'Chocolate Hills No More'

I was in Bohol more than ten years ago. I faintly recally the Chocolate Hills to have looked picture-perfect then, like I was standing in front of a postcard. I remember the two hundred or so steps up the view deck I had to climb, for the best view of the hills. I labored to climb up with my colleagues because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I did not know when I would be back. The climb was worth it then, the view was glorious. 

I was back years later, now with two grown children. We went on the same basic tour offered tourists of the countryside, and the islands. The Chocolate Hills part of the countryside tour, so are the: man-made forest, the natural habitats of the tarsiers and butterflies, the Loboc River Cruise, the Baclayon Church, and the Blood Compact Shrine. We had a pretty and cheerful tour guide named 'Koykoy' who really knew what she was doing. The minute she boarded the bus, she had us, just with her 'Good morning!'. She started off with the Bohol trivia, then corny jokes. But we laughed just the same. She was too pretty not to be polite and let out a laugh.

We passed the man-made forest which was a sight of a thousand trees planted way back by men inhabiting the area: the trees have definitely survived whatever the years brought, they are still standing tall, and green. No power is allowed in the area such that no lights are posted along the roads below it. One can imagine if a tire chose to be flat in the area. At night time. Unless if it is on the full moon. We proceeded to the Chocolate Hills, the place I was excited to show my kids. I had such a lovely memory of it that I wanted them to experience that, too. To my disappointment, it was not as lovely any longer. A few meters before the viewdeck, we were shown hills we could see through our coaster windows, part of the thousand 'God's gifts' to Bohol, as Koykoy described them. Then we were told expect to labor climbing the steps up the viewdeck. My kids made it first, I took breaths in between three times lest I have a heart attack under the full glare of the midday sun. When I finally reached the top, I looked for the kids. They were taking pictures from the other side, the side which I am not at. I looked for a u-turn route, it was not there. We had rusty metal pipes in between us, dividing the tourists into two areas of the deck. Apparently, the deck is under construction, and assumed that all tourists are not idiots. Well, I am. So I climbed up the rusty pipes to get to the other side, with difficulty. Three people had to hold my hand to pull me over to their side. Which was all right, if the sight I was to behold was breathless. Nope. The hills seemed, how do I put it? Gone. I seemed to have counted five or six? And they looked, flat and degraded? It was not picture-worthy any longer. And the deck is unsafe. One Korean tourist nearly fell off the edge, and could have possibly rolled down the mountains. Why did the Tourism Department allow people to go up there in such unsafe conditions? 

We started to descend from the ugliness, and saw that there were even better vantage points to see the hills in the middles of the long steps down than from the viewdeck. We tried to take photos but numerous people were on their way up, we were causing traffic. Perhaps it would be wise to have two sets of stairs, one for people goind up and one for going down? I am not sure if that is plausible. What I am sure of, is that the hills were disappointing. Bohol's heart is in the hills. I hope that something can still be done to restore its glory.