Maragusan, Comval

It was my first time to travel to Maragusan. I did not know what to expect on the way to a place I have heard so much about, especially on the beauty of nature there. I took a van from the terminal in front of Gaisano Mall in Davao City at 8:00 o’clock in the morning. Even if we were only three passengers on board the van, it already left the terminal. Along the way it picked up passengers, until it was full when we reached the overland terminal in Tagum City. The van was relatively new so I could say that the land travel to Maragusan was comfortable. The van turned right when we reached Nabunturan. From there it was the start of a rough ride until we reached Maragusan. Some parts of the way are not paved, and I can tell that it is only now that they are trying to build cemented roads there.

I could see cliffs and rivers along the way and an awesome landscape of the mountain ranges. There were times when I would get a little nervous, thinking that there might accidentally be a landslide at the side of the cliff that the van was traversing. The dominant color of the landscape is green because of the thick forests on the mountain ranges. Vans and pick up trucks meet along the way going to and from Maragusan. There are scheduled van trips every 40 minutes or one hour from Maragusan to Davao and vice versa.

Before reaching the town proper, there was a big sign on the side of the road welcoming travelers to Maragusan, “The Summer Capital of Davao Region.” There are vast tracks of banana plantations in Maragusan. Dole Company produces these export quality upland bananas. I saw two spring resorts before reaching the center of the town. Aguakan is a cold spring resort and Kanlawig is a hot spring resort. When the van finally reached the terminal, I asked the tricycle driver to take me to St. Vincent Academy of Maragusan. It was just about five minutes ride to the school run by the Dominican Sisters of the Trinity. Beside the school is St. Vincent Ferrer Parish Church. It was already 12:30 in the afternoon when I reached my destination. The four Dominican sisters were almost finished taking their lunch when I arrived. After lunch, I took a rest, tired from the more than four hours of rough land travel.

My mission in going to Maragusan was to facilitate the parents’ advent recollection of St. Vincent Academy. It was two batches of one whole day each, with approximately 150 to 200 parents attending per batch. The whole morning was devoted to a couple of sessions that I facilitated. In the afternoon we had mass and after that the parents had a meeting with the teachers.

In my three and a half days stay in Maragusan, I was able to visit a few beautiful places in the town. We first went to Kanlawig Hot Spring Resort and we had dinner there. The following day the parish priest and the sisters brought me to Tagbibinta Falls in the late afternoon. We had a dip in the cold waters of the falls. On my last night in Maragusan we had a delicious dinner at Heaven’s Peak. It is a restaurant and resort situated on top of a hill overlooking the whole town of Maragusan. It has two swimming pools and several cottages. At night, the view is made more beautiful by the lights in the whole town. Because of its elevation, one can feel the cool mountain breeze in the evening and early morning.

On my last day in Maragusan, we were invited by one of the parents of a student to have lunch at their farm. In the midst of a vast banana plantation is a farm with a rest house and a fish pond with tilapia and pangasius. It was both exciting and enjoyable to catch tilapia by hook and line. Afterwards, we had a sumptuous lunch of fresh fried tilapia. After lunch, it was time for me to bid goodbye to enchanting Maragusan and I took a van bound for Davao.