Old Enchanted Balete Tree

The balete - a strangler fig - standing beside the road at Campalanas in Lazi is claimed locally to be several centuries old, and it is genuinely enormous: a mass of fused aerial roots and trunks with a canopy spreading over the road and a spring rising at its base. That spring has been channelled into a shallow concrete pool at the roots, stocked with small fish that come to nibble at feet dangled in the water, which is what most visitors come to do. Balete carry weight in Filipino folk belief as the dwelling place of spirits, and on Siquijor - an island with a long-standing national reputation for healers, folk magic and the annual gathering of herbalists during Holy Week - that association is part of the attraction rather than incidental to it. It is a short stop on the island loop, with stalls and a few vendors around it, and it takes half an hour.

What to look for

• The fused roots - the mass of trunks and aerial roots.
• The spring pool - the shallow basin at the tree's base.
• The fish spa - small fish in the pool at visitors' feet.
• The canopy - the spread of branches over the road.

When to go

December to May for dry roads. Mornings are quieter; the site is small and a couple of vans fill it.

What to expect

It is a roadside stop, not a destination - half an hour at most. The pool is shared by many visitors, so judge the water for yourself. Vendors and small fees cluster around it.

Nearby

Cambugahay Falls and the Lazi church and convent are minutes away; Salagdoong and Paliton are elsewhere on the island loop.