Reminiscing our Trip to Tacloban City, Leyte through Photos from a Film Camera

* Pransis, haggard and lacking in sleep,
aboard a Philippine Airlines plane bound for Tacloban City, Leyte

* Trailer Pransis at the Tacloban City airport;
notice how browny and skinny I was then

I have been browsing through my old documents in preparation for a contest that I will be joining this month. Rummaging through my old stuff necessarily included rummaging through old photographs as well. Of course we can very well remember that before digital cameras and DSLRs became the staple photo-capturing devices, film cameras (what we fondly call “de-film”) were the kings. From my old photos I was able to get a few which were taken during some of the travels I’ve taken. One intact set of photos I found was from our trip to Tacloban City, Leyte.

* view of the Leyte Landing Memorial

depicting the return of Gen. Douglas MacArthur
to the Philippines in 1944

* view of the San Juanico Bridge

* part of the San Juanico Bridge leading to the province of Leyte;
shot from the Samar province side

The trip to Tacloban City took place more than ten years ago, during my elementary days in fact. It was connection with a national press conference for elementary and high school students. It was a one-week activity but most of the time we were out visiting different tourist sports and sites in Tacloban City. The ones posted here are the only I was able to shoot because our elder companions did all the picture taking from their cameras. One memorable experience was crossing the San Juanico Bridge. We only did that because the tourist guide we hired had to pee. What a way to seek relief: crossing a magnificent bridge and knocking in someone’s house!

* posing in a dried fish store in a Tacloban market

* some of the companions in the Tacloban trip;
the one in the center and the one on the right
became my orgmates in college after 14 years

One advantage at least of these old photographs is their ease with which they transport us back to the past and allow us to see how we look back then and how much we have accomplished. For my case, I see these old Tacloban photos as a reminder of how big I have grown now (from that skinny little kid into a fat-bellied young man now) and how far I have reached so far from that simple trip (although I am yet to experience travelling abroad).