dinagyang 2008

'twas my first time to see dinagyang and i only caught the tail end of it. despite my resolve to start early, i had to ditch the idea of taking the first two morning trips as the duo that i was to take to the festivities were quite down after spending saturday hiking in mambukal.

good thing is that the last stop for the tribes to showcase their stuff was at freedom park and it's only about two blocks away from the pier. and along the way, there are a few photo ops for my visitors to enjoy.

slowly, catching the sentinels offguard, we (ye and mohammad-wireless SMEs from sydney) inched our way through the crowd to get a betther view at what the peope at the freedom park were enjoying. by the last three presentations, we already stood next to the drumbeaters. well, they have an expert for company.

foreground: muhammad, ye, ryan at jaro church

but when the event was about to close, i started to think where to bring them for lunch. the last time i have been to iloilo was when i got my first passport in 2002, following my brief attendance at UPV so i panicked a bit until ryan s. finally smsed and asked where we were. his instructions were easy to follow, take a taxi to miwd (metro iloilo water district buliding) to meet him there.

molo church

he took us at nato and helen's where we ordered sinigang na gingaw, kinilaw na tangigue, grilled squids, but my visitors only had adobadong mudfish. bad thing is that i never asked them first about their preferences. but it was too late. well, at least they both have something new to write about their stay here.


the rest of the afternoon, we spent going to the nearby old churches, molo and jaro. we also passed by the museum which didn't have much to show. only one thing fascinated me. the ancient comb made of animal bone which was intricately carved. it looks like something that a supernatural would wear...eerie.

at three, most of the crowds were walking opposite to where we were going. apparently, homebound to rest for the evening's events. exhausted and left with little else to do, we left earlier than planned.

a trip to remember

deceptive calm , belying the huge waves that crash on the concrete dike on amlan port. while the rest of the ports cancelled their trips, maayo shiping lines had already two round trips by noon with the 130 trip endangered of being cancelled. thankfully, it was only delayed by 30 minutes but the hour which followed it took almost an eternity to complete. being tossed and turned would be an apt adjective for it. the seesaw motion made a lot sick. i thought i was braver than the rest, until i found myself gripping the edge of my seat everytime i see us (the barge) on the crest of a huge wave. because when that happens, the cargo part of the ship (that is before us) slams down on the through of the next wave, causing the hull to shudder for several seconds. we took the waves head on as the barge that went before us went past the southernmost part of cebu.

this was truly a trip to remember. it started with a wrong information, about ceres passing the city at 340. it resulted to forgoing with sleep lest i miss the trip. it was a very cold morning. donning a sweatshirt wasnt enough i had to take a trip back home and grab another jacket to keep from shivering. it wasnt a good sign but i turned a blind eye and deaf ears.

after waiting an hout and a half in canlaon only did the konduktor announced that lite ferry cancelled their trips and began to refund our tickets. i needed to go so if going to dumaguete is the only way, so be it. the 5-hour drive was not anticipated, but a means to an end.

sumilon as seen from the santander coastal road behind the ceres fogged window

duolos is back, and i finally got a picture with it. it wasnt a busy night

tex-mex sunday

inspired by the tex-mex cookbook i spied on the shelf and boxes of all -purpose flour sitting for a month now on mom's pantry (which she doesn't know what to do with), i tried my hands on two of my favorites: empanadas and burritos.
while the dough for burritos is resting by the stove (instructions said to keep it warn), i prepared packets of empanadas. it was simple. for filling, i sauteed ground beef in a little oil, garlic and onion. when meat was tender, i threw in small cubes of potatoes and some green bell peppers. for a cup of flour, i was able to make 13 odd pieces, two of which made a filling snack already (with dad as a standard; i had 3 before i couldn't swallow a bite more, with sprite and coffee). nanay was gushing about it and that's good enough compliment, knowing that she's my worst culinary critic. of course i cut on pepper powder to suit her taste.
on my burritos, im keeping my fingers crossed. it was decided that we'll leave it for after dinner snack later. but it couldn't be bad. what could go wrong with cheese, beef, pepper, and tomato combo? can't wait to get dark now.
meanwhile, time to feed my soul with God's word :)

New Year, Novel Start

Wow!
Now that I work close to home (less than an hour's drive before the roads along Baliwagan, Marayo and Pahanocoy were subjected to rehab - yeah, DPWH and Congress have their hands full right now with the local elections looming just around the corner), I expected to spend a longer holidays with the folks at home like I did on Christmas day. I was able to avail of the authorized Leave of Absence, albeit unpaid. I should have known better than putting it all together in one week.
So, on New Year's eve, I reported for work...late. At the end of shift I tried my luck at waiting to be picked up from the bus stop just across the office. The sight of overcrowded PUJ (with about 20-30 passengers on the roof, No Kidding!!!) alarmed me that a trip to the terminal seemed necessary. When I got there, the crowd expecting to go home before 2008 ends was overwhelming but the terminal looked abandoned. Taxi drivers started to get abusive and offer to shuttle passengers to Bago at php 150 per head. I actually told him Php 150?!?! At that, he said, you will not be getting a ride from here. But I did not stay long there to know whether he's right or not. By that time my stomach already started to protest. It didn't do me well even more that firecrackers started to "crack" here and there. It's one of my all-time pet peeves :( So I took a PUJ and went back to the office. On the way, the national road visibility is already nearly nil from smoke.
After depositing my stuff at the baggage counter, i had a hearty dinner of cantonese, rice and ripe mango smoothie which had me feel lethargic all the time that I was watching the Pirates of the Carribean installment in the break room. Shortly after the opening credits of "At the World's End", I went my way to the Quiet Room, selected the remotest bunk, updated my journal and slept through the New Year.