Butuan City, It’s Balanghai and His Story………

We reached the city of Butuan in time for lunch. We settled at Aling Cora’s Lutong Bahay for lunch. We had “paluto style,”  we choose fish and other seafood then have it cooked the way we want to. Right after lunch we went to see the balanghai or balangay.

Balangay was the first wooden boat excavated in South East Asia. Our first stop, Butuan National Museum, it’s the best place to start any Butuan City exploration. The museum has tour guides that will happily assist you around the museum. I find it so amusing and interesting the information about the first alphabet, the Baybayin. Another is the story behind the island of Limasawa and Masao, Butuan.

Our next stop is the Balangay Shrine, visitors get confused with the Butuan National Museum and the Balangay Shrine, the former houses artifacts and other historical and ancient finds in Butuan while the latter is the site where the balangay was excavated. At the back of the shrine is and open pit where a balangay was excavated.

Few meters away from the Balangay Shrine is Bood Promotory or the Site of the First Mass. Butuan historians continue to fight for the historical account that the first mass was celebrated in Masao, Butuan and not in the Island of Limasawa.

We initially planned of going to other historical sights but we still need to travel to Surigao City, where we are staying for a night. At around 4:00 P.M. we’re back on the road travelling to Surigao City, along the way witness a beautiful sunset along Lake Mainit in Kitcharao.