Cuyapo Landmark

My hometown of Cuyapo, located in the province of Nueva Ecija, is a fairly flat area as most of the province. Nueva Ecija is often referred to as the bread basket of the Philippines because of its agricultural output, mainly rice. Because it is flat, any type of geographical landmark, even a fairly low elevation mountain, shows up prominently in the local landscape. There is a mountain (I am not sure that this even qualifies as a mountain, topographically speaking) that is easily noticeable from all over Cuyapo. As a young boy growing up in Tagtagumbao (barangay or village of Cuyapo), I remember this landmark being in a distant place towards a neighboring barangay of Bambanaba. The mountain can be seen from the backyard of my childhood home. I am not sure that this land feature even has a name. We simply referred to it as "bantay" or the mountain. Seeing the mountain again brings back a lot of memories from my childhood years in the Philippines.

The following are pictures of this landmark from several places within Cuyapo:

As shown on my blog's new header picture, the photos are from Tagtagumbao looking towards Bambanaba, no more than 400m from the backyard of my childhood home. I still remember from my childhood the acacia tree on the first picture, welcoming you with its "outstreched" branches coming back from a long walk from Bambanaba.






The next picture is from Cuyapo town proper, taken from my aunt's backyard.




The next group of pictures were taken from Bentigan, another Cuyapo barangay, during our early morning walks. During this visit to the Philippines, we regularly walked early in the morning starting between 5:00 to 5:30 AM. We would walk from Cuyapo town center to Bentigan and back. The regular walkers were me, both of my sisters, a brother, and a good friend of my brother. The Cuyapo Chief of Police and one of her policewoman joined us one morning for the walk. The walk takes almost an hour and a half. The walk afforded us great views of the mountain, as well as the farm fields, during the walk back to town just before sunrise.










Other landscape photos during our morning walks:

My Sister's Garden

As I stated in my previous posting, all the traveling and lack of sleep caught up with me causing fatigue, stress, and strained neck. I was taken to two different doctors because I was getting dizzy and light-headed. Both doctors recommended rest and relaxation for me. So my second day in the Philippines was spent at my sister's house in Cuyapo. When I wasn't sleeping or watching tv, I was walking around my sister's small garden, taking photos.

My sister's garden is an eclectic mix of broken potteries, old West style accessories, and frog figurines to complement the collection of flowers, fruit trees, and vegetables plants. The garden needs some sprucing up, but all in all, the garden is a pleasant oasis. The following are some of the photos I took:























See additional pictures of the garden by clicking on any of the photos to take you to my flickr page.

Back in Seattle Again

I will be flying back to Seattle in less than 20 hrs. from the Philippines. We are headed to Manila shortly from my hometown of Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija. I don't have my camera to computer connection accessories, so you'll have to wait for photos during the Philippines part of my visit from Germany.

I had a little bit of a setback when I arrived here last week. I saw two doctors to check my condition. I felt serious discomfort in my neck, and in turn, I had recurring spells of lightheadedness. Travel and lack of sleep have taken its toll on me, but I am now well rested and feel much better.

I am ready to celebrate Christmas in Seattle with family. Mia, I will be texting you with my schedule. Please pick me up Tuesday morning. See you all soon.

Happy Holidays!!!

I arrived in Seattle Saturday, 12 Dec '09. I leave Seattle for Manila on Monday, 14 Dec. I come back to Seattle on 22 Dec. Then return to Germany on 1 Jan '10. For work, I will be in Aviano, Italy the second week of Jan; in Ankara, Turkey third week of Jan; and UK the second week of Feb. These work trips will be to perform school assessments.

I will probably be moving out of my apartment into a hotel by the end of January. My household goods and vehicle will probably be shipped before the end of January. My current employer will send me back to Seattle and my future employer will pick me up from Seattle. So I will probably be back in Seattle by late February for a couple of days. The new position is in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, rather than Kuwait. I will report to DC for my new job for orientation and paperwork for a few days. Then off to Abu Dhabi I go. As far as my new position, my end date in Europe has not been finalized, but it is looking like late Feb. So it will be a very busy next 10 weeks for me prior to my arrival in Abu Dhabi.

Happy holidays!!! I wish everyone a very happy New Year!!!

Pisa, San Gimignano, and Siena

As I wrote in an earlier posting, during the Columbus Day weekend a friend and I visited Florence. Our last full day, we took a guided bus tour from Florence which consisted of the obligatory stop in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and the nearby cathedral and baptistery; drove thru the Tuscan countryside and stopped for lunch at a vineyard; drove thru more scenic winding roads, stopped at San Gimignano, and walked around the old part of town to see the remaining “towers” from its historic past; and stopped in Siena to see its main Piazza and its beautiful cathedral.

I am not a big fan of guided tours. But since we probably saw all that we could see in Florence and we had one full day left, the best way to get the “flavor” of Tuscany was the guided tour described above. To tour costs 90 euros, but it covered a lot of areas -- more than we would be able to cover using public transport. Most of the time was spent of the road. We did not have much time to enjoy the sights of Siena. All in all, it was well worth it. Siena is worth visiting again for at least a day to see all its sights. Most of our time in Siena was spent inside the Duomo, its cathedral. The cathedral is probably the most magnificent church I have seen, both inside and out. It was nice to see San Gimignano, the small walled medieval Tuscan hill town, with several towers still standing. During the medieval period, families built towers to show their wealth. In its heyday, more than 70 towers were built. The highlight of the stop in Pisa was not the Leaning Tower, but the interior of the cathedral nearby. And during the drive to all the places we visited, I could not take my eyes off the never ending stunning vistas and landscapes of Tuscany hillsides.

The following are photos from this tour:

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The Pisa Duomo and the Leaning Tower behind it.

The Pisa Duomo.

The Baptistery in Pisa.

Dome details of the Baptistery in Pisa.

Column details of the Duomo in Pisa.

Inside the Duomo in Pisa.

View of San Gimignano countryside.

Enjoying gelato in San Gimignano.

Towers in San Gimignano.

This “lemon-headed” figure looks angry – probably from the sudden rain and wind storm that hit San Gimignano lasting for about 20 minutes.

Empty street in San Gimignano after a rain storm.

In front of the Duomo in Siena.

Inside Siena’s Duomo.

Siena’s Duomo from the outside.

The main square of Siena, Piazza del Campo.

More photos of these three sites can be viewed from my flickr account by clicking on the following links: Pisa, San Gimignano, and Siena.