filmmaking, musings, travel

blogging in january

it’s almost mid january. we’re halfway through shooting brillante mendoza’s film with seiko currently titled “foster” with the magnificent cherry pie picache in the title role. i still work as prod designer for mendoza here and next month i will be looking for greener pastures somewhere mundane. im looking forward to another short break (i hope) in mindanao or a trip to batanes with tita tems, if my funds allow me. tita tems got pictures from architect-friend joven ignacio of batanes as he is doing a study in the area. the pictures are magnificent, an untouched virgin piece of land, almost nomadic in nature and totally lord-of-the-ringish new zealand quality to it. complete with goats running on fields and the ocean surf breaking the silence of the overcast afternoon. i got all that from a friggin piece of snapshot. crazy ! 😀

had an amazing vacation last christmas. dropped by dumaguete before the xmas break to visit His magnanimous faisal alih and the royal family. a fun 2 nights of unwinding and piano-playing, videoking, walking down the beach and merienda-ing at the famous sans rival cafe.

then i surprised my family by arriving unannounced in mindanao. haha. cuzins (pamangkins actually) came over mindanao to enjoy the company of the locals and the environment. cuzin ace wrote out a wonderful plan visiting key sites in camiguin for an overnight trip. our third day was spent washing clothes in the rapids of the cagayan river ergo white water rafting 😀 my first time. totally amazing, ubber fun. of course i love the water but i havent really trekked down a river in a long time (last time was when we were kids in GUSA in the 80s). exciting three days there, the next time my cuzins-pamangkins come over we’ll try going up lake sebu in cotabato.

crazy this so-called life. love it ! cheers !

travel

venezia by slippers

CHAPTER 3.
venezia by slippers

it was gonna be our last day at ludovisi palace on via veneto. since ferdie was still sick and coughing all night i couldnt get back to sleep after 5am so i decided to start packing, ready for checkout. didnt realize that the small luggage i brought would not be enough to keep all my stuff in. went back to sleep and waited for breakfast.

met dante down the lobby at around 8.30 and they were packed as well. aside from checking out, we were getting ready to leave for venezia. we got tickets the day before and were scheduled to board the train at around 10am.

venice is exactly 4 hours away from rome via eurostar. supposedly the fastest train in europe, i believe it’s around the same speed as our mrt lines running across edsa. but of course this is cleaner and seats are numbered, upholstered etc. on the pic to your left is dante and me. pie is seated across the aisle, next to her italian military guy stranger hehe

one thing we forgot was to buy lunch. and by 2pm we were really hungry. of course the italians who were seated beside us had started eating their baon pastriamis (sandwiches) and we could only stare.

ive said before italy has a lot of graffiti. at the railway to venezia we pass by tunnels and wall fences covered with the same kind of graffiti, words stylized written all over. interesting to note, they follow a particular style and is unique to its US counterpart. the window view also gave us a peak of the famous italian countryside. greens, olive trees and italian villas scattered all over. very beautiful

we arrived at venice by 3.30pm. famished and tired, we decided to buy a map first, change our ticket schedule for the next day’s trip to a later time, and get a hotel. i was amazed that stepping out of the terminal one is already greeted with a view of venetian chapels and its canals. very picturesque ! we’re finally in venice !

cherry pie picache and me

if rome were manila, venezia would be boracay ! lots of young tourists and the air is very festive. there is a particular energy hovering over the crowd and the streets. venice is a group of islets connected with foot bridges. there are no cars traversing through venice. to travel, one takes the ferry or water taxis that cruise through its canals or simply walk. everybody in venice walks !

from the train station we started walking east and hoping to find a good enough but cheap hotel. we were offered by a stranger earlier to bunk in at their family hotel for 70 euros a night (3beds shared bathroom). apparently there wasnt anything else cheaper than that so we detoured to hotel leonardo, which turned out to be a cozy place to stay, found in the inner streets of venice.

for the last 3 days of airtravel and going around rome ive been wearing my shoes and closefriends know that i am not akin to wearing shoes all the time ! so in venice, despite protests of the fact that nobody wears them in italy, i wore my beachwalk (not havaianas!) flipflops on the streets of venezia. coolness !

hungry we found a little shop that sold big pizza slices for 2euros. not bad, and thank God it tasted great as well. dante and pie then had gelato (ice cream) and sat on benches facing the street for some people watching. since im lactose intolerant i was wary of eating gelato so i opted for yoghurt, which was ok but too sweet for my taste.

we then started walking down south en route to the piazza san marco, which is supposed to be a major destination for venezia. we took our time enjoying the sights of the place, the crowd, the streets of venice, its architecture and the shops, ice cream and the gondolas.

my dad told me i had to ride the gondola, and i would have if it werent so friggin expensive ! 80euros is pretty steep for a ride on a boat, even if it was in venice. besides i would probably have to eat my slippers for dinner if i were to take the famous romantic boat ride. unfortunately the gondola drivers dont sing opera as well while you go and it’s better to take the trip when youre with a loved one. ill save the ride for the next time im in venice.

it was only when we were in venice that we realized its culture and history were full of masquerading and the theater. the shops of venice sold a lot of masks of varying degrees of simplicity and intricate, exuberant design. they were absolutely fantastic and i wished i could have bought at least one of the lavishly decorated ones. i decided to just get the bare, white ones as souvenirs.

nearing the piazza san marco we came across this bridge at dusk and were overwhelmed by the magnificent view of the canals at sunset. everywhere we looked lovers began pulling their partners close, got googoo-eyed and started kissing on the bridge. it was really romantic and wonderful and to be awed by the beauty of venice would just put you under its spell. unfortunate for us 3 loveless beings, we couldnt help but bask in the magnificent view and lament on being single in venice. *sigh*

finally we got to piazza san marco and it was a sight to marvel at. the square was surrounded by tall venetian architecture and flanked by the basilica at one end. there were cafes open that night and string quintets on each cafe. when one band started playing the crowd moved to that cafe and the other bands would stop playing. as soon as they finish a song or two, the band in the other cafe started playing and the crowd would move towards them. sometimes theyd play a crowd pleaser but a lot of times theyd play romantic songs and some couples would start dancing to it.

we sat in one of the cafes al fresco and the band started playing il mundo, which is my parents’ love theme. so i got that on video. we then ordered beer and wine just to get into the feel and mood, basking in the moment of being in venice and the emotions that surround us. when the bill came we were not only charge our drinks but music as well. good thing there were 3 of us because if it were just me and my beer, it would have cost me around 25euros ! yikes.

we slowly walked back to our hotel, stopping by a few more shops along the way. there were less people on the streets and the night air was colder than in rome. a lot of armani and versace shops and other clothing boutiques around. i love how italians dress up, theyre not sloppy dressers for one thing. most of their clothes are tailorfit and sharp. very casual but very clean, unlike americans and their hiphop style or excessively sexy, almost-nothing-there clothing. of course the weather also affords them to dress up in layers, that way you can dress up in cotton, wool and other fabrics. colors are also limited to dark tones. blacks and greys, deep reds and dark blues, natural shades of hide, nothing bright. and dont get me started on the shoes! casual or dress shoes, leather or suede, panalo siya! very sleek and fit. love it !

nearing the hotel we started to get hungry so we stopped over a nearby restaurant at around 10pm and ordered pasta. i had spaghetti al ragu (meat sauce) and it tasted great. nothing fancy, puttanesca was expensive and the last time i had that in rome didnt thrill me that much. their water were bottled in glass, not plastic and sold like coke litro. and it came in naturale or sparkling haha. olive oil is in abundance of course in italy because olive trees grow everywhere, like utot-utot in the pilipinas ! haha

our hotel room is small, with a bigbed for two and an extra bed, which i took. airconditioning is non-existent at this part of the world and we had to close the windows lest we freeze to death during the night. tomorrow we head off to murano and check out the now dying art of glassblowing.

bridge near the train station

album cover for benjamin in venice ost

buona serra ! to be continued

travel

rome the second time around

CHAPTER 2.

bed and breakfast takes on a totally different course, pinoy style. since ferdie lapuz, the producer, still couldnt get up to tackle the streets, i was “forced” to eat his breakfast serving for him, and this i did gladly. served every morning at the ludivisi palace were bacon and eggs, various kinds of bread and fruit, yoghurt and spread. no rice? hehe

pie dante and me outside the bar we went to at our first night in roma

marcus aurelius at the background

we emerged from the ludivisi palace refreshed and ready to take on rome. jerry, our tour guide met us at the door and led us to the bus stop. we had to make a stop at the festival venue to get ferdie lapuz the producer registered as he was unable to do that earlier. there we met up with the flammini sisters, april and jasmine who tagged along and were our tour guides as well around rome.

me and pie at the festival

afterwards we went down barberini and into the subways of roma. now, the subways can be a terrifying place for tourists. not your alice-in-wonderland type of scary. more like oliver-twist scary. you see, if there were any real form of organized crime, this is where you’d find it amongst the gypsies. they actually have a school on how to pickpocket ! and to think quasimodo fell in love with esmeralda! love is indeed blind for good measure, us tourists of rome got our taste of just that. when cherry pie was about to enter the train she locked on eye-to-eye with one lady who was also getting in the train. at that split second she knew something was wrong and checked her bag. her wallet was gone. she rushed to the lady inside the train (we already got in and were totally clueless to what just happened) and slapped her arm, saying “why are you getting my wallet?!” the wallet dropped out from under the lady’s (apparently a gypsy) poncho. the traindoors have already closed and we were inside the train with the gypsy and the crowd looking at us. the gypsy woman was just muttering under her breath and at the next stop, got off.

it was that easy. even the police couldnt do anything with them gypsies. jerry says there have been warnings enough for everybody and if you get robbed, you get admonished instead. cherry pie was distraught after what happened. at the end of the car, this boy gypsy was playing his musical instrument and begging when suddenly this old romano guy started scolding the boy in italian, blaming his people for what just happened to us. incidentally the old guy has been a train driver for 30 years and is frustrated that these things always occuring on his trains.

we got out of the subway and headed to another part of town by bus to see 3 other basilicas. one of them is san giovanni, which is the largest and is the main basilica in rome.

san giovanni (st.john’s basilica)

st.ignatius loyola inside san giovanni

then we went to 2 other basilicas the names of which ive forgotten. outside the basilica there was a program of some sort, with the kids making a huge circle and waving around bolts of white cloth. one of the churches we went to had a lot of deaf tourists. they were in groups and there was just a lot of them and it was interesting.

we also saw this piazza, huge structure with the statue of marcus aurellius (gladiator) erected in the middle of the square. astig ! then we got castanets, which i didnt like.

the pizza in italy, i must say is amazing! i loved it ! and sharap sharap. it’s very common to them, like pandesal to us or even bananaque. when you order from the big franchise pizza restos in the philippines, you get a uniformly sized pizza with equally measured ingredients toppings etc and everytime you eat it it tastes the same. in italy, it’s like they just threw the toppings on the crust, popped it into the oven (literally) and presto ! authentic italian pizza ! and sometimes you eat it like a sandwich by flipping slice A over onto slice B. ha !

it’s not groundbreaking but i like the pizzas here than what we get from shakeys. the pizzas we had were priced at 4euros each whole pizza (the size of a regular plate) and a bottle of water. that amounts to… php 252 (water cost php 100-120). astig !

the italian family and their pizzas

we headed back to the termini to purchase tickets for the train to venice. there were electronic portals at the entrance where you make you transaction buying tickets on the touchscreen. very hightech, very… 1st world ! haha. and the termini also had bookshops and perfumeries, lots of gelato (ice cream) lots of cafes (cappuccino). reading material was challenging coz most of them were in italian. wanted to buy the paper or get a book but how can you read when all you can understand is buonjiorno? and that is something i learned from watching roberto bernini in la vita e bella (life is beautiful). “Buonjiorno, princepesa.”

walking around rome, you’d find a lot of churches on every corner. 1 here, 1 there. and 1 populated by the filipino community. we got to check out the group there and were greeted by “uy si cherry pie picache yan o!” some of the pinoys were practicing sinkil for some performance. others were just loitering around. we got to have our rosary souvenirs blessed by the pinoy priest there. astig ! pinoy in rome!

it didnt look that big but maybe because i was only seeing it at one side. it was already late in the afternoon and we didnt get to go inside it unfortunately. wanted to come back in the day but wa na oras so it was the best that we could do. someday ill be back, maximus, and ill come see you. astig !

pic of the coliseum

ferdie pie boyet dante and me at the st.peter’s square
when it got dark we took a few more buses to outside the center of rome and visited nene flammini and her husband. throughout the course of the day we were making requests to the flammini sisters on what we wanted to eat at dinner. april told us her mom makes great lasagna and i was excited. cherry pie expressed she wanted salad so that’s gonna be on the menu. what we didnt expect was tita nene’s beef steak. sobra sarap pinoy style ! haha. haskang pagkalami esp parisan sa kan-on gikan thailand. panalo ! the lasagna was heavenly but the beefsteak took home the prize.

and it was another 30 minutes before we got home to veneto. and it’s gonna be another great day tomorrow coz we’re going to venice ! ciao !

to be continued.

travel

roma at night. roma by bus

CHAPTER 1.

i did sleep well enough on the eve of our trip to rome. ive prepacked early in the day and decided to buy a few more socks for the trip. although i was excited for italy and made notes to see the sistine chapel and fontana de trevi, i really didnt know what to expect. or at least decided not to expect so much and be disappointed in the end. we were supposed to be in italy for four days and thank God the last minute our booking was changed and we got an extra day, which of course made me extra happy.

the check-in at the international airport was uneventful. we had tv coverage from both network stations and apparently i was seen in “startalk” by a friend, telling me he saw me behind cherry pie while i was on the phone. i was talking to mommy lolet at that time. cheerful!

the first leg of the trip was a 13 hour flight to amsterdam. oh yeah i got to see the netherlands but only from the plane window. and i didnt even get to step on actual soil. after 16 hours of flying and going back 6hours in the day, we finally made it to rome at midnight. the city was pretty deserted but the city was magnificent in lights. whole blocks of residences, graffiti on the walls, people walking ( ! ) over bridges and under streetlight (fixed in the middle of the street), i still couldnt make out what i was seeing. roman drivers are crazy ! they drive in small cars and go really fast through small streets and alleys. crazy! i feared we’d crash into some statue or a century-old building any time soon.

finally we parked into ludivisi palace, a four-star hotel in via veneto. a small bed and breakfast hotel but pretty steep at 360 euros a night (festival took care of that). i bunked in with the producer who was sick since we left the philippines. probably a combination of hyperacidity, gas, food poisoning and cargo pressure etchos.

the air was chilly, like a crisp baguio evening and we celebrated our first night in rome with beer at a nearby bar in via veneto filled with guys in tailored suits and women with prada written all over them. crazy to be in rome .

the day after we proceeded to the festival venue to register, get our little IDs and our bag of goodies (books, festival material). via Veneto, we later find out, is probably the most expensive street in rome. said to be the most beautiful street in the world, it is littered with bars cafes and expensive clothing shops including the famous cafe de paris, a glitzy, paparazzi nightmare for the elite stars in the 50s including sophia loren and them italian directors.

there was a free shuttle bus that hurtles through rome, passing by piazza manila (where a bust of jose rizal is found) all the way to the festival venue and back every 10 minutes.

ferdie, dante, pie and myself at the festival

this year’s Rome International Film Festival is the first ever. italy only had the venice IFF for the last 50 years or so and critics have been saying it’s about time Rome had his. big-budgeted ang rome IFF, wanting to be as prestigious as its venice counterpart along with toronto and cannes in paris.

onstage, dante m cherry pie picache ferdie lapuz and benjamin padero

KALELDO was included in the EXTRA! section of the festival. another filipino film was selected, ALA POBRE ALA VERDE. KALELDO got to have 5 screenings in the festival, including its first during the gala opening of the festival.

at the roma termini after lunch and a bit of shopping

met with our tour guide, jerry, a pinoy organist in st.peter church during pope john paul ii’s time and a friend of cherry pie’s. we walked around rome and saw st.peter’s in the afternoon but the line was long and crazy so we decided to just take photos and go see it on tuesday. we then trekked to other sights in rome, bought rosaries in the nearby shops and ate pasta and pizza in some restaurant near the terminal station. i got some postcards i meant to send out via mail. snail mail? what is that?

goofing off in the hotel

had to go back early to the hotel to prepare for the evening’s gala. world premiere of KALELDO ! walked down the red carpet where nicole kidman and sean connery earlier that day also walked on.

viewers stayed at the end of the film for the Q&A portion. they were very supportive and they loved the film, made reference to other films and directors like kievslowsky’s and praised performances of cherry pie and the photography. met with some of the pinoys who watched the movie after the screening and it’s a nice feeling.

me with jakob, festival organizer, cherry pie and dante m; red carpet behind us

afterwards it was late and there were no more parties so we just celebrated with wine along with a filipina and her norwegian husband. stalked the theater where nicole kidman was still in but she didnt come out until hours later and we were bored from waiting. took pictures around the venue and didnt stop laughing until we got back to the hotel.

the producer was still sick when we got in so i had to play caregiver yet again and boss him around to eat and take water and apply hot towels on his stomach to ease his suffering, all the while encouraging him to burp and fart while i covered myself under the sheets to escape the poisonous gas circulating our room ! haha

and another night has ended. to be continued!

travel

more on motorcycle diaries

pictures of a picturesque journey

more images from my trip through mindanao last year between september to november. during that time i was able to visit san francisco, agusan del sur; surigao and siargao island, butuan city, davao city, general santos, marbel and surallah in south cotabato; lake sebu, south cotabato; zamboanga city and of course my home base cagayan de oro city.

fiesta girl
high school girl in full costume, street dance competition, zamboanga city.

yet again i was lucky to have been in zamboanga during their city fiesta (more popularly called fiesta pilar). that day i gemini and i met up with viejay, who brought with her an old friend, who is a photojournalist from the philippine star. he was cool about me tagging along while he takes pictures during the festivities. so come celebration, i was on the road too, snapping away and recording the street dance competition on video. had a blast, ive never gotten that close to taking photographs of strangers. quite an experience. the music from the drum and bugle corps still ring in my chest cavity 🙂

police barricade during the parade, zamboanga city

everybody that day were in high spirits and the crowd were clamoring for pictures as well. here’s one unguarded moment from the men on guard hehehe

wakan weaver
yakan weaver, yakan village, zamboanga city

on my last day in zamboanga, the boat i was to take to general santos was delayed for hours (apparently somebody fell overboard in mid-sea, exciting, no?). so girlie saavedra and roland, my companion in the bookid, toured me around the city (on a tricycle–a three-wheeled motorcycle) for the last time. one of our stops was in the yakan village. i was able to buy a few souvenirs, including a bag whose weaver i met that day. this old lady was his grandmother i believe.

marker of the ancestral domain in lake sebu

this you pass by when you go up the lake sebu. it marks the beginning of the area that is comprised of the CADC 003 and CADC 004, which were awarded to the t’boli and ubo tribes. despite the recognition, tenurial security remains a dream as issues and old skeletons continue to haunt these people. some of the their lands were forcibly taken from them. since the tribes people have no concept of securing land titles and canned goods, they have been deceived of friendship in exchange of land areas. migrants have populated most of the areas near the lake and the tribes people have evidently been pushed up the mountain. environmental concerns include the progressive encroachment into the watershed areas. moreover, concerns of the tribes not only include education on modern methods in land management but might need an overhaul of cultural traits and customs as well. if they lose that, then they wouldnt be so different from ourselves.

tilapia galore
grilled tilapia from the waters of lake sebu

during the fiesta in lake sebu, the city government organized a tilapia eat-all-you-can festival. tickets were sold at p100 and mygas, the tilapia! grilled, fried, boiled, stewed, drowned, you name it! it was the first time they did that and it’s something to look forward to every year.

gemini in siargao
gemini fernandez in cloud nine, siargao island.

to get around siargao, one still has to rent out a habal-habal (motorcycle). either that or you go around swimming. cloud nine is where you would find the biggest waves for surfing. and since we didnt know how to, we ended up just looking and taking pictures. siargao is a wonderful place, luv it!

siargao bridge
general luna, siargao island, surigao

gemini and i decided to take a short sidetrip to surigao from agusan en route to cagayan. it was an impromptu decision really. we arrived in surigao late in the evening and had to check in a lodging house prior to taking the first boat out to siargao the next day. we were also supposed to have stayed half a day only but the place was so inviting it was a shame to have traveled so many miles and not enjoy it. so we ended up renting a cottage and taking a few motorcycle trips around the place, swim in the blue waters and be in wonderful company and beer in the evening. and yes, they have internet on the island hehehe

musings, travel

cruising down the freeway in the hot hot sun

a journey through latin america on a bike

watching walter salles’ the motorcycle diaries, i couldnt help but be reminded of my travels through mindanao between september to november of last year. and although my two-month something trip pales in comparison to che gueverra’s 8-month eye-opening medical mission, i also had my fair share of eccentric characters, majestic landscapes, life-changing moments and dusty roads on habal-habal.

yes, my very own motorcycle diaries. read all about it.

the cinematography of salles’ film is great, the film explores beautiful stretches of latin land, picturesque views of the countryside and a grim but real image of poverty, suffering, hope and yearning for a better world and a better life. the music is underscored beautifully. gael works wonders with his performance. one would think he was too handsome for his own good, but gael knows how to handle that and it never becomes a hindrance. i would love to see this film again, reminisce of my own past journeys, and dream of more travel through this country. a tourist in your own country i may no longer be.

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my motorcycle diaries

i was inspired by the film to share a few more pictures of my trip down south. i would definitely recommend going around the country. you will realize there is indeed so much beauty here than you could possibly imagine, and so much love and spirit among its inhabitants.

mang bering
manong bering at his house on km14 la paz zamboanga

mang bering has lived on the la paz mountain all his life. he boasts he knows every inch of the mountain and can even trek through it at night without a torchlight. whenever he’d take us out through the woods he’d normally make it difficult for us by not using the footpaths. luckily my companion roland and i were up to it. in the evenings we’d huddle near the hearth in the kitchen and tell tall tales of giant beasts and kapres who protect mang bering and his family while swigging straight tanduay. he’d laugh his heart out and talk to me in a mix of chavacano and ilonggo, and id confirm his statements with bisaya.

the trip up to la paz would take an hour and a half on habal-habal (a motorcycle) from the foot of the mountain all the way up 14 kilometers (hence the name of the station kilometer 14 hehehe how convenient, eh?) the road of course starts off cemented until you pass the 3rd kilometer then all hell breaks loose. to get to the watershed border of the la paz (this area is a buffer zone to the watershed) you have to continue up km26 still on habal-habal. the day we went up were escorted with armed men on convoy. i thought that was rather cool. didnt get a picture though, but i got it all on video.

lake sebu, late afternoon

lake sebu is a municipality in south cotabato, featuring three natural, freshwater (of course) mountain lakes, the biggest being lake sebu. to get to the center of the town we had to travel on motorcycle (habal-habal, the faster alternative to jeepneys) for about an hour from surallah (three hours ata from general santos). most people in this area go around in motorcycles, same as with la paz in zamboanga. it’s the most convenient and cost-effective mode of transportation. deadma, your lamborghini cant do shit on the mountain pare.

this shot was taken from the resort where i stayed for two weeks (on and off). the lake is majestic but the people who live in this ancestral domain is more worthy of attention. their plight to security and livelihood may be paralleled to many like them all over the country but nevertheless as important. talking to a lot of their leaders has opened my eyes to injustices in the world over.

fall-side lunch
robert, nelson and a kid guide

watershed falls at lake sebu south cotabato to get to this waterfalls at the tip of the lake sebu mountain in south cotabato, we had to walk through the rainforest. it took roughly around an hour to two hours depending on how fast you can crawl through mud and rock, under canopies of giant ferns and shrubs. if you were lucky enough you would avoid picking up leeches and other bloodsuckers.

the scene in this place is breathtaking, and yes, i almost died here. i slid down the rocky wall that i climbed up on (in my underwear, yeah we took a bath). it was only more than a meter but the experience was something else, my life indeed flashed before my eyes! what stopped me from going all the way down the length of the mountain was my (thankfully) rather long chin.

my companions on motorcycle through the rainforests and ricefields in lake sebu were robert and nelson. nelson is from agusan and is a forestry graduate. robert is from the area and is half-muslim, half-t’boli. despite his mixed heritage, i often told him he’d be the future of his people, having been enlightened by every thing good and bad about their culture. i hope he’ll indeed take his place in the world.

breastfeeding mother
mother from the ubo tribe nursing her child

we visited the house of an ubo datu and almost never came out alive! we were asked to wait near the house and because my friend didnt stop me from my actions, i went ahead taking pictures of the house and the residents. we were able to talk to the lady of the house and one of her daughters. suddenly this rag near me (suspended from the ceiling) started to shake. then water began streaming out from under the rag. what i originally thought was a bag of clothes turned out to be a baby cradle! the mother was amused that i was caught unaware. later she began nursing him and i silently took a picture before turning my attention to the grandmother who began chewing betel nuts.

perya scene
perya at the poblacion during the week-long fiesta in lake sebu

i was lucky to have visited lake sebu during the height of its municipal festival. in the evenings the poblacion (sentro) was in full swing with kiddie rides, videoke booths, and gambling tables. we’d normally take a stroll, eat at the carinderia that serves a healthy serving of grilled chicken and swap stories of personal histories, philosophies and theories on life and development of the native race over red horse. will the drinking never end? 🙂

y’egas, extraordinary t’boli artist

had a grand time listening to y’egas sing! the t’bolis normally tell tales and histories through song and i had the opportunity to hear y’egas recount the death of their datu chieftain, speak of the beauty of lake sebu, and detail a local epic by singing. and yes, she sang in her native tongue so i didnt understand a thing. but man, her eyes, they will render you helpless and mesmerized. she has cast her spell on you and you cant resist but do her every bidding.

y’egas and her family
y’egas (& the t’boli tribe) amused at seeing herself on video

here is an interesting scene of the tribes people up close with technology. although they are not ignorant to the sight of tourists with their cameras, it’s a different experience altogether when they get to hold it and see themselves on the camera. and here, y’egas was watching and listening to herself. everybody were highly amused.

ben in the mountains mode
picture taken during one of those foggy mornings in la paz zamboanga. me with my walking stick, my videocam, and a raincoat ready for a drizzle or a trip through the rainforest.

travel

the return of the comeback, part 2

ok, by midnight tonight ill be off to davao and to gensan and to marbel and to surallah then to lake sebu by lunchtime tomorrow. im going back! still have a few interviews to catch and a few more places to shoot. my sked is really killing me, my boss in manila is already looking for me and was expecting me to be back in mandaluyong middle of october. and here i am still going round mindanao.

mindanao is soo much fun. everything is practically accessible by bus. and the traveling just adds to the charm of the place. cruising through foggy nights across mountains and plains and waking up in a different city the next day, though not entirely strange and unfamiliar. the spirit of the pinoy lives on and the more islands and hills you explore the more you realize what a wonderful place the philippines is, and how the government is doing a rather crappy job looking after it.

see you all soon. and perhaps more stories later too. just got another set of my photos from the developers this morning. more pictures of t’boli women dancing, and a few more of my nieces and nephew. cheers y’all! 🙂

travel

tilapia all day

my short stay in lake sebu was another amazing journey to familiarizing myself with the beauty of the philippines (char). lake sebu is a municipality located 1,000mts above sealevel in south cotabato. it is home to 19 barangays (18 of which is governed by the T’bolis and the Ubos) and sports three mountain lakes, including the enchanting lake sebu itself. having acquainted myself to natives i have been educated yet again on life’s hardships and glorious moments. the documentary im working on in the area allows me to get in touch with many of them, hearing about their movements and noting down their sentiments, recording their cries of injustice and sharing in their stories of determination and triumph.

arrived in lake sebu early monday morning and was briefed by sir jorge on the taxi about the project in cotabato. was led to a single-room cottage with a balcony and a great view of the lake. i immediately rounded up the NGO people in the office and asked what the main issues of the area were. after half an hour we got to a general idea of how the docu should come out but still unclear about details and how to get it. eventually through interviews with datus and farmers, we were able to flesh out a working outline of the video. however the real cut of the film would only be finalized after i got it cleared with the big bosses in zamboanga.

first meal in lake sebu was tilapia, fished fresh out of the lake. dinner, apparently was also with tilapia. oh and could you guess what we had for breakfast? im not gonna tell you.

oh yeah, made a couple of booboos that irked an educated t’boli with a lot of hangups. ok, i should be more understanding. but hey, if i was forewarned i wouldnt have started shooting the nak’d lady by the public well! ok i was kidding.

had a great time when t’boli children surrounded me and my cam in a circle and while singing a native song. and i was serenaded by an old t’boli in full regalla– on her knees! then we hiked up traankini to get shots of the waterfalls where i accidently slipped and got the cam wet. oops, did i just give myself away?

more later when i can gather my thoughts better. right now im in cagayan de oro for a break but i will be going back to lake sebu after the all-saint’s day holiday. cheers y’all!

travel

stepping down the bukid

ok so here i am again, updating you on my bukid adventures. i cant stay long so i cant really leave you guys tales of wonder and magic. im just having a smashing time in lake sebu, south cotabato. got a great view of the lake from the balcony of my resort cottage room. ive shared conversations with the tribes people and have also made quite a few booboos about dealing with them. the countryside is amazing, simple life, not so simple life. i will tell more later. now i have to get back up the mountain and the lake within. peace!

travel

in davao

i was delayed going to general santos because the boat didnt arrive at 8am saturday as it should. reports said a man fell overboard, thus explaining the delay. mygas! at least that gave me a last-minute opportunity to see more of zambo city. girlie and roland and i went to la vista del mar hopefully to check out the vintas but there werent any. we then went to the yakan village and take pics of them weaving. i even got to know the guy (brainy ilul) who weaved (wove?) the yakan bag i bought. coolness! we then visited fort pilar before heading back to the pier.the boat was then supposed to arrive at 3pm (7 hours delayed) and leave at 5. by 5 we were only about to board but not before getting rained on and taking shelter in container vans on the pier! the boat finally left 7.30pm.

but hey, what i thought was an 8 hour trip to general santos had to take longer. the stupid boat would be stopping over davao first (15hours) before heading for general santos. so i got here davao 1pm today (sunday). since general santos is only 3 hours away by bus (as suppose to 8hours on that damned ship), i got off and met with cuzin aron before i head off to the bus terminal for the 6pm bus.

see the city, enjoy the sights! unfortunately it rained this afternoon and davao looked dreary under falling water. nevertheless, was able to buy medicine and additional minidv tapes and check my email before heading for lake sebu where ill be immersed in more environmental and cultural issues with the t’bolis for a week.

coolness! hi to all! wish you were here *sniff* to see all the wonderful stuff the philippines has to offer 😀 ashteg!

benjamin padero

yes. me.

Category Archives: travel

blogging in january

venezia by slippers

rome the second time around

roma at night. roma by bus

more on motorcycle diaries

cruising down the freeway in the hot hot sun

the return of the comeback, part 2

tilapia all day

stepping down the bukid

in davao

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