OLD HOUSES, SUNSETS, AND MEMORIES
Staying overnight at this old town of Camiguin Island is an experience with the past as the town has remained idyllic without necessarily being backward. It is rural but has most of the basic facilities for day-to-day living - accommodations, bank, and basic transportation to and from the Capital and to Cagayan de Oro City in mainland Mindanao.
The town provides an opportunity to re-live one's childhood, like an afternoon stroll at the beach, or to contest with kids for a few aratilis (Muntingia calabura) fruits picked from a roadside tree being felled.
Catarman, as called by the Visayans which means a point or cape, finds parallelism with the town of Daraga in Albay which also was the new site of what was once Cagsaua, founded in 1587, which was destroyed by Mayon volcano's eruption in 1814.
Formerly in what is now known as Bgy. Bonbon, where the old Spanish church ruins and Sunken Cemetery are, the town of Catarman, was transferred to its present site, at what was then Bgy. Guiob, when lava, hot rocks, and volcanic ashes due to the eruption of Mt. Vulcan on October 10, 1870, destroyed the town.
According to local folks, Magellan set foot to get water at the site where Catarman was established, which might be true as the place is abundant in springs, rivers, and waterfalls, including the spring with soda-flavored waters. (With notes from the Catarman LGU Website)
A quiet place... clean and peaceful, which is better left that way as a sanctuary for tired souls
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