SM Lagro, Quezon City

This post will be a summary of the last few days (from Thursday to Sunday).

Thursday, August 17 -
Peter and I had a good night's sleep at the payag because we had installed the new mosquito net we purchased at Malatapay the previous day. We woke up rather early and decided to try the local breakfast of bugbug kabog - sticky rice in banana leaf, and hot tableya - dark cacao drink to dip the bugbug kabog in. We took the jeepney into town and stopped at the tiangge, city market, to go to the pa-initan, the place where we can get hot food and snacks.

The city market is located a bit off-center. Produce are found in one section, the meat in one, the supplies in another. The place to have something to eat is right near the pedicab stops. You have a choice of where to have your breakfast, lunch or dinner. Vendors, with their prepared foods and drinks, lined up at one section with their benches and tables. The customer would already have their usual place, if you are a local, but for a visitor, you would have to just choose with your nose and eyes, or if someone has recommended a place.

We grabbed the bench and sat down. Immediately after sitting a girl came up getting our orders. Of course, budbud kabog and hot tableya for us. The budbud was a lot thinner and smaller from what we remember it used to be. The taste wasn't as good as when some locals bought it for us. This time it was just for tasting's sake.

After we had our breakfast we walked into town passing by the old Catholic Church and the plaza. We went around some shops looking for fish netting to put over the roof of the house to prevent the birds from grabbing the leaves for their nests. Fish nets were hard to find around these parts so we decided to just go straight to the Buglas Bamboo Institute near the end of the city limits. There we were able to talk with the sales assistants about helping us treat the bamboo house once and for all before the termites or birds or mice eat it. This BBI is an NGO (non-government organization) started by Hans and Franz, both Danes married to local Filipinas. Any bamboo house or furniture they make are 100% treated bamboo and will last more than 20 years. The sales assistant said that the payag can still be treated so it will last longer. Hopefully, the surveyor will check the property and give us good recommendations on how to improve the payag - bamboo house.

Now that was accomplished, Peter felt a bit better knowing that someone will take a look at the house and hopefully improve it.

We had lunch at the Lee Super Plaza food court eating some of our favorite local dishes for only $5-6. Then we took the Sibulan jeepney back to the house. We rested a bit until our 4:30 pm appointment with the owner of Jo's Chicken Inato restaurant - 21 branches all over the Philippines. Andy, Peter's cousin PingPing's husband, was a classmate of Josephine in Piapi, Dumaguete. He's a retired Colonel, Chief Chaplain with the Armend Forces. He knew that Peter and I were interested in looking at properties around the Visayas and that we're quite fond of unique places. Josephine has a 5 hectare property in Ahong which overlooks the island of Cebu. The property is called Our Lady's Garden. As we drove through the highway your eyes will focus on this huge monument/statue of Mary standing tall on the left side of the road. The steep incline is landscaped beautifully with assorted flowering shrubs and ornamental trees. One could actually walk up the steep incline through the 12 stations of the cross to get to the foot of the statue.

We drove up the narrow winding driveway lined with rock formations with bonsai plants and other ornamental flowers and trees. As we go through the bridge walkway, we see a vast area overlooking a spectacular view of the rolling hills of Negros Oriental. We also see three bamboo huts (made by BBI) symbolizing the three main islands of the Philippines - Luzon (with the Ifugao Hut and replica of the rice terraces), Visayas (with the replica of the Chocolate Hills of Bohol) and Mindanao (with the Muslim design roof). Still in construction is the cross-shaped chapel that will only fit 12 people. A very nice place for a garden wedding.

We got to tour around the entire area and to hear Jo's humble beginnings in the early 70s and how they managed to succeed despite marrying at the age of 15 and 21. Her story is full of inspiring messages for anybody who is fortunate to hear it. (I hope to write about it when I can spend more time posting.) We stayed there from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. We really appreciated her generous time and hospitality. Thanks to Manong Andy, too, for if not for him we would not be able to visit this extraordinary place.

Since Jo told us about her restaurant and their specialty, Andy took us to Jo's Chicken Inato for our dinner. The chicken was the best! Unfortunately, the Buko Halo specialty was all sold out. Shucks! Next time...

During dinner Andy told us lots of stories about his teen age years and also about his experiences as a Military Chaplain and ultimately the Chief Chaplain for all the Armend Forces. Very interesting guy. As a newly retired person, he is now starting a new ministry to fellow retirees - both local and foreign, by offering them opportunities to talk story everyday near the Boulevard. He parks his Westfalia VW, opens the camper, sets up his Bose speakers, brings out folding chairs and puts on the coffee percolator. Then whoever comes to check out the vehicle they invite to sit with them for a cup. His opening line is: What do you want to do for the rest of your life? Now he has more than 5 regular retirees. They jog in the Boulevard for an hour, do Bible Study and maybe talk about their stories. He said they will call this ministry, Wayside Ministry: We care for your Souls, We care for your Bodies and We care for your Volkswagen!

We got back to Maslog at almost 11 p.m. This was the first time we were out late, and we were with a retiree too. How funny is that!