Chocolate Hills
Posted on October 10, 2009 by Ching under Travel.
Chocolate Hills was our next stop after the Loboc river cruise. Chocolate Hills is another, and perhaps the most popular, tourist destination in Bohol. Travelers from far and wide come to Bohol to see these unusual geological formations that look like giant mole hills. There are over 1,200 individual mounds/hills scattered throughout the Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan region. The hills are covered in green grass and other foilage which turn brown during the dry season, thus the name Chocolate Hills.
There are two places to enjoy viewing the Chocolate Hills of Bohol: Chocolate Hills Complex in the town of Carmen and Sagbayan Peak in Sagbayan. The Sagbayan Peak is newer and I think is probably farther from Tagbilaran and Panglao. Doracs took us to the Chocolate Hills Complex. There are 214 steps to the observation deck. I didn’t count it. I got the informtion from the Bohol guide book that Tita Esper loaned to mom before we left. Anyway, the taxing climb is totally worth it as the hills are magnificent (even though they are green right now because it is the wet season). The Chocolate Hills (green or brown) are truly a sight to behold. I completely understand why they are one of the top attractions in Bohol.
The Chocolate Hills Complex was pretty crowded the day we were there. Though, it might have been the time of the year because our visit coincided with National Day in China (a popular time for travel/vacation for the Chinese). I wondered if Sagbayan Peak would have been better, and maybe less crowded. From the pictures I’d seen, their viewing deck appears to be larger. Maybe we will go there next time around.
Speaking of the Chocolate Hills, I found out in the Bohol guide that there are two legends about the formation of the Chocolate Hills. One is a myth about two giants who fought for days. They threw stones and sand at each other during their fight. When they were finally exhausted, they made amends and left the mess (the Chocolate Hills) they made behind.
The more popular legend is the love story of Arogo and Aloya (I think this is the one I heard growing up). Arogo was a young giant who fell in love with a mortal girl named Aloya. When Aloya died Arogo was said to have grieved her loss severely, crying many tears. His tears then turned into the Chocolate Hills.
The stories about how the hills came to be are quite imaginative. I’m not really sure how they were formed. One theory says that the hills are the weathered formations of a kind of marine limestone on top of an impermeable layer of clay. However they were made, there’s nothing else quite like the natural wonder that is the Chocolate Hills in the entire world.
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