The Fresh Bounty of the Sea that is GUIUAN

The imposing wooden doors of a centuries-old church in Guiuan, Eastern Samar

San Antonio de Padua Church in Sulangan, Guiuan, E. Samar

Souvenir shops in front of the church

The waves of Calico-an

Tilang, a shellfish we had for dinner, still alive and its shell

Where some of us stayed

The entrance

The homey living area of La Luna

The balcony just outside the rooms

Dried eel reputed to be an aphrodisiac@P800/kg

The grounds of Banago Resort

The early morning view of Leyte Gulf from the balcony

I recently went to the island of Sulangan which is part of the town of Guiuan, Eastern Samar. It is there where the pilgrim church of San Antonio de Padua is located. The saint is known for his intercession to many a pilgrims who endure the 3 hour ride from Tacloban City. This was my third trip to the island, however, whereas my previous ones were all day trips, this time I stayed for two whole days and got to savour so many things that the island and Guiuan had to offer.

Being surrounded by the sea in all three sides, Guiuan and its outlying island barangays are blessed with so much of its bounty. Indeed it must be, that on the day God decided to distribute the treasures of the ocean, Guiuan must have standing in front of the line. Aside from the freshest catch, here you see the majestic beauty of the waves of the Pacific ocean making it the rising surf capital of Eastern Visayas.

This is one place where you get your fill of shells,eels, fish, crabs, and prawns of all shapes and sizes. During our first night, a repast of sea food dishes greeted us which included ginata-an na tilang, a shell which I saw and tasted for the first time. Really yummy. We also had raw oysters in vinegar and coconut milk, sweet fish kinilaw and crabs in gata all fresh from the sea.

We stayed at the Banago Resort and La Luna beach resort, owned by an American-Filipino and Italian-Filipino couples, respectively. Banago had six rooms all in one big house with amenities such as a shower, air conditioning and cable TV. But its biggest selling point is the beachfront on the Leyte gulf side of the island which stood just a few meters away. You could dine al fresco under the stars, which we did, with coral sands at your feet. On the other hand, La Luna Resort had a more "beachy" native design and was much smaller in scale yet with just as many rooms. It was also near the beach and had a bar and a few tables lying about the beachfront. Really, work in this surroundings hardly makes it so.

Getting to Guiuan one can take the vans for hire for the 3 hour trip from Tacloban City. It takes another 30 to 40 minutes to get to Sulangan from Guiuan. For those unwilling to endure the long land trip, there is a weekly flight from Cebu to Guiuan and vise-versa.