We Love Tagoloan and I went on a trip last August 31, 2019.
Let me introduce what “We Love Tagoloan” is all about. It is not just a place. It is an idea and an ideal. It is based on one of the most powerful emotions that we can have, and that is love. Our goal is to collect, experience, and share positive thoughts and stories from people and memorable events from different places in Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon. We are always looking for inspiring stories that we can share. We advocate positivity, diversity and unity. Imagine what people can do and experience when love is involved.
Our aim is to bridge the gap between different places and its people with different cultures and backgrounds. We hope to bring people together in unity and promote interaction and positive engagements. We hope to part of the solution instead of becoming a part of the problem. We hope to be positive individuals who can help others become inspired and more motivated to help others.
On Saturday, August 31, 2019, the fun-loving team of “We Love Tagoloan” went to Jasaan. We went on a road trip to find and interview a particular group of people for a future story about food. We were invited by a long-time friend to visit and experience Jasaan and its many beautiful events and people. Our friend is a very in-demand and life-of-the-party emcee of a few of our family events in the past, and a very bubbly, influential and positive former co-worker. He is an awesome guy! When you are in his presence you can’t help but smile, laugh and think of past and future good times. He is charismatic and amazing! I am sure you would love him too if you knew him as well as we do.
Anyway, let’s get back on track, Jasaan is 15.4 kilometers away from Tagoloan. We travelled for less than thirty minutes on the road. As we travelled on our red car which we fondly call, “Steve Rogers”, our minds were filled with exciting things to see, people to meet, and a particular food that we were looking forward to tasting. It was a hot day but our minds were cool, excited, and ready for good things to come.
Here is a quick overview of Jasaan: It is officially known as the 2nd class municipality in the Province of Misamis Oriental. Jasaan has fifteen barangays. It has a population of 54, 478 people. It is 15.4 kilometers from Tagoloan and 28 kilometers east of Cagayan de Oro City.
For our first stop, we had to park our trusty old and dependable red car in front of a school. We were about to go to our target location. We had to travel on foot for a short while, it was a sort of secret place. It was exciting and mysterious. We saw a line of coconut trees along a narrow footpath, and a few people in their houses were looking at us intently. We said our “good afternoons” with respect and with smiles on our faces. We arrived at last and we were whole-heartedly welcomed by our friend.
We were honoured to witness how a particular food is made and prepared. We conducted a brief interview. We were more than satisfied with the final product. The food just came out of the “pugon” or a small oven. The cake was hot, we had to wait for a while before it could be eaten. Finally, food tasting time arrived, and the experience was delightfully pleasant. It was food that melted in your mouth. It was crunchy, yummy, and probably something that would make you forget who you were. It was delicious! It was “lasang gusto ko pa!” (It tastes something I would want more of!)
Our next stop was an unexpected yet absolutely amazing courtesy call to Mayor Redentor S. Jardin. We walked into the Mayor’s huge sliding gate. He was sitting on a white outdoor char, outside his beautiful and huge house. He was reading something. Our friend was walking ahead of us. The Honorable mayor, looked up and smiled at our friend, stood up and shook his hands with gladness. I could definitely tell that the Mayor was very happy to see our friend. We were introduced to the mayor, and many of us were star struck, myself included. Mayor Jardin invited us inside his beautiful conference room. The room was well lit, it had a long table with tall black leatherback office chairs on the sides. We were so happy that we were welcomed with open arms and a generously open mind. We talked for a while. It was mentioned that we can make particular types of websites and do content management. I never thought that the word “bloggers” had so much impact. The Mayor was smiling and then he suddenly called someone on the phone. Maybe the Mayor already had a very open mind about bloggers or he had a very open and big heart to begin with. Maybe it was both and even more.
We were invited to have dinner at Sophie Red Hotel. We were given two rooms for accommodation. A buffet was prepared and it was fantastic. Before we sat for dinner, we had time to enjoy the amenities that the hotel had to offer. The hotel’s staffs were polite and very friendly. The night breeze was exhilarating and refreshing. The swimming pools were huge, very clean and there were guests already enjoying the night dip. We had the breathtaking view all to ourselves and it was amazing! Dinnertime came, and we proceeded to have our fill. The food was great. A splendid and crunchy lechon (Roast Pig) was there and other delicacies to satisfy our tastes. It was a great night!