Aside from visiting Guimaras’ Trappist monastery/abbey, Guisi Lighthouse and Guisi Beach, Holy Family Hills, and Neptune Pittman’s Garden and taking part in its Manggahan Festival, we also saw these sites and sights on our Visit to Guimaras, the mango capital of the Philippines.

Navalas Church

This was built in 1880 and the oldest existing Roman Catholic Church in Guimaras.  Its patron saint is St. Isidore the Farmer, who is also my hometown’s patron saint, so I’m guessing their town fiesta is every 15^th of May.

We were lucky that the church was open during our visit so we were able to see how it looked like.

It was obviously newly renovated and I liked how the colors (violet and yellow) complemented each other.  I loved its stained glass too.

Outside the church was a watchtower that was ongoing refurbishment.

Navalas Church is located in Barangay Navalas in Buenavista, Guimaras

Raymen Beach Resort
This is one of the most popular beach resorts in Guimaras, though I found it too crowded so I was very glad that we did not choose to stay here.

While it has a nice beachfront, it was teeming with people since they accept daytrippers (most of their guests are actually daytrippers and locals).  Entrance fee per person is Php 25 and they also have cottages for rent.  We did not linger though as it was just too crowded and noisy for us.

Raymen Beach Resort is located in Alubihon, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras.  Visit their official website for more information.

National Mango Research and Development Center (NMRDC)

Our tricycle just passed by here. NDMRC was established in 1969 and is tasked to spearhead the development of the mango industry in Guimaras.

Take heed: The province is so strict in maintaining the quality of their mangoes that they do not allow visitors to bring in any mangoes, or even a part of a mango in their islands.

The Rustic Sights of Guimaras
Guimaras is basically an agricultural province so during our 2-day tour of its municipalities, we came across views of ricefields, grazing livestock, unspoiled beaches and lakes, etc.

This photo was taken while we were on our way to Navalas Church from the Trappist monastery.

The main photo of this post was taken on our way to Neptune Pittman’s Garden from Navalas Church.

On our way there, we also passed by this fisherman by a lake.

Up ahead was this herd of grazing cows.

These were just zoomed-in shots so pardon the photo quality.

I took these photos on our way to Guisi Lighthouse.  Our guide specifically made a stopover here since he said it had nice views of the sea and of Iloilo province.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Guimaras without mangoes, and here are some of my handpicked photos of the mango trees I saw during our tour.

I was amazed that they looked so small but were already bearing fruit.  And I asked what the white things are and what for.  Turned out they are paper wrappings for the mangoes to prevent bats and other animals from eating them before harvest time.

And here’s a close up of a mango tree.

I scaled mango trees when I was a child, but I have never seen a mature mango tree with such short trunks!

To continue, this one was taken on our way to Raymen Beach.

While this one is taken at the pier on our way to Isla Naburot, a breathtaking, exclusive resort in Guimaras and the subject of my next post.

Stay tuned!