Land on the South: The Houses in Lucena City, Quezon 2

* the house-cum-shop’s color may have a been a bit lost due to the intense afternoon sun; it’s actually green or avocado green (if that color exists)

* relatively a good-looking one, except that it’s starting to demand repair, as can be seen with that long slab of wood dangling from near the roof

* a not-so-old-one, found on a corner of Lucena’s busiest downtown streets

* hope that you get the outline of the house, despite the huge tarpaulins in front of it

* a building called Antigua; I was not able to determine if it’s a cinema or a huge restaurant or what as we were running to catch the that elusive Supreme Bus

The general idea that comes to one’s mind as one get to see the half-home, half-store/shop set-up of the houses in downtown Lucena is one of practicality. Indeed with such a busy town proper, with all those people – local and tourists alike – going to and fro through it all day, one cannot help but see its big potential for business-making. Huge hotels dot some of its streets actually. I have read somewhere that it is now an essentially independent city apart from Quezon. Although, again, I cannot fully attest to this, the economic set-up of the place, the land area, and population, is enough to qualify it as one metropolitan city.

* one big elegant house

* while on the run to find the jeep that would take us to the Supreme Bus Terminal, I could not help but look up to this house, partially concealed by the establishments in front of it

* a simple and beautiful abode

* there’s something attractive about this one, maybe the designs?

* not so decrepit at second look

* an imposing one, a school of some sort

But then, as can be usually found with places that head towards development and progress, pollution (I can’t say that I have breathed in pristine air there except perhaps during the night) and trash would be the place’s great challenge for today. In due time of course, along with all the places in the Philippines, I hope to witness reform and discipline (re?)established among us with regards to these problems.