with a monument for the Katipunan

* a big, old tree beside the town church

The town itself looks like a classic town of Spanish times - a school on one side, then the church on the other, and the plaza at the center. But certainly, the big houses that still stand there make testament to the culture and life that once existed there. I was really overwhelmed by those houses, as if they have just been weathered, and could have stand in more grandeur if not for that inevitable deterioration.

But the elementary school there certainly is not contemporary, for it is in the style that must have been made after Second World War II through the help of the Americans. And the Naujan Academy has in its seal the year 1945, which says the age of their existence in the town.

* a curious tower that we were not able to reach

* a huge, old house

* this house closely resembles the house that my grandfather used to have

It would have been more fulfilling if I was more conscious of the place, taking notes of the important details and info. But we were of course more focused into picture taking and food tripping. One first-time eat is Sampaine (or Sampine as the Batangeños call it), which we found on a local carinderia. The dish was certainly hot; being goat meat, but not all was meat! Almost half of it was just fat. And as a self-proclaimed health conscious at that time, I contented myself with scraping its sauce or juice.

*this houses is a beauty

* nice one

* this house certainly have been majestic when it was first built

Now here’s the adventure part I have alluded to earlier. We decided to go back to our place a little late. We went to the market to look for any vehicle that could take us to Kurba (or Curve), a place which was connected to the main highway, which leads to main Calapan City. But apparently, not so many people there go outside around sunset. So we found ourselves anxiously waiting in the outskirts of the town for any vehicle, private or public, that could just bring us to Kurba.

* a great eat! sampaine, a goat dish

* the Naujan public market

There was a woman (yes, I think it was a woman as far as I can remember) on the way to her home. But her place would not reach or pass by Kurba and so the driver of tricycle refused to bring us there. Only much later that one tricycle driver finally agreed to take us there.

With another session of long waiting, a service van from Roxas, Oriental Mindoro ound for the Calapan accommodated us and brought us back to Calapan. What a day indeed!