Here's Piolo, our calesa. Going to Vigan would not be complete without having a calesa ride, with your friendly mamang kutsero who’s willing to show you places in and out of their heritage village. You would see ancestral homes of famous people during the Spanish era, like Padre Burgos. The house of the Crisologo’s and of course Chavit’s Baluarte. It was also my first time to see how a burnay jars is being done. Burnay jars, locally known as tapayan or banga, was used for storage of water, rice grains, basi (their local wine made of sugarcane) and condiments like salt and bagoong (fish paste). It is also used in the fermentation of vinegar (their sukang Iloco or suka Baket), perfect sawsawan for their empanada and ukoy. Yum!
Finally, I got to watch the classic film Himala (on cable TV), by Ishmael Bernal which stars Nora Aunor, Pen Medina, Vangie Labalan and other artist whom i only recognize their faces but not their names. Funny thing is, I am here in
I got interested in this film not because I'm a Noranian but because it was in the news recently, it was awarded by CNN APSA Viewers Choice Award for Best Asia-Pacific Film of all Time. How’s that, huh?!? I'm not really a film critic and watching it for the first time, there was no WOW feeling for me. Maybe because I have already encountered real life stories like Elsa's story in the film, stories like those already happened in real life, maybe Judiel was inspired by this film. But I must say the actors' performances in this film were effective, they portrayed their roles well especially Nora Aunor who plays the lead. One particular scene that leaves a mark on my mind was the tight shot of Nora when they were having their funeral march, parang totoo. And of course, the part wherein she was delivering her speech to her town people, saying she was a fake, that there was no miracle and that we make our own miracles and those miracles happen inside us.
We often hear that famous line nowadays, as part of joke, or from stand-up comedians from TV or at comedy bars. I think why it won its recent award is because of the films simple message about life's miracles, it has a universal appeal. And that yes, miracles do happen.
Blogger out!
How about a 3 hour zigzag road trip going to Baguio?
It's an adventure, that's how I describe our road trip. The view was simply amazing, as if we we're in a different country already. Imagine this, layers and layers of mountain ranges covered with pine trees, and lush greens. Of course, we managed to pull over and took some snapshots. Pinoy eh mahilig sa picturan hehe. Too bad I don't have my digital camera with me :( camera ng cell phone na lang pwede na... and the strong odor of pine trees is a delight to our olfactories too! Oh, we also passed by the Ambuklao Dam, considered as one of the biggest dams in Southeast Asia. How's that for road trip, ei?
Getting there was an endless road trip. Good thing i'm just a back seat passenger this time, didn't volunteer to drive because i know its going to be a long trip, didn't sleep though, dyahe sa mga kasama sa car, especially to the driver who is also my job counterpart. Our road trip began in San Fernando City, La union wherein the our mascot also had his birthday bash the night before. Previous birthdays was also held in Metro Manila, Baguio and in Dagupan City. What a lucky mascot, all in all he's going to celebrate 23 times in all of other parts of the country, talo si Kuya Germs month long lang ang kanyang birthday celebration sa tv. :) Going back with the trip, we had a quick lunch stop in Urdaneta City, at our house, our food of course, was prepared by my wife and our house cook. Preparing for a group of 11 pips is a big task and fortunately they handled it well, we had the sumptuous lutong bahay meal ever. Not knowing, our next food stop will be 4 and a half hours after.Finally, after almost 10 hours of road trip we reached our destination, Villa Diana Hotel & Cafe in Cordon, Isabela (you can check out their blogspot also). Along the way, we were thinking of having a dip in their swimming pool, to relax after that very long trip, but to our surprise, they don't have it yet! Under construction pa lang :( A hotel staff told us that what they have a river creek at the back of the hotel, which we can enjoy, upon checking the next morning, it was not inviting at all... murky waters, kiti-kiti, buwaya (joke!) etc. Yes, we're all tired (who's not?) Time to doze off after a bottle of San Mig light and a refreshing shower. Another birthday bash awaits the group the following day, pahinga muna.
Nairaos din, another successful birthday bash for the mascot. Kudos to the group, the next birthday schedule was in Lucena City in Quezon. Di na kami kasali dun, bahala na ibang grupo...
Blogger out!
