personifying travel

"It’s worth whatever investment or money or sacrifice of time required on your part. It’s not about being a tourist. It’s about experiencing true risk and adventure so you don’t have to live in fear for the rest of your life."
-- Jeff Goins

you can hide the map because i can make myself one.
last saturday, my mother commented on one of the photos i uploaded to facebook via mobile web (yes, my mother has a facebook account, hooray! \o/)...

mamang: teng, cebu na pod; next week end asa na pod?
(teng, cebu this time; next weekend, where will you be?)

ako: motambay lang sa tingali ko dire batangas, mang. :D papahulayon sa nako si laag-laag, basin ma-overfatigue na siya sa ako kay dili ka keep-up :D
(maybe i'll just stay here in batangas, mang. :D i'll allow travel to temporarily take a rest lest i make him/her suffer from over-fatigue because he/she can't keep up with me :D)

\(^o^)/

hmmm, we'll see if i get to change my mind about that. there's still a few days left before weekend after all. ;-)

not your story

"I am convinced all of humanity is born with more gifts than we know. Most are born geniuses and just get de-geniused rapidly."
--Buckminster Fuller

i'll tell you what's stressful.

it's when you've done more than your fair share of laundry by hand, cooked food and ate what you cooked, washed the dishes -- the house chores, you know. then, having done all that, you rewarded yourself with a trip to the mall -- you went straight to the old spaghetti house and ordered food for two (you didn't mind what the busboys were probably thinking about your impossible appetite, you're able to pay for your order anyway) and ate again. then, time for some shopping since it's been awhile since the last time. after that, you're on your way home carrying all the stuff you bought -- brown paper packages wrapped in your arms. la di da la di da. that kind of "all is well" and "everything is blissful, nothing can go wrong" mood. nevermind that it's already dark and you're on your own -- you're all soaked up in that good sunday evening vibe as you walked the few blocks going to your apartment. then, of all times, all the dogs in the neighborhood went barking. OMG!!! your entire body instantly betrayed you -- you can deal with anything but NOT dogs, real or imagined, seen or not seen; as long as you're aware they're THERE (for crying out loud they're DOGS!!!), you're afraid of them.

i'm sure there are those of you who can easily say, "that's nothing..." blah blah blah "wala 'yan sa lolo ko..." blah blah blah. go ahead, indulge yourself, that's okay with me. humor me ;-P see that title up there? gotcha. haha. i'm not sorry if ever i wasted your time.


10.09.11 chicken tequila pizza by TOSH

once upon a photowalk: the nayong pilipino

"Enjoy the company of people who are in your life for a season or a reason. Not everyone needs to be in your life forever. That's reserved for the very few lucky ones."

-- from Travelife Magazine's Suitcase Tales

let me begin this by saying that i missed out on the glory days of the nayong pilipino but... uh... now, on to my story.

joining the walk
when an online notification called my attention to the walk that ate bambit was leading as part of scott kelby's 4th annual worldwide photowalk and that the venue she chose for this year was the nayong pilipino (english translation: philippine village), i got excited.



the nayong pilipino jeepney

i had two main reasons for my excitement: one, it's a photowalk! plus, i know ate bambit and i knew our d60krew friends were also signing up for it. thus, i had assurance that joining the walk wouldn't be daunting. two, i have this curiosity to satisfy where the nayong pilipino is concerned -- i wanted to check out the place which, back in my childhood days in mindanao, i only got to know mainly about through those colorful postcards required in our civics and culture classes.

to put that in a simpler and more straightforward statement, here goes: i've never been to the nayong pilipino and, quite naturally, i wanted to experience the place. that's the child in me speaking.

signing up for the walk
with postcard-inspired mental images of the nayong pilipino that i knew of, i followed the link for the walk and... my excitement level dropped a little.

whoa! the walk was already full!!!

see, each organized walk for scott kelby's worldwide photowalk can only accommodate 50 official walkers. when i signed up for the walk, i was already no. 20+ (i think) on the waiting list. attention, we're already talking about the waiting list!

actually, being on the waiting list was not so bad. it was not really a major problem since we still could join the walk but not as official walkers -- only as salimpusa or kuyog-baboy. (salimpusa is a filipino term while kuyog-baboy is a visayan/cebuano term. both terms are associated with different animals -- pusa is a reference to cats, baboy is a reference to pigs -- but both translate to one same thing/concept, which is analogous to... a joker in a deck of cards).

the swelling number of people on the waiting list was not lost on ate bambit so a request was made for a parallel walk at the nayong pilipino to be led by kuya andy, also a d60krew member. after quite a long wait (with hopes of securing the needed approval getting dimmer as the day of the worldwide photowalk got nearer), the parallel walk got approved.

as soon as i learned of the approval, i joined the parallel walk, had my name removed from the the waiting list of the main walk and...voila!!! yey, parallel walk with the d60krew!!!

what came next? getting to know more about the nayong pilipino. bow.

the nayong pilipino as i knew it
the nayong pilipino was, according to the old postcard photos and captions, a theme park housing close-to-faithful miniature replicas of the philippines' popular tourist attractions -- ifugao's banaue rice terraces, bicolandia's mayon volcano, bohol's chocolate hills, and cebu's magellan's cross just to name those that i could easily recall. i understood it to be as the one place in the country where one could drown in wanderlust and tour the philippines from luzon to visayas to mindanao (and back or in any preferred sequence) without having to worry about spending for airfare or boatfare to get from one island to the next just to be in one major attraction to the next.



the nayong pilipino's mayon volcano

that it was established in 1969, a 46-hectare facility, and, as a theme park showcasing tourist destinations and culture, the first of its kind in southeast asia -- these are details which i only learned recently when i did a quick online search to know more about the place.

the nayong pilipino then and now
the nayong pilipino implanted in my mind is an awe-inspiring village area of culture and postcard-perfect miniaturized philippine sceneries. the nayong pilipino that exists today is not anymore that. the theme park got neglected and the years and new directions towards "development" took their toll on this once-upon-a-time major tourist complex.

then, in hammering-the-nail-to-the-coffin fashion...

"In 2002, the then Arroyo administration stopped the park’s operations following the conversion of nearly nine hectares of the property into a parallel taxiway and service road connecting Naia Terminals 2 and 3."
source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/27569/airport-needs-nayong-pilipino-for-expansion

gone are the significant portions of the park. gone are visayas and mindanao. gone are the replicas of the chocolate hills and magellan's cross. gone, too, are the replicas of the vigan houses in ilocos sur and the banaue rice terraces of the cordilleras.



tangled. balete-wrapped trees of the nayong pilipino

nayong pilipino and bagong nayon
before i go on, allow me to make one thing clear. there is a new nayong pilipino more often referred to by its filipino name, bagong nayong pilipino, being developed by the philippine amusement and gaming corporation (that's better known as PAGCOR by you and me). i heard the bus attendants refer to it as "bagong nayon" (new village) and it is at the reclaimed area near the SM mall of asia. its developer's vision is to make it "a Las Vegas- or Macau- like gaming and entertainment center." clearly, that's not the nayong pilipino that i'm talking about here. i'm talking about the old nayong pilipino (or maybe i should say, THE nayong pilipino) right next to the airport.

THE nayong pilipino can be easily reached by taking a MIA-bound bus from EDSA. the airconditioned ride from magallanes to just right before the airport terminal 2 checkpoint (which is just across the gates of the nayon) cost me 12 philippine pesos only.

the nayong pilipino as i found it on 1st of october 2011
upon passing through the gates of the nayon and as i walked past the spacious parking lot to get to the orchidarium coffee shop, i assessed my impression of the place. i perceived that, indeed, it has seen better days.

the nayong pilipino that i entered is a large compound with the atmosphere of an old family park -- the vibe was country-like with the trees and the greens but there were tell-tale signs of neglect and abandonment (the imposing presence of the philippine village hotel building is a difficult-to-ignore example).



walk this way in the nayong pilipino

i found the place interesting -- it's somewhat run-down but not exactly unkempt, it's old but fascinating, undeniably dying in more than some aspects but still breathing with much in some, too.

i could not resist wondering how it must have been like to be there 20, 30 or so years ago. i could not provide the answer on my own. too bad, huh, i was born late and it took me long before i could make a visit -- i missed out a lot.

a case of better late than never
i am glad that i signed up and showed up for the photowalk last saturday despite the gloomy skies due to typhoon quiel's arrival. true, it was quite a challenging time for taking pictures but i am grateful that i got my opportunity to explore the nayong pilipino, appreciate what's in it, and got insights on what it could become.

after going through the registration and exchanging hi's and hello's with ate bambit and joseph, the volunteer registration officer by the time i arrived, i took steward and putiX -- my nikon d60 and my sony ericsson xperia x8, respectively -- for a walk.

i took some photos of the lotus plants that caught my attention and the shaded pond where they thrive before walking some more.



pink lotus flowers


the pond in the orchidarium

i eventually found myself looking at what would turn out to be everyone's favorite subject that day -- the beautiful replica of the mayon volcano.



this beautiful replica of mayon volcano dominates the nayong pilipino landscape

i walked some more and saw portions of the park in sad state.



i saw the "under renovation" sign

since there was a scheduled presentation prepared for us by atty. apolonio b. anota, jr., director of the nayong pilipino foundation, i made way back to the orchidarium coffee shop to catch the latter part of his talk -- about the nayong pilipino, rehabilitation efforts, and the initiative of cultivating orchids and goal of housing thousands of them in the park.

now, the orchids of the nayong pilipino are testimonies of patience and dedication and they are wonderful to behold.



take time to enjoy the sight of flowers when in nayong pilipino


don't miss out on these beauties particularly the
ninoy aquino orchid (with white flowers) and
the cory aquino orchid (with yellow flowers).


towards the end of the walk, i joined the rest of the d60krew who also signed up and showed up for the walk. it was reunion time!

one last "field trip" before calling it a day
after having lunch and spending some bonding time at the park's concession area, i and some d60krew members (ate bambit, royskie, geh, and gina) agreed to go to the ifugao portion of the nayon where there is an on-going reconstruction of traditional ifugao houses complete with carvings.

it was "field trip" time because from "bicol" we were going to "ifugao." but first, we made a stopover at the building that once housed via mare and kamayan restaurant. it's under renovation but entering it seemed necessary as it's a vantage area for a breathtaking view of the nayong pilipino's mayon volcano and the big pond.



the building as seen from a distance

when we got to "ifugao," it started to drizzle but this didn't stop our small group from taking more pictures and moving further to the park's aquarium complex.



ifugao house. reconstruction in progress.

sadly, the aqua tanks, which used to house the different fishes that can be found in philippine waters, are no more.



aquarium area in ruins: no more fish, no more tanks

there are 4 big (and relatively new) tanks in the area, however, that are teeming with golden tilapia. they look like koi but that's according to my untrained eye.



golden tilapia collection

i learned from ate bambit that fishing at the big pond (the one dominated by the replica of the mayon volcano) is allowed for PhP20 per fishing rod (perhaps one can think of it as unlimited fishing for PhP20). apparently, part of the rehabilitation plan is that once the big pond is cleaned up of the "old" fish species and what-have-you's, the golden tilapia will be freed there.

after exploring the aquarium part of the nayong pilipino, it was time for our small group to call it a day. we already took the pictures that we could and typhoon quiel's "advance party" was already upon us -- the combo of overcast sky, rain, and strong wind.

hey, wait. i fulfilled a childhood dream that day. then, there's more. i have another "something to look forward to"...

aside from i could try fishing, i have a reason to go back to the nayong pilipino soon: biking!



biking where you could have the mayon volcano for a backdrop, anyone? ;-)

'til my next update!


-----
p.s.
(1) this one's a bonus! during the photowalk, i met an online friend, kuya chris, in person for the first time after 7 years of virtual interaction with him via ibalita, yahoo! messenger, and blogging. awesome!

(2) i own ALL the photos before this jump. this group photo, however, is from geh lusterio's camera: 



group photo of the official main and parallel walk participants of scott kelby's worldwide photowalk 2011 at the nayong pilipino. in addition to those already mentioned, the d60krew members who showed up:bangge, ryan, john, carlo, andrew, olee, karla, art, kuya andy and d60krew godfather, sir rolly

babbling to the void on a stormy day

"Give your stress wings and let it fly away."

--Terri Guillemets

today is a workday but it feels like a holiday. that's me talking (or more aptly, writing). i should have just stayed at home instead of doing what i did -- showed up at work -- and be like this -- lazy (and feeling guilty about it). haysss. bed! that's where i should be. after all, it's a very wet, very windy and cold, gloomy day. i should have just slept in. hihi.

outside, as i am writing this, typhoon pedring (international name: nesat), the 16th tropical cyclone to enter the philippine area of responsibility this year, is busy bringing in howling winds and scattering rain -- signal no. 2 in batangas; signal no. 3 is already up for places in eastern luzon. pedring's timing, projected path, and tendency to wreak havoc is reminding a lot of people of ondoy (international name: ketsana), that underestimated (read: initially underestimated) typhoon that caused massive flooding and shocking disaster in september 26, 2009. i'm throwing in memories of milenyo (international name: xangsane) of 2006, which entered the philippine area of responsibility and sowed destruction during the last week of september that year.

how could i forget ondoy and milenyo? i have blog entries about those two -- i was outside the comfort zones while they raged and i personally experienced what it was like to be out while they raged (but minus the traumatic imprints that they left on so many, many people).

booooo. i was hoping my entry after the "re-entry" (i'm making sense, right?) would already be about travels -- see i so want to go back to being able to blog about personally experienced travel adventures (along with their social, historical, and cultural implications, if any) but i've been postponing writing about my travels for so many, many months now and there's too much backlog already; i'm now finding it difficult where to pick-up and start. ugh.

yeah, i know. i better stop procrastinating.

right. so little time, so much to do. yet, i take time to boondoggle. no, don't tell me. i already told myself that. stop. then, start. bye bad habits. hello, good ones! yes and amen to that.



lightning strikes. i took this picture while spending time with friends
at guimaras's villa igang wharf on the 24th of september, 2010 -- just a year and three days ago.

i guess i'll be posting entries like this until i get my signature blogging groove back. ;-)

re-entry: a simple hi and more

it all starts and re-starts with a hi or a hello. as simple as that. everything else just follows.

here's hoping this is the entry that marks my honest-to-goodness comeback to blogging. hello world! hi there!

-¤-

my inspiration for coming up with this from-out-of-the-blue entry is also a from-out-of-the-blue message sent to me via gmail chat while i was offline. it said, "elo vallll!!!!!" just that. nothing else. nevertheless, it made my heart swell because it came from someone i haven't heard from for a long time already -- a dear labmate from my graduate school days in UP.

the message reminded me that a simple hi or hello can really go a long, long way. it also made me realize (again, i must say) that there would always be people with whom we share important connections with in our lifetime, that it doesn't matter how long we've last seen them or last heard from them; by the time we see them -- or hear from them -- again, it's just as if the time between then and the present is just that -- the time in between. the connections, however, are there and they stand the tests of time. they spontaneously burst to the surface from the depths of our beings once rekindled. they are fast reinforced, built, strengthened. time lapses, along with gaps, distances, and walls -- real or imagined they may be -- all simply dissolve.

for me, this triumph of connections over the challenges of time spent apart applies not only to the connections i have with people whom i actually shared lots of valuable time with on a face-to-face basis before; this also applies to those connections i have with people whom i have only seen once or twice so far in my lifetime (and very, very briefly at that!) as well as with those i have never really seen but interacted with so much on a virtual level -- chatmates and blogger friends -- people with whom i exchanged thoughts and whatnot's, laughed with, empathized with, argued with (and, at certain stages, had painful misunderstandings with), and celebrated even life's trivialities with through instant messaging, SMS, emails, comments, and/or -- quite rarely -- voice calls.

with each re-establishing of connections, no matter how simply achieved -- even if just through a hi or some whatnot initiated by the other party -- i recognize a heartwarming gift from heaven. i see the connections as blessings and rekindled connections are, in my lifebook, blessings multiplied. i acknowledge that they often come to me when i least expect them so i really do get caught by surprise. all the more that they become cherished wow moments. i cannot be faulted then for feeling so grateful that, oftentimes, i feel so moved to pay things forward -- i am inspired to be the one to say hi -- and this is one of those times.

i envisioned my comeback article to be about one of my many blog-worthy travel experiences. countless times, i attempted to start the draft only to stop even before i could complete the first sentence and, again and again, i ended up working on something else. i did some preparations, too, by introducing more than the usual minor changes to the template -- i thought the changes would finally get the ball rolling again -- but it still took me until now to act on my resolve to blog again.

what i shared with one of my younger sisters recently also applies to me: you gotta start at some point or you don't move.

this is it, time to hit the ground running.

with all that said, let me mark my re-entry to blogging with this simple combination of three characters: hi!



wherever you are right now in the world, if you're reading this, journey with me, see you around.

i'm going this way: hoyohoy!

“The only question in life is
whether or not you are going to answer
a hearty ‘YES!’ to your adventure.”
— Joseph Campbell

hoyohoy, tangub city is the latest addition to my list of target destinations.
the compelling reason? read on... if you're a thrill-seeker like i am, you just might make it a target destination, too!

tangub city is my father's hometown and, as such, it is one place that our family keeps going back to as much as we can. it is where we get reunited with our relatives -- people who, more likely than not, bear the same surname (or middle name) as i do -- and experience life with easy access to mango orchards, vegetable farms, rice fields, and fish ponds.

back in january 2009, i already wrote about tangub city being the christmas symbols capital of the philippines -- the city turns itself into a huge, dazzling, inspiring, amazing pinoy wonderland every onset of the christmas season. it is the place to be in mindanao if you want to catch the christmas spirit with lots and lots (and, let me say it again, lots and lots...and lots and lots) of christmas lights and delightful christmassy stuff, big and small, with family and friends.

now, watch out for tangub city as it also becomes a new adventure capital for being the home of the longest and highest zipline in asia to date!

on july 18, 2011, i wrote:

thrill-seekers, alert!!! the longest and highest zipline in asia to date is in hoyohoy, tangub city and has recently been opened. i'm already thinking of trying it out this october. to quote my friend, Karl Imanoel Obias Aoanan, "the Skyline Zip is 1,250 meters (line 1); 1,100 meters (line 2) and 500 meters above the Labo River (which is 350 meters above sea level)" | ayos!!! tara let's!

this is it, thrill-seekers! if you want to try the skyline zip (and their other adventure activities) like i do, check out hoyohoy highland stone chapel adventure park -- at 850m above sea level -- in hoyohoy, tangub city, misamis occidental, philippines. their facebook page is very helpful and has information on the basic things we need to know like park hours, description and location, how to get there, and contact details.

having seen the photos of the place, knowing people who very well know the area, and having heard from my cousins that hoyohoy is tangub city's own baguio, i am so excited to finally see, feel, and experience the place. i am sooooo looking forward to taking all in the sights and thrills in hoyohoy highland stone chapel adventure park!

to give you some ideas of what i'm talking about, here is a collection of some of the photos posted in the hoyohoy highland stone chapel adventure park facebook page:




the stone chapel and its surroundings
original caption: the stones were left untouched from their original placements some thousand - maybe millions - of years ago. we are appealing for our guests and visitors not to desecrate or vandalize the stones.





a perspective of the hoyohoy skyline zip
original caption: from the mountain to your left to the mountain across to your right and back. Just to give you a perspective how long and how deep the Zip-line is.





a perspective of the hoyohoy skyline zip, zoomed
original caption: zooming in. there are structures (shown with shining roofs) on the mountainside to your left. that's where the HOYOHOY Highland Stone Chapel Adventure Park is located - and is the starting point of the Longest Zip-line in the country.





a face of the malindang range
original caption: Mt. Malindang's South Peak. Mt. Malindang Range Natural Park. this is what you will see from the View Deck.





a section of the labo river
original caption: View from the top. the LABO River 500 meters below.





wow, notice the fog!!!





zip long and high through the fog, why not? :D


here is a mobile unit-recorded skyline zip video posted and shared by one of my classmates back in grade school. according to her, "tsada au ang zip ana pabalik kay mo hunong sa tunga nyahahahahahha." (the zip is awesome on the way back you stop in the middle nyahahahahahha). i bet that's just a momentary perception while zipping over labo river and that's the kind of zipline thrill i want to experience.

by the way, the adventure park has ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) and horses, too!!!


my previous article on tangub city is here.
note: the pictures posted in this article are used with permission from the admin of the hoyohoy highland stone chapel adventure park facebook page.

a quick look back

it was june 18, 2005 when we, bisaya bloggers in manila, first met. from edsa shangri-la in mandaluyong city, we went to the gateway in araneta, cubao, quezon city then back to mandaluyong to window shop at the megamall. there was jory, gail, sealdi, bhevs, and i. i wrote about that day and the article lives to this day.


june 18, 2005 first meeting memories
http://caterpillartalk.blogspot.com/2005/06/kabisdakan-et-al.html
that initial meeting was full of fun and there were other bisaya bloggers in manila get-togethers that followed... yellow cab pizza saturday, mall strolls and book-shopping, taxi and train rides...


july 30, 2005 yellow cab saturday crowd
http://caterpillartalk.blogspot.com/2005/08/wowow-weekend-with-wowow-friends.html

kars, kuya zimm, and padre cuying joined our happy bisdak crew. we had the brickhouse, picnic with kuya miki, and even dragonboat-rowing and amazing race-like adventures.






february 12, 2006 bisaya bloggers in the brickhouse
(communication foundation for asia in sta. mesa)
http://caterpillartalk.blogspot.com/2006/02/kay-bisaya-lagi.html




march 4, 2006 UP sunken garden picnic
http://caterpillartalk.blogspot.com/2006/03/picnic-with-bulad.html




may 20, 2006 bisaya bloggers' "amazing" saturday
http://caterpillartalk.blogspot.com/2006/05/bisaya-bloggers-amazing-saturday.html
tomorrow, june 19, 2011, we will be spending time together again. time to revive and sustain our happy bisdak times!!! exciting is an understatement. :-)

a galleon named andalucía

"A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon."
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galleon

10th of october 2010 mission: get on board galeón andalucía
pier 13, south harbor, city of manila

what this was like: effort!

our group started joining the queue of people wanting to see the galleon at around 6:30am. we got our first glimpse of the galleon at around 11am and was able to get on board at close to 11:30am. the viewing hours for october 9, 2010? 9am-12nn -- whew! despite being early, we almost didn't make it. :D

galeón andalucía, which docked for a limited duration in manila's south harbor from october 5 to october 9, 2010, is a replica of the galleons which figured so much in that manila-acapulco galleon trade we used to read about in philippine history and culture textbooks back in our days of formal schooling.

people couldn't be blamed for turning out in hordes to see galeón andalucía. after all, it's the first time in after 200 years that a galleon docked once again in manila.

because the galleon was around only for a limited time and too many people flocked to south harbor, queuing for the chance to experience being on board a real galleon proved to be very challenging. not everyone had the patience to stand in line and many had to turn away.

i think i would have turned away, too, if i didn't have friends around who were also as committed to the 'mission.'

with that said, before i get around to sharing some photos, let me share my anecdote related to the 'mission':

a test of human patience, perseverance, and determination, it was!

i lost my patience with the guard who wouldn't let me go through the gate to south harbor because "di na po muna kami nagpapapasok kasi marami na pong tao sa loob" (read: we're not letting anyone in anymore for the time being because there are already so many people inside) and that was only ~7:30am. viewing hours were not to start before 9am.

when i called his attention to the people in private cars and taxis that were allowed through the gate and how unfair that was to people on foot, he told me off by saying "wag kang nagtututuro, masama 'yan. sila (people who're also outside the gate) nga e, nauna sa 'yo, hindi nagrereklamo." (read: don't point, that's bad. they got here ahead of you but they are not complaining.)

me: "hindi ako sila at hindi ako nagtututuro, sinasabi ko lang sa 'yo, sir, na hindi kayo patas kasi pinapapasok n'yo ang mga may sasakyan pero kami hindi at nasa loob na ang mga kaibigan ko, kasama nila ako." (read: i am not them and i'm not pointing. i'm just telling you, sir, that you're not being fair because you're allowing those people in private cars and taxis to get in but not us who walked to get here. my friends are already inside, i'm with them.)

i totally got irked when he just said, "kasalanan n'yo 'yan." (read: it's your fault.) to this, i said, "paano naman naging kasalanan ko e kayo nga ang malabo" (read: how come it's my fault when you're the one who's inconsistent?) and then i walked away.

when my friends who were already inside south harbor came to the gate to get me, i stopped short of sticking my tongue out and making "bleh bleh" antics at the guard. when i made my way past him, i blurted out a bratty "ikaw kasi e, sinabi ko naman kasi sa 'yo, ayaw mo maniwala." (read: see i told you but you refused to believe me.) ayun, pasok ako at good luck sa kanya, maraming taong mas rabid pa sa labas so i was able to get in and good luck to the guard -- there were a lot of people left outside the gate who were far more "rabid" than i was.

after entering the gate, there was still a queue to endure. however, getting past the gate was über important and as the popular saying goes, "all's well that ends well."


i got stamped!
the stamp on my palm was for "aklatang filipino" but this was a sort of assurance from the 'bouncers' that i'd be able to get onboard galeón andalucía.


dia del galeón banner and the barrier.
the pathway to and fro galeón andalucía belonged to the other side of that fence.


galeón andalucía
that was our view of galeón andalucía as we were approaching the waiting area for people going onboard the vessel.


docked. galeón andalucía (as seen from her bow-side) and her visitors in manila's south harbor


the masts of galeón andalucía

galeón andalucía: the pulleys, the ropes, and the wooden frame (and the visitors )

masts and the colors representing manila (philippines) and acapulco (mexico)!

two of the 31 members of the galeón andalucía crew at work

galeón andalucía ropes

inside the galleon: rope art (this was placed near one of the cannons.)

inside the galleon: one of the cannons

inside the galleon: galeón andalucía art

galeón andalucía commemorative plate

inside the galleon: spanish seal on the glass pane, timepiece, a replica, and a lamp

inside the galleon: wooden dining set with metallic centerpiece

inside the galleon: wooden furniture

another two of the 31 members of the galeón andalucía crew

galeón andalucía as seen from her stern side

the stern of galeón andalucía

galeón andalucía (in comparison to a lifeboat and a port security personnel )
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about galeón andalucía (as can be read from the info board inside the galleon):

"Galeón Andalucía is the only actual replica of a Spanish galleon that has ever been built. These galleons played the role on economic and cultural relationships between Europe, Asia and America during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Three centuries after, and crossing the waters that helped Spain to lead the trade routes, Galeón Andalucía is reviving the History and recovering the past success to place her into the eastern heart, and show our region to the rest of the world.

During her crossing, and then during her visit to Shanghai Expo, Galeón Andalucía serves as a cultural, touristic, gastronomic, and business promotion platform for Andalusia, showing the world the best of this autonomous community and its resources."

more photos can be found here: http://kulitjr3.multiply.com/photos/album/695/695