Numerous locals had cautioned us about the next section of road (over the mountains to Roxas) - it was apparently 'steep and rough'. These terms can be very subjective of course, depending on one's experiences. We'd been told by the Frenchman at Pandan Is. that on Thursdays there was a ferry right to Panay (our next island) so we rode to the port bright and early to find that it had long since been cancelled.
Downtown San Jose. So we decided to get a jeepney over the mountains instead (all the time wondering if the road a perfectly rideable), and found the we had some time to kill before departure.
So we decided to cruise down to the market - there's always all sorts of crazy things to check out in these places.
like all sorts of fish.
Punting back and forth from the market to the community across the river.
So we hopped in the jeepney to bag ourselves a seat, and after an hour of sitting in the hot sun (the bikes were tied on the roof), we headed off. The other passengers were mostly pretty friendly. You can't help but attract attention and conversation from the locals when you are the only white dudes for hundreds of kms.
After a few kms of seal the road headed into the hills, steepened rapidly and the surface disintegrated. The jeepney climbed in first gear for several km, and in a few spots was only marginally making progress on the loose, rutted surface. We would have been pushing our bikes for hours - and probably would have died of heat stroke! (photo: Hana)
Judging by the name of the jeepney I guess it was meant to be. The ride was five hours in total, probably half of it on super rutted, steep 4WD track (like a combo of Worseleys and Dopers hills to the MTB riders out there). The second half was on faster seal, but by then we'd had enough of diesel fumes, monsoon rain and getting bounced off the seat.
I don't think this baby had seen too many white fullas.
The end of the day saw us arrive at the Roxas port with a bit of time to chill out before the 4.5hr ferry trip to Caticlan, Panay.
A tricycle, two boys and a pig.
Cycle touring in the Philippines 
We did the San Jose – Roxas ride on day three. It was the toughest of all the four days we were riding. We left San Jose at around seven in the morning and arrived in Roxas a little after six in the evening, passing by the towns of Magsaysay, Bulalacao and Mansalay.
The initial climb after Magsaysay with the loose rocks was the killer. We were pushing for an hour and only covered about 1.5 kilometers. It was frustrating. Good thing that it was partly cemented when we got to the top.
We stopped by a Mangyan village to have some warm coke. 🙂