The Mindoro Experience
DO NOT FEED THE DUCKS
The last time we were here in California, there were quite a bit of ducks and geese in the park around the small lake where we go for our morning walks. I notice some people come towards the lake just to feed them.
This time around, I noticed the sign "Do not feed the ducks" has been spray painted all over the concrete walkways around the lake. Another thing is that there's noticeably a considerable less number of ducks around. I imagine with people being forbidden to feed them, there's much less food for everyone so some of them have flown to 'greener pastures'.
And back to Mindoro..
We scheduled our trip to coincide with my nieces Cindy and Alma from California coming from their trip from Vietnam and Cambodia. They came for their parents' 57th wedding anniversary. They were pleasantly surprised when they saw us checking in at the domestic terminal counter.
Cindy told me she saw someone in front of the line with long hair and thought, "Hey, isn't that....?"
That's when the screaming started!
"What are you doing here?"
"What are YOU doing here?"
..and on and on..
Below is the memorial at the airport for Mindoro's Tamaraw which we saw in the mountains of Rizal.
I don't know if it's a cultural thing but every time Filipinos meet with friends and/or relatives, food is almost always involved. And our trip to Mindoro was no different.
Below are pictures taken during dinner hosted by Eden and Onnie at their place in San Jose.
Here's a special dessert which Eden prepared for us - macapuno from scratch, not the common macapuno bottled and sold in stores. It was delicious!
And here are some pics taken during dinner prepared by her daughter at Dolor's place.
Here's a special lunch thrown by their Mom, my cousin Atching Elong.
Before:
After:
One of the ways to experience the local colors in a certain place is a visit to its market.
Donna and I just had to taste San Jose halo-halo and we were told to go to a place called Nice & Spice and try their version. Well it's not Razon's but it'll have to do. Their chocolate cake wasn't too bad though.
Michael's is a store co-owned by my niece Nelia along with a clothing store across the street.
Dolor and Onnie are in a thriving mortuary business in Mindoro and below is one of their coffin factories.
While we were in Mindoro, Donna had the chance to meet up with a long lost nursing classmate - Ofelia Septimo-Gales, someone she hasn't seen since 1975!
The few days we were there zipped by and before we knew it, it's time for us to say goodbye. We got treated for more halo-halo at a joint by the airport called Josefina Cafe owned by Atching Elong's sister-in-law. We were told, by the way, that her sister-in-law's son created the Tamaraw memorial. Joseph 'Erap' Estrada flew in to campaign in Mindoro right before we left.
The last time we were here in California, there were quite a bit of ducks and geese in the park around the small lake where we go for our morning walks. I notice some people come towards the lake just to feed them.
This time around, I noticed the sign "Do not feed the ducks" has been spray painted all over the concrete walkways around the lake. Another thing is that there's noticeably a considerable less number of ducks around. I imagine with people being forbidden to feed them, there's much less food for everyone so some of them have flown to 'greener pastures'.
And back to Mindoro..
We scheduled our trip to coincide with my nieces Cindy and Alma from California coming from their trip from Vietnam and Cambodia. They came for their parents' 57th wedding anniversary. They were pleasantly surprised when they saw us checking in at the domestic terminal counter.
Cindy told me she saw someone in front of the line with long hair and thought, "Hey, isn't that....?"
That's when the screaming started!
"What are you doing here?"
"What are YOU doing here?"
..and on and on..
Below is the memorial at the airport for Mindoro's Tamaraw which we saw in the mountains of Rizal.
I don't know if it's a cultural thing but every time Filipinos meet with friends and/or relatives, food is almost always involved. And our trip to Mindoro was no different.
Below are pictures taken during dinner hosted by Eden and Onnie at their place in San Jose.
Here's a special dessert which Eden prepared for us - macapuno from scratch, not the common macapuno bottled and sold in stores. It was delicious!
And here are some pics taken during dinner prepared by her daughter at Dolor's place.
Here's a special lunch thrown by their Mom, my cousin Atching Elong.
Before:
After:
One of the ways to experience the local colors in a certain place is a visit to its market.
Donna and I just had to taste San Jose halo-halo and we were told to go to a place called Nice & Spice and try their version. Well it's not Razon's but it'll have to do. Their chocolate cake wasn't too bad though.
Michael's is a store co-owned by my niece Nelia along with a clothing store across the street.
Dolor and Onnie are in a thriving mortuary business in Mindoro and below is one of their coffin factories.
While we were in Mindoro, Donna had the chance to meet up with a long lost nursing classmate - Ofelia Septimo-Gales, someone she hasn't seen since 1975!
The few days we were there zipped by and before we knew it, it's time for us to say goodbye. We got treated for more halo-halo at a joint by the airport called Josefina Cafe owned by Atching Elong's sister-in-law. We were told, by the way, that her sister-in-law's son created the Tamaraw memorial. Joseph 'Erap' Estrada flew in to campaign in Mindoro right before we left.
posted by reyjay @ 6:07 AM
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