CDO - White water rafting in the "River of Gold"

I got a little confused when I heard about the white water rafting adventures in Cagayan de Oro. CDO? 'Di ba sa Cagayan Norte iyong rafting? Until I found out that cagayan meant river, and that sort of explained things.

The CDO WRA (Whitewater Rafting Adventures, with their yellow rafts) have been at it since 1995 and therefore claim the longest experience. The flesh-colored rafts belong to a sister company, while the red rafts belong to the newest enterprise.


Before we went on the rafts an orientation for everybody was required (there were almost 50 of us). We were taught: how to paddle; what to do when you fall overboard; that right side is Bukidnon and left side is Cagayan de Oro always, regardless of your direction; yada yada yada. Everybody treated the orientation the way one treats flight attendants demonstrating how to survive an aircrash (what's the point, we'll be dead anyway!). The guides tried to make the orientation more interesting by punctuating it with communal whoops. This was something called a "high-five" where you raise your oar with one hand and shout "Wooo-wooo" dog pound style. Then off we go, 5 or 6 to a raft. Our guide was a cool fellow impossibly nicknamed Tweet-Tweet, and he made sure we had a good time.

After the first rapids, the entire family had a wide grin on their faces, and we celebrated by raising our oars and screaming "Tweet Tweet" for our high-fives. The Pagsanjan "shooting the rapids" thingy had nothing on this. Boatmen in Pagsanjan literally dragging the banca upstream was a huge disappointment for me, and paled in comparison. The CDO rafting on the other hand requires you to pull your own weight with your own oar. There were some areas where you needed to row with all your might while the guide steers the raft to catch the next set of rapids, or to prevent it from slamming against the rock faces. Which is not such a bad thing, as long as you don't scrape your face against some scraggy rocks or tree branches.

Some of the rapids had names like "Washing Machine" where you paddle so that the raft spins around. I asked the guide if the rapids got its name because of the people washing their clothes along the riverbanks. The expression on his face told me that he probably has heard that joke hundreds of times just this past month. Interestingly, a number of the rapids were named after the celebrities who fell there. There were rapids named after an infamous actress-TV host, a not so famous DJ, a young trying hard actor, and one whose name I have never heard of before or since. So celebrities beware! Don't fall into the river because not only will the guides tell every single client about it afterwards, but they'll also name an area of the river after you for posterity. At certain parts of the river, the guides allow or encourage you to jump overboard and swim/float downstream. I quickly took the opportunity to pee.


Lunch was served in the midpoint and prepared by the guides. Everything was poured on banana leaves (boodle fight style), which I'm sure was a unique treat for the Caucasian tourists in the group. Plates made of banana tree trunks were available for the asking. The pork belly was freshly grilled (we had to wait a while) and tasted fantastic. This was well matched with boiled large shrimps, crabs, and rice (steamed in packs made of bamboo leaves). The food was great picnic/adventure stuff. Well worth the additional P200. I think the cost of just the shrimps and crabs I ate was over P200 when sold at MetroManila markets. Dessert was fresh, sweet and juicy pineapple. Remember, the Del Monte plantation is in the general vicinity, so this was pineapple country. As usual, I ate too much, and quickly regretted this when I realized we still had over an hour of rowing and swimming to do.

After lunch, we continued with the other half of the river ride. I was worried that the river gradient was leveling off, meaning no more steep drops and churning water. But there were still a couple of rocky areas waiting before the adventure ended. There was an area that looked like a dead-end but as you draw nearer, the river suddenly turned sharply to the left. The boats stopped here a while to allow the rafters to examine the snakes on the rock faces. We continued on when the snakes started freaking out the wife and kids.

After more than three hours of rowing, we were tired and glad to be told that there was just one more set of rapids. Finally! We survived the white water rafting adventure! And then it happened. The boat was moving slowly - sideways - and its bottom caught a rock. The sudden deceleration caught me by surpise and although it seemed like it was happening in slow motion I just knew that I was falling into the river and couldn't do anything about it. I quickly grabbed a line and hang on for dear life as we were in the middle of the rapids. The strength of the current was unexpected. I couldn't believe that I actually needed to apply the things taught earlier in the morning orientation! Don't attempt to stand up, float face up, point feet downstream, wait for help. I promptly lost a slipper. The guide managed to pull me up back to the raft and we continued on. After being thankful for not holding the camera at that time, I realized that losing a slipper was going to be a bummer; how do I walk around in the rocky banks?; what is security going to say when I enter the hotel barefoot? That became moot however when my son spotted my slipper floating among some branches. My only consolation (aside from not soaking the camera) was that the raft before us capsized completely! Ha!


And now for the finale! After surviving the river ride, "graduation ceremonies" consisted of jumping from a large rock, almost 15 feet high - equivalent to jumping from the second storey of a building. Big deal you say but for somebody with fear of heights, the rock was sickeningly high enough. The shock upon hitting the water popped my watch strap open. Good thing the watch didn't fly off as that would have been kissing it goodbye. After passing some gentle rapids, the adventure ended at a landing where our jeepneys were waiting for the 45-minute ride back to the city.


Rafting Tips
You can arrange the rafting trip through the hotel concierge like we did, or call the companies directly. Just go downtown and people would know where to point you. We paid P900/head (including lunch). I don't know if that is the standard rate but I think it's reasonable considering the input costs.
You are going to get soaked, either from the splashing rapids, or from swimming, or jumping from "Graduation Rock." Dress accordingly. Bring extra dry clothes and towels. A dry bag will be provided for your valuables. There are showers at the final landing but taps were dry when we went.
Bring waterproof cameras, or better, waterproof video cameras. The river adventure was very scenic but my digital SLR spent almost the entire time in the dry bag. I took out the digital point-and-shoot occasionally to take stills and videos but had to hide it during critical times. So the best parts of the trip were unfortunately not photographed.

What else is there to do in CDO? Depending on your interests, there may be a few more spots worth visiting, but not on the same scale as the rafting.

Bulua Pottery
Bulua is a district where pottery has become some sort of cottage industry. There are the usual ordinary clay pots and vases being sold along the highway. More interesting are two pottery factories about 2 km from the highway: Stoneware Pottery and, 500 meters away, Keramos Pottery, both set up by Germans. Keramos is run by a couple Dietrich Kleinschmidt and pinay wife Marycris. The clay they use comes from Ilo-ilo and Germany. The items in either store were not exactly cheap and we rapidly rang up several thousand pesos worth of ceramics.
(From the highway, tell your driver to drive towards the sea, Zone 8, watch out for small signs. Keramos tel 0919-8694597 http://keramos.elizaga.net. Stoneware pottery tel 08822-735603 http://www.stonewarepottery.com).

Malasag Ecotourism Park

If you surf the websites the park seems like THE prime CDO destination, so prepare to be a bit disappointed. Management obviously tries hard to keep the park clean but you can't help the feeling that the glory days were gone. This place has potential but needs a lot of investment I suppose. The aviary has a few birds, and I swear one greeted me with "Sir!" Just go so that you can say "been there, done that." As the sign on the right says, I'm certainly bringing something (a CDO T-shirt with cool design from the souvenir shop), but not fantastic memories : ).

Macahambus Adventure Park
We stopped here on the way to the river rafting adventure, ostensibly to wait for the others, but partly I suspect to drum up business as a sort of tieup. The canopy walk is here, but the problem is the place is so small, you don't really get that forest feel. Don't let the tourism photos fool you. The hanging bridge is just a stone's throw away from the highway - you can hear the vehicles passing. You then take the zip line back to the starting point. P300 for the experience? We passed, but you might want to try it if you haven't experienced a zip line before.
There are also some caves within the park. But we're not into spelunking and passed again. If you can spare the time, try the horse back riding trips; might be worth it if you're the outdoorsy type.



Plaza Divisoria
Outdoor dining, live bands, and tiangge during Friday and Saturday evenings. Very popular with the locals. Not so sure if you'll find it worthwhile.


How to get there
Flying is the best alternative for getting to CDO.


Where to stay
Mallberry Hotel is the new business hotel. Smallish, but nice rooms. It is beside the Robinson's Mall (thus the name) and Limketkai Center (another shopping mall). There is also a small strip mall with nice restaurants and coffee shops.
Pryce Plaza is bannered as the premier hotel, but it is old and out of the way.


What to eat
Seafood was fresh and cheap. At Kagayanon restaurant near Limketkai, inihaw na panga ng tuna (grilled tuna jaw) set us back only about P300 or so for a huge order (what the fish would have cost uncooked at a Manila market). Try ostrich meat cooked whichever way you want it (there's an ostrich farm near CDO).
You can buy Camiguin pastel here at Robinson's supermarket. Ironically, the pastel here had a later expiration date than the ones in Camiguin (although it was about P5/dozen more expensive).