VISAYAS: summer 2008

Summer is here.. and i bet everyone has their own plans where to go, where to spend their summer with their friends, family and love-ers.. ouch! as for me no more boracay this year.. primarily because of BUDGET CONSTRAINTS.. ouch again.. and anyway there are other cheaper options.. what is paradise anyway if you've got no one to share it with? ehehe.. and the cheaper the better.. luckily cebu is blessed to be located at the center of all summer destinations.. so i listed all the options with pics of the places ive never been:


BANTAYANnever been to the island.. poor me.. i mean rich me for positive vibe and in the name of THE SECRET.. hehehhe.. i will be going there this summer! geoffy and the rest of the geng are already there.. and they left me out! sheeez.... it could have been a nice party with all the hot girls in their bikini.. hahaha.. scary!


SIQUIJOR



hmm mystical..the whole UP LAAGANS will do their usual laag to the island of siquijor... i have no plans of going there anytime soon.. bwahahahha...


CAMIGUIN
haaaaay.. this place is part of my list.. but its too far.. and it reminds me of gelli de belen and jomari yllana.. hahahah...



BOHOL




again all of the people in my family visited here except ME.. they've reached all these places in my list except ME.. because i was BUSY tending the goats and feeding the PIGs.. hehe.. i have heard that the cost of going there will almost be like going to boracay.. hmmm.. mag pambot ra ko doh!


LEYTE

i havent reached the part near EASTERN SAMAR.. but my 'surfer boy' friend told me that LEYTE has surfing spots.. particularly in CALICOAN.. among the spots i have listed.. this is the one most likely to happen.. i have plans with my ally also known as 'the real surfer boy' to pack our things up and just take along with us Php 2000 in each of our pockets.. a tent.. and some extra 'de lata'.. and NO we have no special connection whatsoever.. we just have the same WAVE length.. bwahahahahhahahahahaha...


and of course this is not an OPTION but a MUST... the one place i keep on going back..the one place i HAVE TO be in every vacation because i HAVE TO..


CAMOTES ISLANDS


i have been SICK about this place.. i have been PROUD of this place.. its like my love-hate relationship place.. hahahahah... but it definitely saves and stores a lot of wonderful summer memories.. as they would say there is no place like home.. pait... there is nothing beautiful as eating HANY CHOKNUT in the white sands of santiago... i have to kill in order to get every CHOKNUT i have to munch.. 


either way.. these places are mostly reached by boat.. and travelling by boat is really cheap and we have a lot of choices.. now for better planning and for the latest schedules of shipping.. i can always rely on this webpage...


www.schedule.ph

the LONG TRIP: from Cebu to the camotes islands (reposted from ulrich gall)

From Cebu to the Camotes Islands

by ulrich gall..

Junks, the incredibly interesting architect, guitar maker, bar owner, outdoor equipment manufacturer, musician and triathlete we met last time in Cebu, mentioned that the Camotes Islands would be a nice place to visit, and that he had a house there.

LP confirmed - a good destination for adventurous travellers. So Andy and I went, for the weekend.

Finding out when the boat leaves was not easy. After some initial misinformation most sources seemed to agree that it would leave at 6am from Oanu wharf in Mandaue City. We went half an hour early, which was good, because it turned out that actual departure is (and has been, for a year), 5.30am. Fortunately, it was only 5 minutes late. The boat was 170 passenger bangka "Ave Maria 3"; a wooden trimaran powered by two V10 truck engines, complete with the original steering wheel, stabilized by bamboo outriggers.

We were able to ride on the roof, and had a ncie breeze and good views. I'd prefer a boat like this over a modern boat with assigned seats any day.

About 3 hours later we arrived in San Francisco, Camotes. Immediately as we docked, kids came over and started playing on the outrigger. Very cute.

We transferred to the house in Esperanza (we ended up not staying in Junk's house, since it sounded more complicated and he wasnt sure if the generator was working) on two scooters, one of which we then rented for the weekend (400 PHP).

The nice thing about it was that it runs on Coca Cola. Finally a good use for that stuff. (the cheaper models run on Pepsi; but I think that tastes like wok water, so I doubt it's good for the engine).
When Andy wanted to take a picture of this pretty little store, the people around stopped him. Not because they didn't want the picture taken, but because they wanted to pose.

I have to point out that absolutely everyone we had met until this point had been incredibly friendly, even for the high standards in the Philippines. But that turned out to be only the beginning...



We started exploring the islands... to get an overview, we wanted to get on top of one of the hills. That turned out harder than we thought. People in that community spoke little english; one of them eventually murmured something about "Mata Christo" and pointed to the hill, gesturing us to follow him. So we did, along with about a dozen kids. Half an hour later, halfway up the hill, it became clear that I had heard correctly. The scluptures along the trail up the hill were somewhat creepy. Very explicit. They seemed well maintained. The views were very nice.

Somewhere around here I started to realize that there was something very strange going on on these islands. Something wonderful... more about that in the next article.

The next morning, we decided to get some work done, and then hung out with the villagers for a little while.
There were a lot of scary blue jellyfish on the beach. As a joke, I asked our friendly neighbor Ron how they taste. With a straight face, he said that his uncle knows how to prepare a dish from it. I decided to call the bluff and accepted his offer to bring a little bit for us to taste. Oops, I thought, when he showed up with a big plate full. Oh well. How bad can it be, after tasting day old chicks the day before? As it turned out, it blue jellyfish in coconut sauce was actually quite good. Chewy, of course, but not bad. Spicy.
We continued the tour...
At one point we passed a highly efficient live fowl transport. 100 roosters and two guys on a scooter.

I admit this is somewhat cruel, but at least these roosters had a decent life until today, probably their last day anyway.

And then I saw it. The most amazing sight ever: Not only do they have trash bags here and use them, they even recycle!

You have to have travelled in the tropics in the developing world to appreciate this... What was even more amazing was that everything else seemed consistent with this; looking back, it hit me that people really take care of this place.
They like where they live; there were no signs of conflict, neglect, carelessness or despair. People seemed to have their lives under control. There were dozens of episodes of friendliness and vibes of happiness, every single one of which would have deserved mentioning if they had happened elsewhere. Incredible, really.
We explored a cave, had a competition on who can take the cheesiest picture (Andy won), watched a house walk by, listened to Gemelina's women choir (turning down an invitation join in), helped a 5ft tall young girl start he offroad bike (one of the few signs of OFW money), talked to a farmer about his eggplant plantation, and generally continued to have a good time.

After too little sleep we headed back to Cebu.

On the way back, I had a long conversation with a part owner of the boat, and met his nephew, a very bright and motivated kid, who has some interesting insights on his family business and the shipping (public transportation by boat) industry in the Philippines in general. But that's another story.---> me????



for the webpage that we have developed....here!

CEBU FIESTA: PORO TOWN FIESTA 2008

I am so lucky to have been chosen to host the coronation night and the evening of all evenings in our town fiesta.. it would be my second time to host such event.. its a little bit big in our town coz imagine u'll get to be on stage and all eyes are set on you.. its not really big but its usually a start of something bigger.. hehehe.. its a flattering spot to be because like what my friend keith told me.. its usually other people who would suggest for you and not you suggesting for yourself.. and mostly the people who have done the spot and made programs memorable were my idols before (e.g. uncle boboy, tita may and many more) and yes! i am doing it for the second time around! although i am not an adlib person but i should say i am a little more particular on the concept of the whole show.. or i want a little touch of me be put on the main program.. before it used to be a spice girl sequence done by little kids (which was cute by the way) now its more on the interiors and the concept.. i get high when i conceptualized u know..

this year i am so inspired by movies like 300, and christianity stuff that i made THE FRUIT OF EVE as the main theme...and if only i can strut an empire cut dress i'd wear it all the time! hahahahahahah....

here's a little taste of the story that i wrote for the program:

Right after jesus’ death, the roman empire particularly the women grew more and more exposed to the doctrines left by Christian philosophers and writer. While the men busied themselves with waging wars, conquering lands and searching for JESUS’ cup used in the last supper, the women had an increasing interest for the real fruit of eve.

The book of genesis, tells us the story of two creations namely adam and eve who were entrusted by the CREATOR to be the caretaker of the garden of eden. In the garden they were allowed to be free except to go anywhere near the FORBIDDEN tree or far worst eat its FORBIDDEN FRUIT. But eve was lured by a serpent to take a bite of such fruit and took along adam with him util he himself also took a bite of the fruit. From then on, God casted them out of the paradise and punished them. Since then people until the roman times have been intrigued and interested as to what the real fruit of eve was.

One particular empress who supported its search and excavation was empress maleficent of rome. She organized search parties and silent crusades searching for fruits that would come as close as the description of the scriptures but nothing has been found. While wars and conquering lands have become a movement to prove masculinity, the search for eve’s fruit has become a source of feminine power. The empress became desperate and she then promised that the woman who would find the right fruit would take her place as empress. Until five women came to take and claim her place….

dance moves and choreography will be done by glendell elizalde... interiors will be done by the master himself mr. pablo zurita... concept by yours truly...

disclaimder: the story of eve's fruit is partly history and hugely a product of the writer's imagination.. it is not in the intention of the writer to change and contradict history.. it is solely for creative purposes! amen....