Bohol River Cruise

I was fortunate enough to attend an official function with a free day to roam around Bohol. Among the stops of the tour package is a river boat cruise along the Loboc river on one of the many floating restaurants. The river cruise lasts for about an hour. If the buffet didn’t get you then the sideshow on the boat will surely make you do some of the jiggy. But a surprise right after the last bend really gets you into the Visayan culture. Communities along the Loboc river have made some income generation by performing traditional music and dance.

With a bamboo raft as their stage, the community folks perform at their best. The troupe is complete with costumes and musicians who use assorted stringed instruments, from old makeshift banjos to guitars and ukuleles. Dancers perform the kurandang and the tinikling. Here’s a video I took of the dancers performing the tinikiling. Enjoy!

Dewa Ruci

It's more than a year since I went to Bali courtesy of the training team in Singosari (many thanks). The visit to Bali, though short, was memorable. Most of the memories were captured in my phone camera and it's about a hundred or so pictures in all. Standing out among the pictures I have is a nice pic taken by my Vietnamese friend Mr. Tung of the statue of Dewaruci in a circle road near Carrefour. The statue is so huge that you feel looking at a snapshot from an on-going battle.

I tried to understand what the statue is depicting. I learned that Bima is battling with a dragon. Clad in the Balinese black and white checkered cloth.

Whew! Truly breath taking. Thank God the clouds decided not to get in the way of the picture. The sun was up and the sky blue. The bus stood still for a while, just enough time for Tung to take this picture. Enjoy it.

Mayon Volcano

It was already past dawn, the sun have already risen in the horizon, throwing its reflection into the sea. It was a bit blinding, but I managed to take a snapshot of the glowing orb. But even before the sun came out the pier was already crowded with buses and all sorts of vehicles queuing for the ferry ride to Catanduanes. So were we.

Just before the crew allowed us to board the boat the clouds thinned out of Mayon Volcano and showed her trademark slopes. Like taking cue from the sun, the volcano rose and showed its shape to the fullest. Of the many travels I made into Albay Province, this is one of the rarest moments to see the volcano clearly.

As we boarded the ferry, I can’t escape the temptation of taking some more shots of Mayon.

Bonifacio Shrine

There are very few monuments or historic places dedicated to Andres Bonifacio. His monument in Caloocan City had been targeted to be removed during the construction of the light rail. Fortunately it didn't happen. A little to the south, at the Balintawak interchange, a smaller monument can be found. It is so small that I never knew it was there.

Bonifacio founded and lead the Katipunan, the secret organization that revolted against Spanish rule. As the Katipunan's Supremo, he organized the different armed groups giving rise to the eight rays of the sun found in the Philippines flag. There's even a student organization, the Plebians, who holds Bonifacio in the highest regard.But as Filipinos we seem to fal short in paying homage to him.

When he was ironically tried for treason and was executed, the military detail simply left him and his brother, Procopio, where they'd fallen. Farmers too pity to bury him. almost everybody else forgot where his body was. Until Manuel Quezon went there simply as a media event. It was only Manila Mayor Villegas who erected a marker which still stands today. The efforts of Maragondon Mayor Andaman made the fitting homage to his final resting place.

Today the Bonifacio shrine is accessible from the highway going to Caylabne through Ternate. The place is great for meetings and fellowship. The memorial is nicely crafted with the statue of Bonifacio, bound but unwaiveringly defiant, as he faces the firing squad.

Visit the Bonifacio shrine at Brgy. Pinagsanjan, Mt. Hulog, Maragondon, Cavite

Pueblo por la Playa

The travel from PALCON Cooperative in Sariaya was a bit long. We entered the side roads of Pagbilao anticipating what’s in store for us. When we finally got a glimpse of Pueblo por la Playa from the distance, we all knew we’re in for a surprise.

We had to park all vehicles near the entrance, and a shuttle, more like an over stretched golf cart, took us to our villas. It took two of these shuttles to get all of us. The JICA group had their large suitcases with them.

The name of the place was indeed appropriate, there’s the beach, swimming pool, and the design of structures were distinctly Mexican. After unloading in our indigo colored villa, we were taken to the coffee shop, Oaxaca. The place was cozy, umbrella covered coffee tables are arranged overlooking the pool. Tables, chairs, and fixtures (even the floor tiles), carries a lot of Chicano symbolism. Before we had our seafood dinner, our generous host, Cong. Alcala, joined us. In the morning Toshiro took a quick dip in the pool. Obviously not satisfied with the still water, he trasnfered to the beach. Jimmy took a stroll along the shore. You can see him in on the pictures here, but only if you enlarge it. Our host joined us again during breakfast. Afterwards he started heading back home, all of sighing about not having another day in paradise.

How to get to Kuta Square

When we finally decided to go to Kuta Square, we had to transfer rides from the tour bus into a Komotra. There's a strict law against long vehicles driving into Kuta so the Komotra became a necessity, except when you like to use your own car. The Komotra is simply a jazzed up Canter configured to seat several passengers all in one trip. We were several in our group so you could just imagine loading the vehicle with multi-nationals.

A ticket is issued for the trip. Bus loads would simply fill the smaller vehicle then drive to the beach. The traffic into Kuta is very similar to the traffic going towards Cubao or Megamall here in the Philippines.

Missing Bali

I was walking along the shore at Capari Point in San Vicente, Palawan about two months ago when I can’t help remembering the lively beaches of Bali. The fine white sand with shells strewn by the waves was just the same as in the famed Indonesian island but minus the crowd. Wish I could come back. Why the wish? You won’t know if you have not been there. I’ll try my best to explain and tell you more about Bali in my next posts. But in this one, let me just give a sigh of recollection of things I did and was not able to do in the chicken shaped island. How was I able to get there? The office sent me on training in Indonesia. Whoever made the training design was really a God-send for including Bali as one of the places to be visited.
You know what, I left my rubber boots in Indonesia with the belief that I may come back again. Too bad I did not leave them on Bali, to be specific if the belief turns out to be true.

The silent but beautiful beach at Caparii Point, San Vicente, Palawan

At the farm

Last week I went on travel to a farm in Sariaya, Quezon (that’s about 126Km South of Manila). I enjoyed myself with fresh fruits and some time with friends.

Johnny de Villa’s farm looked like a fruit picker’s dream come true. Despite the fact that tropical storm Frank wreaked havoc in many parts of the country, every tree in Johnny’s are bearing fruit, practically and metaphorically. Pickers are busy with the green mangoes (not the Indian variety, but the Philippine ones). He has the Pico and Carabao mangoes. One mango weighs a quarter of a kilogram.

For refreshments, we had coconut juice, nice for the kidneys. There are also jackfruit and avocado. By the way, if you’re gonna make some guacamole try to squeeze some lemon on the avocado to keep it from tasting bitter when you store it. The action of the enzymes on the avocado is checked by the acid from the lemon. Squeezed lemon is also good for all ingredients in a tropical fruit salad.



From the left: Johnny de Villa, Jun Carriaga, Boy Ferrer and Fenny Rojas