My Different Kind of Trip: Zamboanga City

        I never thought of visiting Zamboanga City because of the negative impression I had from the news that the city is a conflict area with all the bombing and the *Abu Sayyaf thing. Anyway, I still got the chance to travel to Zamboanga in 2012 with my sisters and brothers upon the invitation of a friend.  And I learned that security personnel are provided since we’re also travelling with some visiting kids from the US.

Beach inside San Ramon Prison Colony

Zamboanga Sunset taken in San Ramon Beach

     
        Zamboanga City is a highly urbanized city located in Mindanao, Philippines.  Known for Hispanic influences in its culture, it bears the nickname "Asia's Latin City" because it’s the only city in the Philippines and in the entire Asia that speaks a Spanish derivative language- Chavacano.

Zamboanga Airport / Photo source: Google

             Upon arriving at the airport in Zamboanga, true enough, we were greeted and approached by this friend’s family and police escorts. I was not really sure if we need the body guards because we need to or does this friend belongs to a high profile people.

Boat Houses in ZamboEcozone

   
        The ZamboEcozone served as our temporary home.  This Mindanao’s first and only economic zone and freeport  is a 55-hectare industrial area with recreational facilities like a clubhouse, a seminar-training center, condotels, casitas and boat houses, swimming pools, bowling center, and zip-line area.

Inside Zambo Ecozone

Me on Zipline 

     
     This friend’s family heads the San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm for three generations. It is now the oldest penitentiary in the Philippines and it became an established community with its own school system. We had the chance to tour the place. We even attended mass at their parish church.

Seen dragon fruit trees for the first time. 

        We were served some gastronomic treats of Zamboanga’s famous seafood like curacha crab and lato green seaweeds. I love Zamboanga’s marang, guyabano and dragon fruit!

Fried Itik, Curacha crab, Sugpo, Lato green seaweeds

Durian, Guyabano, Dragon fruit, Marang

           There’s not much tourist places in Zamboanga City.  But there are these must-see tourist destinations you shouldn’t miss.  One is the Fort Pilar which is very much like the Intramuros in Manila. We passed by Paseo del Mar and Pasonanca Park.  We also dropped by the Yakan weavers of bags, wallets, table runners and accessories.  There are the canning factories in Barangay Ayala that made Zamboanga the Sardines Capital of the Philippines.

Fort Pilar

          Our last stop was the Canelar Barter Center where you can find tax-free products from Indonesia and Malaysia being sold at cheap prices. My sister and I were so engrossed with the pasalubong items that we left our escorts’ eyes that made them worried because they can’t even reach our celfones.  They were tensed that we might have been taken by armed men since kidnapping is rampant in some parts of Zamboanga and ransom can be as low as P5000, as they told us. What a relief on them when they found us. And we’re sorry for the worries we’ve caused them.

Canelar Barter Center / Photo source: Google

Yakan weaves / Photo source: Google

      It’s not a great trip but more of informative. Even with the danger factor, I still enjoyed our visit in Zamboanga. I’m thankful to this friend who’s generous in providing us accommodations and great food!  It's a different kind of trip considering the fear we had to overcome and the security we had to tour the place.

with my sisters and bros

Sources: Wikipedia

*Abu Sayyaf also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya is one of several militant Islamist separatist groups based in and around the southern Philippines, in Bangsamoro (Jolo and Basilan), where for almost 30 years Muslim groups have been engaged in an insurgency for an independent province in the country. The name of the group is derived from the Arabic, abu ("father of") and sayyaf ("swordsmith”). The group calls itself "Al-Harakat Al-Islamiyya" or the "Islamic Movement".