Friday, December 13, 2013

Throwback Summer



ENGAGING IN ROUGH and tumble games with the high blue waves in my hometown of Santa Catalina in Ilocos Sur. [Ondoy took most of old family photos and what’s left include this of me as a teenager – gloriously thin (?) – posing by the seashore; and a few years later, my daughters Ghiselle and Pee Ann and niece Rica getting devoured by and yet enjoying the playful waves.]


            Enjoying the sights, sounds and scents of Bali in Indonesia with its elaborate temples and colorful and aromatic floral offerings.[Daughter Pee Ann makes a collage of the things we see first upon arriving in Kuta Bali. The next one shows the entire foreign delegates in one of the many temples we visited.]




            Getting awe-struck by the burst of orange and red and yellow and violet and even blue each time a sunset happens in any part of the archipelago. [Below are my shots of such sunsets in Dagupan City and Manila Bay.]
 

            Walking down country road amidst fruit-laden macopa trees and fields of cauliflower with my kind of people.

            Experiencing paradise, the joys of nature, and hot summer love.  

            There is indeed a lot of throwback going on in my mind … aaaahhhhh summer!

            Blame it on the wet mornings (as shown below; view from my front door), flooded afternoons, stormy nights or flooded mornings, stormy afternoons, wet nights and complete with claps of thunder and flashes of lightning. They are more than enough to make me long for these times when the weather was hot. 


VIVA VIGAN

         Surely you know that Vigan is the complete summer package. My parents are from this vibrant city/province and our summers have always been highlighted by trips to our hometowns – specifically in Santa Catalina, where dad’s ancestral home is; and San Vicente, my mom’s. (Both municipalities were part of Vigan before it became a city.) 



             The house in San Vicente was made of wood, nipa for roof, and bamboo for the stairs. Unlike the house in Santa Catalina which is a stone house. Photo below shows the veranda of the house; it is not so visible but on top of the front door is a signage that says ABOGADOS  -- both my dad and his younger brother, Uncle Ben, are lawyers – and this is not really bragging; this is more of a tradition announcing the profession of people who live there.  The other photo was taken in our backyard with
 childhood friends Junie, Loi and Toti and cousin Luis. Our backyard was planted by my Lelong with all kinds of fruit-bearing trees and some common flowers.
            


  
              Posing in front of the old San Vicente house are my my mom's brother Uncle Efren with his first-born, Laila. It has been redesigned as a bungalow but still with its rustic backyard complete with a hammock. The other photos show me with my friends and business partners Charity, Apple and Lea during our visit there in February last year.
 


              I even lived with my paternal grandparents from age three until I moved back with my parents in Manila at age nine. The following photo is my Lelang (what we call our grandmom) lighting a brown Alhambra cigar while lounging in her butaka, a wicker chair with a long armrest.

   

            I have written about Vigan in an earlier post [Up North & Personal, July 2012] after my  February visit but that was more like a narrative which could have been written by a tourist.
    
             Majority of my summers have been spent here and even if I never got to any place in my lifetime, it would have been enough.

            I would not have missed the beaches of Boracay and Bali and the Mediterranean. I would not have been alien to nature and rural life at its best as well as World Heritage Sites and history right before my eyes. 




             [And that’s me trying on a salakot  in one of the souvenir shops along the famous cobblestone street of Vigan when my waistline was only 23 inches. The next one shows my daughters and I with my mom and niece Wanna in the same street at another time. Lower photos were taken by now New York-based cousin Luis of the old street minus the souvenir shops and before it was declared a World Heritage Site; and the Quirino Bridge which upon seeing made us all excited because we know that we will now be entering the city of Vigan and the day-long traveling is over. The last one was taken at the Imme]
 
 

 
   
    
             I would not have been ignorant of majestic centuries-old churches and God’s natural creation (read: flora and fauna).

                 And I have bragging rights because where I come from, we practically have everything for a grand vacation, including good food – the much-loved bagnet  (photo below was taken at the Hidden Garden complete with a KBL sauce or kamatis, bagoong and lasona, Ilocano word for onion),  empanada, bibingka, bolero  and longganiza, to name a few. The next photo was taken several years back in front of an old house/souvenir shop located at the side street of the cobblestone walk where we had our genuine Ilocano lunch which they also serve.

            Growing up, pursuing careers, parenthood (photo below shows me when my daughters were already in high school) and so many milestones in between, the province of Ilocos Sur will always be the great summer place for me, my family, and even friends who once or twice have joined us and, who until now, would want to go back.


CHURCH TOUR

         Speaking of churches and because the Holy Week always falls during the summer months and there’s no going to the beach – whether in Vigan or some other place – unless we do our Stations of the Cross in seven of them. My mom made sure of that.

            For the longest time, we prayed in the two churches of my parents’ hometown and, of course, in those around Vigan. Eventually, we ventured into the churches of Laoag in Ilocos Norte.



             [Here are photos of us posing beside the Santa Catalina church’s bell after the tower was destroyed  by a strong typhoon sometime in the 1990s; and at the Bell Tower in Bantay, which is almost always one of our first stopovers – the other one is the beach in Narvacan – before  entering the city of Vigan. Both photos were taken in the late 1990s. Next – taken in February last year – are the St. Paul Cathedral in Vigan; the newly-painted church in San Vicente; and a panoramic shot of Bantay’s Bell Tower and the St. Augustine Church beside it, now renamed Shrine of Our Lady of Charity.]


        



 
   
            But, of course, there are special treats after. A glass of halo-halo and/or crunchy empanada and/or bibingka. Until now, the concoction in Santa Catalina made by an aunt of a classmate in grade school, is the best with melon strips and really creamy milk.

         Holy Week always meant praying the Passion of Christ. Even if we didn’t go home, this family tradition continued even if both parents have gone up to heaven. Even if some siblings can no longer join, my sister Patty and I go on with it year after year; sister Maleck would sometimes tag along.

            We have visited quite a lot of churches all over, well at least in Luzon. But hands down, the churches in my beloved Vigan and Laoag in Ilocos Norte are the most beautiful. I am not biased.


             However, I would like to make special mention of some churches in Bulacan (one of those we visited had this intricate door and we posed in front of it; Mom is still with us here and daughter Pee Ann was home for a visit),  Batangas, Tagaytay,  Pangasinan  (the Iglesia Parroquial de San Pedro y San Pablo or better known as the Calasiao Church is Old World beautiful; and chanced upon this old bell at its backyard), La Union and, of course, Metro Manila, which are too many to mention …



          

         It is now my ardent wish that these churches stay exactly the way they are, a major quake forbidding!


LIFE’S A BEACH!

         Until now, my idea of a perfect summer getaway must have a combination of sun, sand and sea. Both our ancestral homes are near the beach and exciting memories include walking down country road towards it.

            The surf’s high and the sand dunes are beautiful, like black smooth carpets.

         

            Those times we can’t go home, we opted for beaches in Batangas, Pangasinan and La Union. One time, we tried an exclusive resort in Botolan, Bataan, where the movie Paano Kita Iibigin starring Piolo Pascual and Regine Velasquez was shot (photo shows some of the girls in the family enjoying the cool  blue waters and reliving the scenes between Piolo and Regine). 

            [The following are some souvenir shots from Puerto Azul : that’s me, my daughters and my drowsy inaanak , Kim, with the orange-y sunset for a background; another one  -- still with the sunset – are brother Abe and sisters-in-law Ofel, carrying niece Jam, and Lenlen with son and my inaanak, too, Jet.  Of course, my photography doesn’t do justice to the real beauty of the sunset.]
           Last summer, the family only managed to swim in the clubhouse pool. This is another reason why I’m making such a grand rewind of summer … it’s as if it didn’t happen this year.


           

                But let me make it clear that when it comes to my family, it’s not the place, it’s the people. Of course, we enjoyed swimming, which is actually the birthday celebration of the first grandson in the family, Marcus, who turned eight, and bonding and eating and drinking and picture-taking and as shown below …

 


            The Sting sings “why did summer go so quickly? …” and I join him but rephrasing the rest of the lyrics: “I haven’t even walked along the shore to leave my footprints in the sand …”

            Drama Queen.

BALI HIGH

         My grand summer of 2011 started in Bali, Indonesia. Daughter Pee Ann and boyfriend Alex were visiting from Canada and we – my mom, daughter Ghiselle, their dad, and Pee Ann’s best friend Aiza – met up with them there.



            One thing I like about Bali is a pervading spirituality brought about by its interesting and intriguing temples and the ceremonial floral offerings which are practically everywhere.

            Their everyday seems to be made up of rituals.

            Our tour guide, Palos, informed us that these floral offerings are there to appease the spirits. Specifically, he added, it is a display of Balinese belief that people and spirits should be in harmony. 

            Some of the temples, on the other hand, are there to guard Bali from evil spirits, including one of those we visited, the Uluwatu Temple located at the edge of a cliff above the Indian Ocean. It is also inhabited by monkeys and I’m not sure why we have to be properly dressed before them because, at the entrance, we were given sarongs and sashes to wear.



             Such monkeys are notorious for getting stuff from tourists. While there, one monkey snatched a bottle of orange juice from a tourist; and threatened to grab Richard’s camera.



            Another interesting temple is the Tanah Lot which sits in a large rock formation and has a spring whose water is believed to have healing powers. We went through the ritual and they put rice in our foreheads and inserted a kalachuchi between our ears. 
                Palos told us that Hinduism is the religion of about 80% of Balinese although 90% of Indonesia is Muslim.


            Of course, the beach we visited which is just across Kuta Seaview Boutique Hotel & Spa where we stayed is much like home. Ghiselle and Alex got a pro to teach them how to surf. They both
got the hang of it after a few body flips and flops and not without a bruise in the knee. But they had great photo-ops! [This is a shot by Ghiselle's dad...]


 


            Pee Ann, Aiza and I managed to simply play with the huge waves and got thrown every which way while trying to stand on the surfboard. Pee Ann was able to strike a pose while his dad holds the surfboard at its tail. And that’s me after the surfboard slipped on my feet or maybe Richard didn’t hold the tail the way he did with his daughter. Hahaha!



              After a while, we accepted our fate and contented ourselves with posing by the shore clutching the surfboard. By the way, do you clutch a surfboard?

And made jump shots on the beach while Ghiselle and Alex ride the surf.

            
            Mom, who didn’t want the scorching sun contented herself watching from the sidelines – and smiling at us from afar – comfortably seated in a plastic chair by the  beach – with dark sunglasses and a matching buri hat! … Hahaha!

            Other memorable moments in this beautiful place include

            … Watching an interesting play with Rama and Sita as the main characters; the all-men choir was amazingly in harmony. We just had to have a souvenir picture with one of the major actors ...

            … Checking out the market which buzzed with overeager vendors and being impressed with the arts and crafts and those chili peppers in all shapes and colors …

            … A taste of really spicy grilled squid that we had to go to a nearby McDonald’s kiosk for a chocolate sundae to ease our almost painfully sizzling tongues and their famous babi guling [that's Pee Ann's collage of the rice meal with it] which is like our lechon but our lechon is better …
  

               … Dinner at The Cuisine, overlooking the Jimbaran Beach and that’s Ghiselle posing with the dancers performing in a stage by the beach …

       
 
            … And capping a day-long tour with a can (cans?) of Bintang Beer.


             At the end of our vacation, I wanted to bring home the sea and its beautiful sunset, the chair with a foot stool in my hotel room, the bright orange flowers of birds of paradise at the hotel lobby. But, of course, they’re just empty wishes. I know I will miss the place and everything we experienced here.  
 
            Bali was the last trip my daughters and I had with my mom. Barely two months after, she joined her Maker. And we will forever remember her candid poses in front of the temples and by the hotel pool. Her funny comments about women her age wearing two-piece bathing suits and baring too much flesh. Even her tie-dyed pants and the buri hat she wore as we walked down the streets of Kuta Bali. And that smile that she gives us – endearing, sometimes mischievous, always full of love.


GOING UNDERGROUND

         Their drumbeaters are telling the truth, Palawan is indeed a paradise.

            When we (my mom, my daughters, and Pee Ann’s boyfriend Alex) visited such paradise in the summer of 2009, we went to Puerto Princesa Underground River straight from the airport. And it was a start of great things to come.

 


            We stayed at the Crystal Paradise Resort and we had a blast!

            It’s impossible not to. We were right in the middle of nature at its best. Our villa has a direct access to the ocean, so blue and so calm. And we have a private pool and a Jacuzzi all to ourselves. And the resort is surrounded by lush greenery. [Oh, how I wish I was more prolific in describing places but just look at the photos below.]




              We also had an island, Isla Arena, all to ourselves – save for a couple, a businessman from Scotland with one of the petite local girls – and the ocean was simply refreshing. We rubbed elbows with sea turtles that came to nest and lay their eggs in the island. We even had the chance to set some newly hatched baby turtles into the open sea. 
 

               As the vacation ended, I wanted to, once more, bring home the sea, a few baby turtles and the villa with just the swimming pool. 



              Again empty wishes but I was hoping we can always go back and stay in the same resort and choose the same villa. Too bad, Mom won’t be able to join us this time, but I’m sure she’ll be there in spirit.


ICE CREAM & MEM’RIES

         As a teenager, the summer months are very much welcome as it coincides with school break. There is more time to hang out with friends and with family, too as my dad would plan out weekend treats for us.

            Most of such memorable treats include weekend swimming at the Balara compound of pools in different shapes and depths and a refreshing feast of ice cream at the Magnolia House along Aurora Boulevard.


            The Magnolia House likewise became a favorite hangout for friends in the neighborhood [we lived in Malindang Street in Laloma, Quezon City, near Mayon Street]. If Bong’s batman car or Junie’s small Toyota Corolla weren’t available, we’d take a jeepney plying the Mayon route, go down at the Welcome Rotunda, cross the street and ride another jeepney, this time going to Cubao, which would pass along Aurora Boulevard and the Magnolia Ice Cream House at the corner of Hemady Street.

         In between scoops of Peach Melba, Banana Split, Strawberry Parfait, Brown Derby and my favorite Blueberry Parfait, we had great fun being together, laughing at our silly jokes, making love teams of some of us and all those crazy things teenagers of our time do when they hang out.

              More than the refreshing cold treats, there was great family bonding with Mom and Dad loosening up a bit. Both busy with their careers on weekdays, they made sure we had something special on weekends and this is one of them.

         And if we weren’t having ice cream, Dad would plan out a trip to Balara and swim the hot day away.  Mom would cook and pack our lunch and we’d bring bottles of softdrinks and beer for Dad and we’re ready to go.


            There were picnic areas but it was at the ampitheater where we always settled.

            After swimming, we’d go to the playground, try out the swings and seesaws and simply run in the grass and enjoy every single minute.  

            I know that Balara has been rebuilt recently and it has become what it was before – a city destination for family outings or day picnics.


            Well, this generation should experience it, too.

            The old Magnolia Ice Cream House, on the other hand, has likewise been revived in the same place and is now called the Magnolia Flavor House and the entire compound including where the Magnolia Plant used to be at the back is now the Robinsons Place Magnolia. 


             I found this photo of the old Magnolia ice cream parlor in the online page of Maximus Aurelius and I still remember how green and well-manicured its front lawn was. The next photos ares my shot of the new one which we visited in September last year during cousin Luis’ visit. It looks entirely different – although the green grassy lawn is still there – but it felt good being back in a place with so many memorable moments. The ice cream is tasty and exactly how it has always been. Grandson Marcus and his Lolo Sonny enjoy their parfaits; and Luis and I pose by the fountain.


                  Sometime in the 1990s, the old Magnolia House converted its grassy lawn into a kids’ wonderland and I didn’t pass that chance to introduce my little daughters to this memorable place.  I told them that this is one of my teenage life’s important locations. I’m not sure though if they understood at that time. One thing is certain, they enjoyed being in that wonderland.

                                                                        ***
            And so I’m done reminiscin’ for today. Too bad Ondoy drenched, discolored and drowned most of our older summer pictures, including those taken in Vigan. But then memories are best remembered by the heart – more vivid than any printed picture can elucidate.

            But, if I may say, life is one big summer for me. Despite the rains and all its wetness, I always keep a sunny disposition, a bright perspective, a positive vibe.

            Now it’s time to get into the spirit of Christmas. I also have lots of memories from past Christmases but I intend to make new ones this season.

            Don’t worry, there won’t be a throwback …

 


















 






 



 
































              We also had an island, Isla Arena, all to ourselves – save for a couple, a businessman from Scotland with one of the petite local girls – and the ocean was simply refreshing. We rubbed elbows with sea turtles that came to nest and lay their eggs in the island. We even had the chance to set some newly hatched baby turtles into the open sea.














 












       
   
 



No comments:

Post a Comment