December 1998, christmas carols, seeing beautiful lights everywhere in the street and busy shoppers preparing for the holiday. As I’m about to calculate what sort of gifts should I buy to my godchildren, a friend suddenly tapped me on my shoulder telling me to put those bags in the compartment area of the bus as we’re about to take an overnight trip to her hometown…Legazpi City! Ok fine so what is this city and what’s in it anyway? Legazpi City is the capital of the province of Albay in Bicol region located in the southern Luzon of Philippines. In this place you will see the country’s perfect cone volcano, the Mount Mayon.
Awakened by my friend’s loud talk with her sister on her mobile using their local dialect, I realized the travel time wasn’t really that long or maybe because I was so tired from all the Christmas parties I attended before taking that trip and fell completely unconscious in the bus on our way. My friend is always bragging about this place and telling me that this popular Mt. Mayon volcano is just planted on her sister’s backyard. Ok let’s see if she’s telling the truth and I might check the roots as well to validate her claim.
As we arrived in the bus terminal, we took a Jeepney ride going to her house and there I met her mom and her youngest sister. My friend has a lot of married siblings in their family and it was only her mom and sister stays in that family house, and of course my friend is in Manila most of the time working. Before I forgot, this Bicol region is the “Thailand” of Philippines, I mean hot and spicy food anywhere! The popular delicacy in this province is what they call the “Bicol Express”, a spicy dish of meat or chicken simmered in coconut milk, yummy! That time my tolerance to chilies wasn’t that strong yet so I only enjoy the mildly prepared. The next day, we visited her sister’s house and there I really saw the perfect view of Mt. Mayon…around 4 to 4.30 pm I think. The distance between the house and the Mount could still be measured to around 30-40 kilometers. In the morning and early afternoon, the volcano is still covered with clouds … you really have to wait late in the afternoon to see its complete beauty. But I wasn’t that easy to please! I asked my friend to visit the place instead. So we went.
While my eyes are enjoying the closer view of the sleepy volcano, my friend whispered saying I was standing on a ground of a buried church with many people died several hundred years ago. Egad! Oh there it is … the bell tower is just few meters away from me, the only thing survived and visible from that buried church they called “Cagsawa”. A story was told to me that during that time, this volcano angrily erupted and the town people went to the church and prayed so hard to calm this violent nature activity. Unfortunately, the volcano spewed tons and tons of lava and covered the entire town including the church. Their prayers weren’t answered, and they were delivered earlier in the next world. I guess they should have packed their things off and squatted on any nearby town like a picnic and watch the beauty of eruption just like what the present people are doing nowadays. Ok I won’t go further. I spent 3 days and 2 nights in Legazpi, but I also enjoyed the shopping malls they have and of course the food. I went back to Manila 2 days before Christmas by a train to spend the holiday with my family. I can say I really enjoyed this very short trip learning and knowing wonderful people in my country, aside from the Manila populace like me.
(image link: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y50/Pnong_pino/5.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment