Larena Travel Guide

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Having had a reasonably early start and a pretty stressful morning getting transport to Siquijor island (see seperate ferry tip,I took off on my circular motorbike ride round the island. If you are going clockwise, the first sizeable place you will encounter is Larena. I encountered it in due course and was looking for a light bite to eat. In fairness, you couldn't fail to encounter it, there is only one road! I saw the Breakpoint and it looked as good as any, clean and tidy so I wandered in.

A quick look at the predominantly local menu threw up an obvious option, pork adobo which I absolutely love. Adobo, along with barbecued chicken, seems to be about the national dish, althought there seem to be as many recipes for it as there are cooks in the country. My order placed I sat down with a beer to wait, and wait. There were four other people in the bar, Europeans who had either eaten or were not going to because they left as I was waiting. I guess conservatively that it took 30 minutes for my meal to arrive. That was not really a problem but I thought it was a little long given the circumstances.

When it arrived, the adobo was nicely cooked with bell peppers in it which was a new one on me. The staff were friendly enough and the food decent, so I would have to recommend this place.

Favorite Dish: I have only eaten there once but the pork adobo with rice was tasty.

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If I may borrow the title of this tip from a wonderful Thin Lizzy song, don't believe a word regarding Philippino ferry timetables or websites. They are works of fiction that would have shamed any of the great authors.

I shall tell you what hapened to me.

Having been completely ripped off and messed about getting a small motorcycle and myself across a small stretch of sea on a fast boat to Siquijor City. I spoke to a local resident and checked the "current" timetable displayed in his bar. It clearly showed a 1400 ferry to Dumaguete. I duly turned up well ahead of time and went to the ticket office. It was deserted so I presumed I had arrived rather too early. Some time passed and I was approached by a typically friendly Philippino who enquired if he could assist me. I explained the position and he told me that, no, that ferry no longer ran.

I have included the company's website. If you care to check, at time of writing it does not even include times for this ferry, so you are reliant on the out of date written timetables.

Every guide book and travel website cautions against believing ferry timetables and I can only add my small voice to that clamour. Go to the ticket office, that is the only way you will get current information.

You've got to be careful of the stray and semi-stray dogs in Larena and Siquijor island genereally. They're not going to bite you, hopefully, but they are literally everywhere. If you are driving you need to be especially careful. This is doubly true at night, because the streets are not well illuminated (if at all), and the dogs gravitate to the blacktop for its warmth. The dogs tend to not have much sense of the danger motorbikes and cars present - sadly you see lots of crippled dogs hobbling around. Be careful.