Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Mountains. For someone like me who live all her life in a city, the mountains are considered as one of those with most magnificent view ever. I never get tired to be amazed everytime I went outside the city and got the glimpse of the the mountains during a road trip.

Lately, just before the holy week, I had the most wonderful trips so far. I went to Igbaras, Iloilo twice and for the first time, in the Province of Antique. These places are mountainous. So my eyes enjoyed so much the of view that laid in front of me during those days.

But I observed one thing in all those mountains. They are all brown. Most have their bases green but all are obviously brown. Maybe we can say that it's summer, so all those greens were dried up by the mighty sun. Is that so? I hope so. I hope to see those mountains again in times that summer is no longer there. I wish that my doubts of illegal logging or "kaingin" (cutting and burning of trees for cultivation purposes in a destructive way) is not true. But in my visit in Antique, I saw a forest fire while I was riding with my father in his motorcycle. The fire came from the other side of the mountain but it tore my heart while looking on those fire emerging and fighting its way up in the mountain's peak. That very moment I realized that the mountains are not so beautiful after all to look at. And that every time I see a mountain in brown, I thought of the pain that a certain mountain had gone through with the people that lived with it and supposed to take good care of it. When those mountains with lack of support from the roots of trees that meant to grow but burnt collapse, those people living around will be the immediate victims. Landslide won't destroy just their livelihoods, it could kill them in an instant too. So I do not know what those people are thinking when they did those unlawful act in their environment. Maybe they just want to survive for today and don't ever care for tomorrow.

Ain't no mountain high enough for a respect?

Cafe, Breads, Pasta

Hi there. Unplanned moments are indeed the best. That makes me think to change my blog's name into "Unplanned Moments". Sounds great, isn't it? Well, I'll think about that.

So another unplanned moment happened last night and it was with my college buddies. Maybe if you happened to read a lot here, you will know that I'm more of "it's high school" when it comes to friends. But I got few too in college. So I met some of those few last night.

Angelie informed me. I excitedly agreed. But later in the afternoon, already past of the time that we are supposed to meet,Ii'm still lying in my bedroom with uneasy feeling in my stomach. Plus the fact that I'm already late, I doubted to go or not. Am glad I went.

So we met at SM Delgado and walked to Robinson's and decided to eat at Pizza Hut. We each got a soup, a pasta and a pizza. Imagine the state  of our stomachs after we finished all. My aching stomach continues to ache more. But it didn't stopped me. Angelie went first for she had to meet her office mate. The three of us continue to roam around downtown and then went to Esplanade. Our talks became more deep (not to serious, just a little) as the night became deeper. We sat down by the riverside and talked about our college life, our life, our boys (of our dreams? not really) and then life and boys and life again. We were like teenagers, feeling like grown-ups. But ooops, considering we are  all 24 years old, we are indeed grown ups. I don't know. All I know it was fun to talk your mind out that easily again to people you have never seen for quite a long time already. And that in some point, you feel that you are all really grown-ups. The perspectives changed into better. T'was nice. Just can't put it all into words.

Our groufie at Pizza Hut.

Holy Mountain

There is no really easy way up. And we prove it again during our visit on the church in the "Balaan Bukid" (Holy Mountain) right after we went to Trappist. This is still in Guimaras. We walked the Stations of the Cross (Via Crucis) as we ascend in the mountain. Going upward until we reached the 14th cross was indeed memorable and very rewarding. Our feet ached as we trailed upward. I almost crawl my way up. We can't breathe properly. We almost lost our breath.We really did pant our Way to the Cross. The proof is having no picture taken during our way up. There's no picture of every station we passed by for I cannot almost handle myself. I gathered every force of myself to achieve my goal of reaching the top. But that almost one (1) hour of hiked was rewarded by a breathtaking view also. We can see the Island of Panay up there. As soon as we reached the top, we rested ourselves, breathe every air we have lost, ate our lunch (from Mini Stop), and took a lot of pictures in the surroundings. I hope that the photographs here can testify the beauty and solitude I found up there.

Happy

Despite of pressure and workloads and not knowing which to do first, I'm glad I saw you in the office. I'm quite surprised and even more surprised when I saw you again on my way going home. You got that charm that can always make me smile no matter what. #AT3

A Moment In Time

God made a wonderful place. It is for us to take notice.

We traveled for hours but it's all worthy.

The air is freezing cold but we didn't care.

Our longing of solitude are completely satisfied.

It's pure bliss.

Though we slide and fall. It didn't matter at all.

We just rise, with muds in our clothes, it's so much fun after all.

We are like children again, giggling in every step we are making.

Our body ached after, but we are sure to do it again.

Happy Birthday DV!

Happy Birthday DV dear!!! ☺☺☺

Miles

Yay! It's 2015! And I want my first post in 2015 to be about Miles Teller.
I'm not a big fan of foreign movies.
I seldom watch movies too.
I know only few hollywood stars by their name and face.
I heard a lot of names. I see a lot of faces of hollywood.
But only few that I know both of their name and face.
And when I say few, it would not be more than 10.
Yah, that's little.
Angelina Jolie is my only favorite among those few that I know.
But I happened to watch this "Two Night Stand" movie out of boredom.
And Alec, the guy's name in the movie really did caught my attention.
I usually didn't care to know the names of the actor of the movies I've watched
but this Alec guy made me paused the characters' name in the end of the movie
to look who's this Alec guy is.
And he is Miles Teller.

Well, somehow, I can see my local celebrity crush Arjo Atayde in him.
But if you will compare their features, I don't know if there's really a resemblance.
Just that I thought of Arjo Atayde when I first saw the character of Alec.

After I learned his screen name, what I did next is of course, I googled him.
So he's Miles Alexander Teller in real life. I really now love the name Alexander.
He is 3 years older than me and I found it just PERFECT. Lol!
And because I got interested of him, I also watched another two movies of him.
The 21 & Over which he's a little naughty in there. Hey, the movie is quite touching too, just that, forgive me, I really don't understand it's ending. But I'll make sure to find time and watch that movie again and again until I'll understand it fully.
That Awkward Moment movie of him is simply nice too. It talks about friendship and love and life.

This is from 21 & Over.

A STAR is Born

Philippines is known to have the longest celebration of Christmas.
People will Christmas songs right after the 1st day of September, the 1st day of the ber -months.
I seldom complain then why people celebrated Christmas in a more festive way rather than performing its true meaning.
So it's really a wonder to me why this year, and it's already December, only few Christmas lights and decors can be seen around.
It's not as colorful as before.
Two more sleeps left and "Simbang Gabi" or the Aguinaldo mass will start!!!
Maybe by that time, Christmas will be more felt around here.
Because of lots of what happened and of poverty, maybe most opted to celebrate Christmas the way it should be celebrated. Simple yet meaningful.
Instead of preparing lavish decorations, people will give time to reflect about their lives.
Still, there are few who already decorated around for Christmas.
Plazas have each their own version.
Last friday night, I passed by the Plaza near our office.
And it was their light a tree or decorate a tree for christmas opening night (I dunno what they call it, by I think it's annual).
I was in hurry so I didn't took a lot of pictures.
I'll post here that two that I think are the most beautiful among those little pictures I captured.

STARS.
The most common symbol of Christmas.
After all, Christmas time is a celebration of the world's no. 1 star.
A star who shines since so long ago.
A star who was born in a barn in Bethlehem.
A star whose name is Jesus.
Advance Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to my no. 1 Star.

Trappist

Another church hopping adventure of me and Rayssa. 

I've been to Trappist before but I never really got a chance to see the church inside it. And so it means that this was my first time. Rayssa do believe that you can make a wish if you visit a certain church for the first time. 

These photos was long overdue. I just got the time to post. We actually visited two churches during this church hopping adventure of us but I'll post this first because this was our first stop. 

And just for a little information about Trappist, it is a monastery governed by monks. It is one of the tourist spot of Guimaras Island. Though open to public, there's a place in there that is prohibited for the public. The place that only the monks can enter. Did I sound creepy? LOL. I'm just just referring to the monks' abode where they sleep, cook, eat and pray all by themselves. No disturbance is allowed. But one of the monks, or maybe he's a priest, or a monk that is not so monk approached us (well, I dunno the real difference between the monk and the priest, I just believe that monks are not allowed to talk to the outside people, and because that "priest" talk to us, I concluded he is not a monk - I promise to research the difference between the two if I will have a spare time). He greeted us warmly and with a smile and asked if me and Rayssa are sisters. He reasoned that we have same features. And that was not the first time. Jacque, our friend, once said that, we two, are look alike. I really cannot get their point of reference though. I cannot find any feature or face look of us that is the same. I  don't know why they said that. All I know is that Rayssa and me are friends.

Back to Trappist. Because they are one of the many, tourist destinations in Guimaras (it's a blissful island), they have inside a Gift Shop where you can buy church symbolisms like cross, wood statues of Jesus Christ and other saints, rosaries, and prayer booklets. They also sell native delicacies and souvenirs of Guimaras.

Down below, you will see Nanay Basyon. She's the care taker of the gardens in Trappist. All the plants and flowers that you will see are caressed by Nanay Basyon's loving touch. Nanay Basyon said that she already dedicated her life to served Mama Mary. She gave us roses (and a lot of other flowering plants she have there) to plant and said that all who can bloom the roses are loved by Mama Mary. She have a lot of blooming flowering plants around the Trappist and our most favorite is the "Rosas de Birhen" which I posted it here first among with the other flowers I captured during that church hopping day of us  in the Island of Guimaras. 

I hope you enjoyed watching the photos as much as I enjoyed taking these photographs. I'm sorry, just another frustrated photographer here. I'll post the second church we visited during this churches trip of us soooon. Hasta La Vista Blogger! :D