an unexpected trip in cagayan

was in isabela and cagayan last week to assist in fgd activities with irri collaborators.had a bit of free time so we went exploring callao cave in penablanca town, just a 30-minute drive from tuguegarao city.

getting to callao cave can be a bit hard because of lack of where-to signs.we actually got lost on the first try.there are two routes, one is where you get off from the Pinacanauan Riverbank and rent a boat that would take you across and and from there take a flight of stairs up on the jump off point.the other route is where you go directly to the registration area and get a safe parking space for the vehicles.

one has to pay Php20 as entrace fee and can enlist the help of a tour guide.an english-speaking tour guide.lufet!we would ask him questions in tagalog and answer back in english.haha.some of the interesting facts we learned from him:

• callao is pronounced as "kal-law," taking from the kalaw bird;

• the cave has seven chambers with interesting rock formations;

• the first chamber holds the chapel, with a grotto of the Our Lady of Lourdes at the top. cave weddings can be held there;

• stalactites are a type of dripstones which hangs from the ceiling of limestone caves, while stalagmites are the opposite;

• they grow an inch in 40 years;

• experts are still exploring additional chambers;

• one has to take close to 200 steps to go up the mouth of the cave

the cave is not the only tourist attraction in the area.getting there is a visual treat in itself.there's this barangay where horse-drawn kalesas are their mode of transportation.it has a very magical feeling to it! =) it was harvest time in the area so the fields are of beautiful golden brown.some folks were also busy drying their palay on the main road which made it a perfect scenery with tall coconut trees lining up the side of the road.

too bad i was't able to borrow a good camera for the trip.i only had to rely on my SE G705's 3.2mp camera so all pictures were post processed.

para kay R

Huwag mong itanong kung gaano kita kamahal.

Hindi natitimbang ang pagmamahal ko

sa kung ilang kilo sa kung ilang piso,

hindi nailululan sa magarang kotse

o naisisilid sa makapal na bankbook,

hindi naoorasan sa ilang minuto ng kaligayahan

o sa maraming gabi ng pananabik,

hindi nasusukat sa milya-milyang distansya

ni sa kalawakan ng langit

ni sa ilalim ng dagat.

Ang pag-ibig ko'y namamahay, lumilipad,

lumalamig sa alinlangan,

umiinit sa alaala't pagkamaalalahanin,

naninigas sa boladas,

nagbabaga sa haplos at halik.

Ang pagmamahal ko ay

nakukumutan ng mga talulot ng rosas

at ng hamog ng madaling-araw,

na maaarok mo at maaangkin

kung tunay at wagas ang damdamin mo sa akin

at hindi ko na itatanong kung gaano mo ako kagusto.

---Gaano Kita Kamahal ni Marra PL. Lanot

summertime is fiesta time!

saw this streamer on my way home last week.gender sensitive sila. :)

kinda blurry, i had to make do with my camera phone's zooming power which make 3mp into vga.

book sale haul

every time i go home in manaoag, i always swing by CB Mall in Urdaneta City to buy yum yum cheese pesto pandesal from Pan de Manila. their store is just across National Bookstore so when i was on my way home for the lenten holiday, i had enough time to check some books.there were two tables that greeted customers as they entered the store, stacked with several books for sale.as i neared it, i noticed several familiar books just by looking at the covers.picked up The Kite Runner and was so surprised to see it was on sale for P50. when i lined up at the counter my shopping cart was full of books that the girl at the counter was like, "wow!" so here's a look at my haul:

some of the books did not have the regular price on them, so i just googled their prices.was so surprised when my calculations showed me i had actually saved more or less P8400 for 15 books.ang saya! =)

so far i've finished reading dave pelzer's story in A Child Called "It." was so heartbreaking reading about his abusive childhood, but also heartwarming as he chronicles his way to healing. an excerpt from the publisher:

"He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it."

currently i am reading The Healing Cut, a collection of essays written by surgeons at the PGH.it is a very insightful book.i especially loved the chapter on "Healing the Healer," or something like that, where several surgeons talk about their realizations when they themselves were the patients.the central thought was that, before they were sick, some of them regarded their patients as just numbers and wrote in their charts without actually taking into consideration how their patients felt.some also realized that prior to getting sick, they were so caught up with the pressures at work, that sometimes they took their families for granted.but as they battled for their illnesses, they were faced with their own mortality and rebuilt their relationships with their families and to God.they lived to tell their stories and have since then carried on a more humane medical practice.