CHOCOLATE HILLS are a bizarre and popular attraction in the middle of the island of Bohol in the Philippines. In the dry season, the 1,776 symmetrically shaped conical mounds covering 20 square miles turn brown, and look like endless rows of chocolate kisses—which is how they got their name.
There are three legends explaining the formation of the Chocolate Hills. The first tells about a fight and feud between two giants who hurled rocks at each other until they tired and became friends, forgetting all about the mess they’d made. The second legend speaks of a giant named Arogo who fell in love with a mortal, Aloya. When she died, he was in such pain he could not stop crying, and when his tears dried, they formed the Chocolate Hills. The third legend is the least appetizing and tells of a giant carabao (water buffalo) who ate all the villager’s crops. Finally, the townspeople couldn’t sacrifice their good food anymore, so they piled up all the spoiled food for the carabao to eat. He ate it, but couldn’t digest it, and left behind him mounds and mounds of feces, which dried into the Chocolate Hills.
