Amid the city’s mall and commercial establishments, I had walked into a Zen garden. At the center of the hall, white, blue-gray and flaming orange pebbles swirled in mandala-like patterns. From each mandala rose bright green shrubs and bushes or twisting driftwood, accentuated by rocks of varying shapes. And, while the skies were gloomy and…
While the skies were a gloomy gray monochrome last Saturday, the stadium and grounds of Leyte Sports Development Center at Tacloban City, Leyte, were in a festive mood. Though the morning street dance was regrettably canceled because of the continuous downpour, the afternoon performances of the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival contingents adorned the stage with vibrant, dancing…
I read somewhere that once in your life, if you are lucky, you will meet that person who will forever divide your life into the time before you met him or her, and the time after. Such is the impact of that person in changing your life. This 2012, it was not a person for…
It was my first official day of traveling solo in my 7-week backpacking adventure. Feeling excited and just a little scared, I bade goodbye to my friends bound for Manila while I headed to the port in Ubay, Bohol, with boat trips to Hilongos, Leyte. From Hilongos I would be taking a van to Tacloban…
Note: This is the second of 2 entries about Higatangan Island. Read the first entry here. Higatangan Island in Biliran appears like a paradise with its white, shifting sandbar and its stretches of white beaches and rock formations, but it is scarce in drinking water and electricity. Electricity for homes is powered solely by generators…
I felt that I had just died and gone to heaven – a heaven for health buffs and nature lovers like me, that is. This was my typical day in Paruparong Bukid (Mountain Butterfly) Nature Conservation Center in Babatngon, Leyte – in the morning, I watched the sun rise from the balcony of a nipa…
When I think of the beach, blue water, white sand, and waves crashing on the shore come to mind. I was thus surprised when my host in Leyte took me to Tulaan Beach, which looked like a lake. Its gentle waves reminded me of tiny, barely noticeable folds of silk. Tulaan’s gentle waves. Biliran province’s…
Tomorrow I am going off on a seven-week backpacking trip all over Visayas. To say that I am bursting with excitement mixed with just a little fear at my first long and mostly solo travel is an understatement. In every trip I took, the longest of which was nine days so far, there was always…
Traveling Light 