East Mindanao Discovery Trip (4) – Coffee

Today we got up early. The first goal was at very short distance, only 7.5km from the hotel. We wanted to visit the  “Monastery of the Transfiguration”. The monastery and its surroundings is also interesting  for non-Catholics. Because the junction to the monastery is not easily visible, I have inserted a map. GPS Waypoint of the junction: N 08 06.361 ‘ – E 125 07.719’

The concrete road first passes by young coffee plantations, and then reaches the old, original monastery (on the map, the lower Monastery).

The shrubs left and right of the path are Robusta nd Arabica coffee. The monastery has become known everywhere in the Philippines by its “Monks Blend” coffee.

Unripe fruits whose roasted and ground stones we love so much to drink.

The entrance to the old monastery with an original pack of “Monks’ Blend”. We have bunkered 10kg  coffee in the monastery’s gift shop.
Below the phone number to order coffee:

Then we continued our way to the new monastery. The road is being concreted at this moment.

At the new monastery, the architecture of the church is very interesting. This church is known far beyond the country’s borders. The design comes from Leandro Locsin.

The quadrangular pyramid stands on 24 leaning concrete pillars.

In the center of the pyramid is a big boulder that serves as an altar.

And yet a funny detail. We were wearing shorts and shirts. The guards at the entrance gave us baggy cloths, which we had to wrap around our legs like skirts.

On Highway we then bought three Arabica and three Robusta seedlings for 15 pesos each. We hope to roast and grind our own coffe around 2020. In the nursery we also found the plant of our favorite fruit, the Dragon Fruit. Our own ones, drawn from seeds, have grown only about 8cm in the first year. Therefore, we have bought a quite large specimen for 80 pesos.

Besides coffee, pineapples and bananas a lot of corn is planted in the hilly area.

On the Sayre Highway we continued to 24km further south to Valencia. Valencia! While I mostly drove straight on the well-maintained road, my thoughts wandered to the old city of Valencia on the Mediterranean coast.

However, I was very rudely awakened from my reverie when we arrived in this typical American provincial town.

To give this impression a culinary note, we had our lunch at Mc Donalds.

I have split the 3rd day into two parts, as otherwise this article would become too long. The second part will bring us on the same day from Valencia to Davao.

Summary of Day 3 – Part 1:

Landscape: hilly beginning, then increasingly flat, mountains on the horizon
Worth seeing: the “Monastery of the Transfiguration”, coffee plantations
Street: Good condition, no construction, conventional mixed traffic
Distance: 27km
Driving time: 30 – 40 minutes