" If you want a vibrant night life, don't go to Boac or any place in Marinduque for that matter. Chances are you would get bored and head to Manila the morning after. If you want a peaceful night and experience the countryside but still have little semblance of sub-urban living, the Town Proper of Boac is the place for you."
- yanx and vanz
Marinduque is sometimes referred to as the Heart of the Philippines due partly to it's shape and geographical location. Boac is the provincial capital of Marinduque. Since we are still mourning, we decided to take a closer look at Boac and skip other beautiful destinations of the province for the meantime.
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| Grid pattern, anyone? |
Like any town proper in rural Philippines, the town proper of Boac seem to impose an automatic curfew on itself. Stores and restaurants are closed by 6PM save for a few establishments like Mercury Drug and some sari-sari stores. Streets are very peaceful except for some night owls playing with their skate boards or chit chatting in the side streets. By 9PM, the town looks like midnight and everyone has already started dreaming.
WHAT WE SAW - OLD HOUSES, MUSEUM & CATHEDRAL
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| Casa Narvas |
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| One of the many ancestral houses |
We instantly noticed that Boac has some resemblance to old towns in the Philippines like Vigan. Old ancestral houses abound the town proper. Aside from that, we instantly remembered the grid street pattern, which we took in settlements/ urban and regional planning subjects. This street pattern is prevalent during the Spanish period in old towns in Philippines. Certainly, from the looks of it, Boac is indeed an old town. Unfortunately, we were not able to go inside any of the ancestral houses.
BOAC CATHEDRAL
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| Going up to Boac Cathedral |
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| The walls leading to Boac Cathedral |
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| Inside the compound of Boac Cathedral |
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| Boac Cathedral |
Like most old towns, the presence of a church particularly near the seat of the government is quite normal. After all, during the Spanish rule in the Philippines, the church is synonymous to government. But that is history. Today, Boac Cathedral is a reminder of a story on how Mother Mary saved the town from Moro invasion. It is said that the townsfolk sought refuge and prayed inside the Cathedral while all able-bodied men fought the invading Moro. All of a sudden, a strong storm came and the invading Moros ran upon seeing the image of Mother Mary appear amidst the storm. As a fitting memory, the statue of Mother Mary greets everyone upon arriving in Balanacan port to remind us of this miracle.
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| Entrance to the fortress or cathedral? |
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| Inside the Cathedral |
In case you would like to attend mass at Boac Cathedral, here is the mass schedule:
NATIONAL MUSEUM - Marinduque Branch
To better appreciate Marinduque, we visited the National Museum. Located near the basketball covered court and within the town plaza, the museum is very informative and enlightening especially for us. It has a minimal entrance fee but the tour of the museum is priceless.
WHERE WE STAYED FOR THE NIGHT - TAHANAN SA ISOK
We decided to stay at one of the hotels since our grandmother's house is too small for all of us. Unfortunately, the nearest hotels are located at the town proper and would take one tricycle ride from our place to go down the lower grounds. It was sad that we have to stay far from the rest of our relatives but at least, we can take a closer look at Boac. Our brother-in-law searched the internet and found Tahanan sa Isok.
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| A Home at Isok... |
Isok is a barangay of Boac. Tahanan sa Isok aptly translate to 'Home at Isok'. The hotel is located near the public secondary school in a quiet corner of Barangay Isok and is also near the market place. We were not able to make prior reservation since we were hoping to squeeze ourselves in the grandma's house. Good thing we got the family room for only Php 1,200! Ain't that great?! We wonder how much this will cost during the holy week.
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| Family Room |
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| Comfort Room |
The hotel has a swimming pool and restaurant. Although they do have wifi, they informed us that we can only access it downstairs. No problem with us. We just want some quiet and relaxing time, besides we enjoyed reading the books in the hotel's shelf. We looked around and later realized that the 3rd floor of the hotel is actually the owner's residence. We weren't surprised since most of the hotels here started as house of the locals or vacation houses.
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| Down the staircase |
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| Entrance to the function hall/ restaurant |
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| There was an event the night before! |
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| Entrance to the garden and swimming pool area. Read the swimming time.... |
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| Swimming pool area |
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| Pool at night |
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| Paula's garden |
This hotel saved us from terrible hunger when we tried to look for an open restaurant at past 7PM. Except for Mercury Drug and few sari-sari stores, all other establishments were closed. We went back to the hotel and asked if the restaurant is still open. Thank goodness! We had our fill of Filipino dishes for less than Php 500 complete with drinks and extra rice. There are only few dishes available but it was so delicious! The cooking tastes like home.....
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| Dining area |
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| Adobong Pusit |
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| Lechon Kawali |
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| Squid with fillings inside |
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| Rice anyone?! |
If you are interested, here is the price list as of March 2013 (this is way before Moriones Festival).
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| Extra bed is only Php 100... |
You might want to call and make a reservation specially if your planning to watch the Moriones Festival. Hotels tend to be fully booked during holy week. There are other options to stay in when in Marinduque. We will try to post it next time!
TAHANAN SA ISOK
www.tahanansaisok.com
(042) 332-1231
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| Hotel Lobby |
WHERE WE ATE - GOODCHOW FASTFOOD
There are no Jollibee nor McDonald's but there are restaurants in the town proper particularly near the town plaza. Just make sure your going to eat before 6PM. We opted pizza for our merienda after our siesta.
Last time we were here (that was a very long time ago), we did not remember having a fastfood such as this one.
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| Half eaten or half full? |
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| The little monster ate our pizza! |
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| Goodchow delivery number. Warning: they don't have a branch at Manila! |
WHERE WE ATE - KUSINA SA PLAZA
There are also restaurants offering home cooked meals. Kusina sa Plaza is one such restaurant, located right beside Goodchow, the prices are reasonable. But again, eat before 6PM to be sure that the restaurant is still open!
WHERE TO BUY GROCERY ITEMS - SOUTH EMERALD
Located near the public market, South Emerald is the only grocery store we saw in the area similar to Puregold. We bought some of the things and snacks needed for the burial here. Don't worry the town proper also has drugstores with Mercury Drug as the leading brand.
We would want to stay a little bit longer in Boac next time. You should too!
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