A Christmas Tree in Calamba City (Bayan), Laguna

A towering Christmas Tree put up in the plaza just in front of St. John the Baptist Church and across Rizal Shrine serves to illuminate the nearby streets which are generally dark at night. Below this tree are small tiangges put up to sell food and sale items. There is also a program running until before Christmas sponsored by the local government.

One attraction is walking through the streets of Calamba City Bayan at night are the old houses which I was not able to notice before. Will probably do a run through the streets in Calamba Bayan soon.

Saint Paul the First Hermit (San Pablo) Cathedral Continues to be Renovated

A rather free weekend enabled me to breathe in again the familiar San Pablo air and roam the city proper. Naturally, my feet brought me to where being a stranger is an advantage: the San Pablo Cathedral.

* a new balcony inside the San Pablo Cathedral

* newly refurbished ceilings and dome

* ‘golden’ altar

* ceiling designs which I have seen since I was a child

I have already shared here a few months earlier some of the changes in the said cathedral but now it seems that the renovations are quite extensive. This time, scaffolding is being set-up right outside in the place where the statue of Saint Paul (San Pablo) was once found. The set-up is quite curious as it could only mean that they will be constructing something in the area. Just as one enters the church threshold, you’ll immediately notice that a new balcony has been constructed, most probably to serve as a gallery of sort (for choir member or musicians?).

* statue of Saint Paul the First Hermit
found inside the cathedral

* cathedral exterior;
notice the scaffolding on the lower left portion of the photo

* an attempt to shoot long range;
birds idling on top of the outer portico

* the San Pablo Cathedral façade

Then there’s the fully renovated altar with its now modern-looking retablo. One would wish that they kept the original one, but that is beyond our hold. Lastly, and I only noticed this when I took a seat to rest for a while, the dome of the church has been renovated. The antique look of the windows surrounding the bottom part of the dome is gone but the new look nevertheless still gives the church a majestic look.

Perhaps after six months I would make another post about the cathedral to see the additional changes to the place.

Christmas Preparations in San Pablo City, Laguna

* Christmas decorations at the San Pablo City Plaza

I haven’t posted any thing here for quite sometime now due to some sad affairs that befell the family and some intimates. Nevertheless life must continue. And so a brief respite in all of those affrays and in my work enabled me to come home for a few hours. Dragging along my sister (who seemed to relish bombarding me now with personal questions), we went to visit the city plaza which they said is now decorated with Christmas decors.

* Hapi-Hapi Gabi-Gabi: The Happiest Night Market
found along Regidor Street, San Pablo City, Laguna

After taking a few photos, went to the market area to see firsthand a nightly tiangge dubbed as Hapi-Hapi Gabi-Gabi: The Happiest Night Market. Such a scene is not new to me, having witnessed for a number of years already the nightly beer plaza in San Pablo during the annual Coco Festival. Then there’s the night tiangge put up in the market area of Lipa City, Batangas every Friday night where there is a wide array of street foods to enjoy. I don’t know the motivation for this night market in San Pablo but it is obvious that it was opened in time for the Christmas season.

Now that the Christmas break is nearing, it is good to know that there would now be ample time to go to different places and marvel again at how Filipinos keep this tradition we adopted more than three hundred years ago.

On Changing History: From EDSA to Cory Aquino Avenue

With such a large House (literally the Batasang Pambansa), one will definitely have all the time to think of plans and dreams both serious and hilarious. And with the news that a certain congressman has filed a bill seeking to change the name EDSA to Cory Quino Avenue, that certainly falls under the label hilarious. If he cannot think of EDSA without thinking of Cory Aquino, then I certainly cannot think of Cory Aquino Avenue (if that really happen eventually) without thinking of the people's devastatingly low appreciation of our history.

EDSA is EDSA. Cory is Cory. To replace EDSA with Cory is to put Epifanio de los Santos’ contribution to the country to shame. Let us leave EDSA alone. No name changing can reduce the traffic and pollution in the place. Let us do away of making too much fuss over names.

Reminiscing Scouting Days through Photos from a Film Camera

* Pransis in front of an old house near a seaside area
in Boac, Marinduque

* during the Scout Youth Forum in
Marinduque National High School, Boac, Marinduque

Scouting made my high school days very memorable. Any recollection of those years would not be complete without me mentioning the joys of hiking through hills and mountains; swimming, bathing, washing clothes, and even drinking from rivers; sleeping under heavy downpour; among others.

* scouts and scout masters from San Pablo City

during a parade in Teresa, Rizal

* Pransis with other participants in the parade in Teresa, Rizal

* Pransis with scouts from the Aurora Boy Scouts Council

I can still recall those formative camping when we were just being groomed as scouts during elementary days. I never thought that I would eventually march on a National Court of Honor, an event where scouts are awarded the highest rank a scout can receive, the Eagle Scout Award.

* scouts from San Pablo before

the National Court of Honor in Teresa, Rizal

* during the National Court of Honor proper

Perhaps scouting made me closer to the beauty of nature, something that I can still feel inside me, that’s why I tend to travel more to places. Our scouting adventures may not have been fully grounded on history but I daresay that they definitely boosted one key trait in me: the passion to explore more.