Nueva Vista Leyte

Nueva Vista
Leyte Philippines

The town of Nueva Vista is a 25 peso ride into the hills from the Ormoc market by jeepney.

There are enormous sugar cane fields and pineapple plantations up there but the most impressive thing to me is the geothermal power plants that generate the electricity from huge steam turbines.

I would have loved to have gotten an invite to see the inner workings of the power plants but that would take connections that I don’t have.

There was a red alert at the time anyway with the soldiers running a roadblock restricting traffic further into the mountain.

There is a sharp drop off at the end of the pineapple farm where it is straight down for about 300 meters to a raging river that winds through the valley.

Horses and Cows in the Philippines – youtube video of the horses and cattle on the ranches in the hills near Nueva Vista.

I was there to have Christmas with some friends but for most travelers it might be a rather weird destination because there is not a whole lot going on and there is no lodging or restaurants around.

It does give you a chance to get the feel for the Filipino lifestyle in the province.

They sing, visit, gossip, drink tuba, eat and the kids play badminton and basketball with no hoops.

It was neat on Christmas eve where the guitars are taken off the hook and everyone sang Christmas songs into the night.

It is a great get away for a week or so but it can become boring because there just isn’t that much to stimulate your mind after a while. There are no books, newspapers, tv or anything like that but usually someone can round up a cd or two to keep the music happening.

Geothermal electric stations are located across the canyon from Nueva. Electric current is run to some of the neighboring islands. A cable runs under the sea to Cebu.

The irony is that the nearby Ormoc City is often without power experiencing a “brown out” as it is known in the Philippines.

Nueva Vista Leyte