Sagada food

Yes, I still haven't recovered from my Sagada fever. Here's some of the food I ate while I was up there.

Ok, this may look like an ordinary fried rice with vegetable but it ain't , it's vegetable with fried rice (really ang sarap nito from Yoghurt House)

I didn't eat some of these purple cabbages but they look yummy

best zucchini I ever tasted, this creamy creamy Fetuccine with Zucchini is at the top of my list

the goto sold near the bus stop is perfect on a cold morning (with my friend Emee and Danish woman as background)

Place Above Clouds

Feb 8 - It was two years (to the day) since I last visited Sagada. Today is my third time in this difficult to access charming town atop the mountain province. When they say it's the trip not the destination. They must mean Sagada. The road from Baguio to Sagada is abt 150 kms. That's six hours of sitting in a bus. But you will be in for a treat. I love the scenery in this route. You will see green ravines, twisting roads, lots of pine trees, clouds flowing on mountains.

You would pass by the highest point in the Phil. National Highway system at 7900 feet in Atok, Benguet. That is the house in the picture below.

You would see endless rice terraces. En route to Sabangan from Dantay, a river runs parallel to the scenic road. I tried to capture the beauty of this scenery through my phone's camera but I can't. The depth cannot be captured by any 2D image. But I keep on trying and keep on disappointing myself on the shot. There are only two stop overs, Mabaay in Mt. Province and Sayangan in Benguet. Mabaay is where you can see a spiffy Caltex service station in the middle of nowhere. Old women sell vegetables, peanuts, potatoes and other local delicacy like fish crackers (yes on top of the mountain). And people who look like Tibetans with babies strapped on them, would get on the bus. I notice people here have nice rosy cheeks. Upon reaching Sagada, the town may look ordinary but after a while you realize this is not your typrical small town. The weather is cooler. There are limestones strewn all over the town. There are coffins hanging on cliffs. There's a magical cave with amazing formations. The food is superb particluarly the greens. It is a charming quaint town with proud folks. And the locals speak in straight English. The waitress in Youghurt house told my friend, she can't take her sandwich out, as you can see it's open when my friend requested that the sandwich she ordered be packed. (She spoke with an accent reminiscent of British movies.) The local dialect is Kankana-ey, an Igorot dialect similar to Mandarin, one word can have different meanings depending on the tone. As I learned from my busmate, Anglican missionaries taught them to speak English. And as it turns out, mixing that kind of English and the Kankana-ey accent is In the boundary between Benguet and Mt Province,there is a town in the middle of a valley, Buguias. It's a bustling town with several service stations (signs of civilization for me) and banks in the town proper. Buguias is your first glimpse of civilization coming from Sagada en route to Baguio. Seeing the town from the top of the mountain is breath taking with the rice terraces, countless pine trees and a whole lotta trees surrounding the valley, seeing Buguias is a reminder that people actually live in this beautiful part of the country. Then after Buguias, you'll see another visual feast. Saclalan-Sagundoy Valley with huge masses of mountainside carved with rice terraces. That's to your left. After a few minutes, to your right, you will see the Sookan rice terraces. I tried to capture the beauty of this valley. But then again, I failed. Then there will be rice terraces again. Can you see the rice terraces or the bus conductor in the picture above? Then there's Natubleng, a barangay of Buguias with a mountain with different hues of green. It's like seeing a paint company's sales pitch on the color green. Add to that a little brown and the effect is like a postcard. The first time I went here in June 2006, I fell in love with the place. And when my friend Emee, invited me to go to Sagada after our friend's wedding in Baguio, I didn't have any second thoughts. I would gladly go this place over and over again. Even if it means getting stuck on a bus for 13 hours with just this in sight.....

Special Batchoy

My high school friend Jo Anne and I were talking a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about how long we’ve (high school friends) known each other. We met when we were 12. And this year, most of us (except Jo Anne) will be turning 30. We’ve known each other for more than half our lives. Well, no big deal, most high school friends our age, share the same statistics. But, we are a self-proclaimed special bunch, we call ourselves the Vanguards.

What makes us special? Well, our whole high school lives, we’ve been brainwashed that we are special. Our alma mater is the Iloilo National High School-Special Science Class. Is it the science that’s special? Or is it the class? I never figured that out.

And thanks to the Internet, I found a brief history of our school. http://www.geocities.com/inhs_iloilo/ssc.html. I don’t know how many special science classes there are now in the country. But the article had some pretty interesting revelations. So if you want to know more, just click on the link.

Anyway, speaking of Iloilo and the word special, several vanguards and I ate batchoy last Christmas. (For the past 12 years, the Vanguards have been meeting every Christmas.)

Iloilo, particularly La Paz, is famous for its batchoy, a type of noodle soup. According to Wikipedia, batchoy’s ingredients include pork organs (liver, spleen, kidneys and heart) crushed pork cracklings, vegetables, shrimp, chicken breast or beef loin, shrimp broth, chicken stock and round noodles or miki. Yummy.......The ingredients remind me how motley this motley crew is. The noodles are similar to spaghetti, but are generally a bit finer.

Anyway, batchoy has several variants:

Special
Super Special
Extra Super Special

I think they can come up with as many superlatives as they want.

But one thing’s clear, batchoy is not your regular dish. Special indeed…… back when we were 12 and especially now that we’re 30. Not the batchoy.

moments like these

A few years ago, I was able to capture this view while on board a plane.
The picture is one of my favorite shots. Until now, I haven’t captured a sunrise shot again while airborne.
A copy of this picture is on my desk in the office. It is a reminder of a moment where I was in the “correct” side of the plane at the right moment. These moments are rare, I realized. It’s really up to you to make the most out of every opportunity that comes your way. These rare moments may come as surprises so you just have to be ready.

30

It's my 30th birthday. I’m on a plane headed home. Things didn't turn out the way I planned it. I was supposed to be somewhere up north on my birthday. But God seems to have other plans on my birthday.
A week before my birthday, an airline representative advised my travel companions and I, of the cancellation of our flight on January 23. It turned out they are cancelling all flights to my birthday destination (for my birth month at least) because of an aircraft situation. I have no idea what that exactly means but the message is clear. I won't be northbound on the remembrance of my natal day.
Although I have been planning this for a long time, finding out that the trip wasn't pushing through wasn't as heart-breaking as I expected it to be.
I was supposed to be in Batanes from January 23 to 28. However, my grandmother’s burial was scheduled on January 24. If my trip pushed through, I would’ve missed the burial. However, God had other plans. He wants me to be home for my Lola’s homecoming. Batanes will always be there. Someday, I would set foot on this dream destination. For now, I will be with my family to take my Lola to her final resting place.

My Lola

On my mother's side of the family, my Lolo's name is Nicolas. my Lola's name is Luz. The resemblance to my real name (which was randomly picked from a book of baby names) is a coincidence. My Lolo died a long time ago (I think I was just four years old then). My Lola has been living with my uncle in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo.

On December 29, 2008, my mom, siblings and I decided to visit our Lola Luz in Sta. Barbara. It will be the first time she will see her "apo sa tuhod". At first, we were hesitant to push through with the visit because of the distance we would subject 5-month old Yohan to travel. But, visit her, we did....Thank God, we did.

On January 4, 2009, my grandmother passed away. Life is short. And it pains me that I often take for granted its brevity.

Here's an old picture of me, my brother and our Lola in front of our house in Ajuy.

So little time

Try to understand that I'm

Trying to make a move just to stay in the game

I try to stay awake and remember my name

But everybody's changing

And I don't feel the same

You're gone from here

And soon you will disappear

Fading into beautiful light

Cause everybody's changing

And I don't feel right

December in Pictures

December passed by too quickly. It was time well spent with family and old friends back home.

With my brother Jun Jun in a carinderia in Villa, Iloilo (my first Iloilo lunch after nine months)

With my sister Rizza after her dance contest (They were 4th in a contest with four participants)

Spent time with Yohan, my first nephew

With oh so cute Yohan

With mom, Lucel and Yohan

With the Vanguards in our most well-attended Christmas get-together of late

P13 peso/game bowling in SEBA

Vanguards also hit the beach