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| Because we did not see the Mayon Volcano that day, we Adobed it... |
Every time
the weather seems to be grumpy that clouds turn grey and the wind seemingly
blows like whispering that it’s going to rain… memories of my visit to Bicol
way back in the late portion of 2007 keep on refreshing my mind about how
memorable it was especially that it was spent with friends who also like to
seek for an adventure different from the ordinary.
“Bicolandia”
is the collective name referred to the Philippines’ fifth region located in
Luzon, east of the province of Batangas and commonly a 10-hour travel passing
Quezon province through the curvy and risky road in Tagkawayan called “Bitukang
Manok” (Chicken Intestine). We started
our travel in the evening.
Because our
main goal in this roadtrip was to check the world-famous Mayon Volcano, the
province of Camarines Norte where famous white-sand beaches can be found was
bi-passed and Camarines Sur directly became our first stop. In CamSur’s town of Sipocot, we stopped to
grab snacks in the local gasoline station, due to the fact that this province’s
source of income for locals really is quite difficult, in its night streets,
you would see children, maybe 10 to 12 years old, already stretching bones by
selling rugs to different motorists which is obviously quite dangerous for
their very young age.
Riding a
Toyota Fortuner, our friend driver and also so the owner of the said vehicle,
continued his driving that before the break of dawn we had already reached the
city of Lagaspi in Albay where the perfectly-coned shape volcano of Mayon was
located. Before roaming more, we
checked-in in a local hotel and decided to look around after regenerating our
strength from such a tiring trip.
That afternoon
we went out but to our luck, it rained and checking the view of Mayon Volcano
would be very impossible to enjoy. Instead
we went to Albay’s public market and there, we witnessed different market
goodies which are not common in the local public market of Sto.Tomas, Batangas. There you would see different dried fish in
different sizes, not the typical-sized dried squid, pili(Bicolano Nuts) nuts sweetened
and salted and guess what, there were lots of Bicolanos there. Hehe, just kidding.
But it
would really be a bad joke if on our last day the Mayon would not still be visible
for its Batangueno visitors. So we CARPEd
our DIEM and went to bed to experience a Bicolano sleepover.
The next
day, it was quite a disappointment for us to see dark clouds (again) and
sadness-giving drizzles. After seeing the Albay Parks and Wildlife, we visited the
Cagsawa Ruins where we were welcomed by friendly tour guides who also happened
to be professional photographers too… such a nice bargain for a tight
budget. The site of this volcano-wrecked
bell tower historically tells an amazing story; the Mayon exploded, amounts of lavas
flowed in the area, the Cagsawa Church destroyed and the shyness of this occasionally-furious
giant untimely happened during our visit.
Oh my goodness!
It is suggested to visit this local sculptor in the Cagsawa area named "Mang Romy" where igneous rocks hardened from Mayon's lava are used for his creations. "Mang Romy" is not his real name, I just made that one up.
It seemed
that Mayon played a game on us… a protocol for first-time visitors perhaps? That was quite an experience.
I guess
grey clouds weren’t gloomy mood setters after all.
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