Sky-watching at Cagsawa Ruins

No trip to Bicol would be complete without seeing the majestic Mayon Volcano. After spending the Lenten holiday in Caramoan, we traveled back to Naga on Easter Sunday and made a side trip to Legaspi for our pilgrimage to the Cagsawa Ruins. It was more than a three-hour bus ride from Naga to Cagsawa, and clouds already veiled Mayon when we arrived. Vendors told us that the best way to see Mayon is early in the morning. But we didn't give up and waited for a glimpse of its perfect cone.

This was my second visit to Cagsawa Ruins---the first was a few years ago during one of Mayon's hiccups. To witness an actual volcano eruption was both frightening and breathtaking, and the danger was very real. Mayon Volcano is the most active of the active volcanoes in the Philippines, having erupted over 49 times in the past 400 years. Its last eruption was in December 2009. Famous for its perfect cone, Mayon was included in the New Seven Wonders of Nature top 10 list in 2008.

The Cagsawa Ruins and its surroundings are the remains of communities buried in lava during the 1814 eruption. The church belfry was the lone witness of the devastation and tragedy---more than a thousand people sought shelter in the church and no one survived.

Posted for Sky-watch Friday

Hot Shot Roll

I am drooling and craving for a maki right now. These Hot Shot Rolls are scrumptious and addictive! It's a spicy Mexican-inspired roll filled with tuna, jalapeno, cream cheese, avocado and spring onions. I should go back to Red Kimono at The Fort Strip soon and indulge. For now, I am doing simple breathing exercises to curb my cravings for their maki masterpieces.

Posted for Food Trip Friday and Food Friday

LP: Bulaklak [flowers]

Stop and smell the roses---ang lagi kong sinasabi sa aking mga kaibigan na walang hilig magbakasyon, laging trabaho ang nasa isip at kung pa'no pa lumaki ang kita. Kahit sobrang abala tayo sa buhay, paminsan-minsan, kailangan natin namnamin ang mga maliliit na bagay na nagpapangiti sa atin.

Stop and smell the roses is my usual advice to friends who are too busy to take a vacation, who work all the time and are driven to get rich. Even when we are too busy with our lives, we need to slow down sometime and appreciate the small things that give us much pleasure.

Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed also the soul.
~The Koran

Flowers are love's truest language.
~ Park Benjamin

Posted for Litratong Pinoy

Caramoan: Sabitang Laya Island [WW and OW]

The most exciting part of our island-hopping at the Caramoan Peninsula was the leg to this island called Sabitang-Laya. 


After lunch at Tinago cove, we set sail to Sabitang-Laya, a stomach-churning ride that made us reach for our life jackets. Our boatman zigzagged across the rough waves until we reached the calmer part of the peninsula---a collective sigh of relief! We approached the island from its long stretch of white sandy beach. From a distance we could see the rock boulders jutting out of the trees but we didn't expect the stunning rock formations at the other side of the island. We rested in the shade of huge rock, amazed at the vertical crack in the ridge above. I sat there naming the images I saw in the rocks, like a kid watching clouds take shape in the sky. Over there is Babe's head, up above is a cubist elephant, and in the distance, a dog's nose.

It took nature millions of years to create this place. The least I could do was take my time enjoying it. The shadows on the ridges shifted, and the colors softened in the afternoon sun. I took photos, lots of photos---and savored the natural beauty of Sabitang-Laya.

how tall is that?

is that you, Babe?

a Jurassic eagle?

an orc in disguise?

Posted for Watery Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday

Pitch-black [Photo-Hunt]

Moonlight glimmered on pitch-black water like liquid gold. This was my lonely view of the horizon on Good Friday as the moon rose in Tabgon. The moon moved in silence, veiled in darkness, haunting the night with its beauty.

There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dis-passionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery.

~Joseph Conrad

Posted for Photo Hunt