Batangas is where my heart is...

Batangas:


I don't have a photograph to share with you on how our province look like. But, I'll try to describe it in words. It's a two hour bus ride from manila-tanauan, since tanauan is just located infront of batangas. then a 20 minute tricycle ride from bayan to sala (barangay where we live in). the mere sight of "welcome to barangay sala" really puts a smile on my face. 'cause I knw that we are getting closer to our Lola's house. it's your typical province full of greeneries, tall trees, flowers (mostly gumamelas and orchids), and animals like goats, dog, cats, chicken cows run loose But for me it is a different place more like a 'Paradise' for kids and a 'haven' for someone like me.

Our province 'Batangas' is one of the place I find really relaxing... the sight of people chatting inside the bahay-kubo (nipa hut), the afternoon story-telling with the titos and titas, and snacks around 3 p.m., children playing in the streets with or without slippers on, children playing under the rain, antique houses, the pigs, chicken running freely in the farm, cows mooing, cows with karitela carrying grass, vendors shouting 'tinapay', taho, fishball, kakanin, ice cream, mangga & my favorite 'binatog', the small tindahan near our houses selling cheapest treats like ice buko (P5), cheesedog(P1) and other junk foodies(P1), the farm where my late lolo used to plow, sugar cane fields & corn fields where we use to run and play hide and seek with our cousins, thousands of coconut tree, the swaying bamboo tree are few of the reasons why I love my province. Ofcourse, I could never forget the people (our kamag-anak)... The warm-welcome they never failed to give us every time we visit them and the 'pabaon' they give us every time we go back here in manila.


Childhood Memories:

During my younger years, our 3-month summer vacation was either spent in our home (because summerian si koko) or in our province in Batangas. Summer vacation in our house is NO fun at all since we are not allowed to play outside the house... we usually spend our time watching t.v and siesta in the afternoon. But, our vacation in batangas is what I always look forward to.

I consider Batangas as my playground where I can run freely, bathe in the rain, explore the forest, and show the little adventurous side of me. In batangas, I have dozens of playmates from my cousins to their friends and neighborhood kids (still our kamag-anak hehehe). It's one of the best days in my life whole day of playing.

We play bahay-kubo built with bamboo woods and scrap woods as our wall, palm leaves as a roof and stones as our furniture much better in the usual plastic houses made from tykes. To complete our bahay-bahayan theme game we would harvest rootcrops such as ube, kamote and gabi then boil it using earthenware pots that we have or harvest corns and roast it under the fire. We use banana leaves as our plate and coconut as our glass... we would eat with our bare hands. and if we want to buy things we use the silver foil found in cigarette pack as our money the gold ones are higher than the silver ones and use aluminun bottle caps as our coins.


We would explore the forest together with our cousins, climb trees and pick fruits like lanzones, duhat, alatiris bayabas, sininguelas, mangga & a lot more. We would it eat in one day making me a little constipated. The exciting part is where we would hide behind every tree to look id there are people who owns the tree looking at us because sometimes the fruit are still too young blah blah blah (bsta we can't pick ung fruit na maliit pa baka daw it will make the bunga sour or konti lng tutubo). Anyways, we always get caught so we end up running... and them making sumbong to our parents hehehe.


And if we get tired of playing bahay-kubo(as if we ever did)... We would play patintero in the streets using stones or coal to mark borders in the street. Piko (I'm really bad at this game), tumbang preso (which I don't understand how it works)... all I know is I throw my slippers and that's it! and if they tell me to run I'll run like forrest gump (hihihi), Chinese garter (My favorite game), ten-twenty, mataya-taya or langit lupa (it's fun to play langit lupa in our province because dami langit compared to our school panay lupa).. make bubbles using gumamela flowers as the bubbling agent and papaya stems as our sticks, putting make-up using gumamela pollens, curling our hair using 'kakwate', play with salagubangs (i forgot the name of the other bug) hula-hoops and jumping rope.


Nothing can stop us... Rain or shine... We run under the rain making our mom scream "UWIIIIIIII NA!!!"


We really enjoy those times. So carefree... I've experience falling while playing seesaw over a tree (it's like a built in seesaw in a tree trunk!) but I never cry I just laugh at it.


Fiesta:

For me, fiesta in batangas is a series of introduction to you relatives in different provinces, a non-stop of making "mano" to every elders in the house, a non-stop cooking of big batches of food over a big stove outside the dirty kitchen, A never-ending of eating and question and answer.

NON-STOP EATING: I've only experienced one Grand fiesta in my life... and I never one it to happen again. WHY?! well, because it was a BIG torture in my tummy. I've been to a fiesta a lot of times but this one fiesta really sticks in my mind because it was the time when we would go to our titas, lolas, and cousins house to visit (a bad timing to visit your relatives). then, ends up eating their handa. A selection of meat dishes like kare-kare, POCHERO (my favorite), menudo, mechado, afritado, adobo, kilawin, and a lot more. Their usual desserts are macapuno, leche flan, ube and gelatin.

every time we would jump into another house they would invite us to eat and even if we refuse (my gosh sakit na ng tyan ko) they would really insist till you give up and eat.

Non-stop "Mano": My gosh! my mom would always say it's bad to complain over it but if you try to be introduced to all the elders in the house you'll get tired, your back would ache and you'll get confused and think who is lola this and that... whose the lolo of WHO? hay... memory gap ako....

Non-stop cooking: You'll be suprised that one of the best cooks in batangas are really the guys. They are the one who will cook big batches of meat dishes. Literally, this big:

They would stir it with all their might while girls are incharge of the desserts, serving food and entertaining the visitors. Fiesta is one of the tradition that we can not out grow. It will always stay... although I'm not aware to why we celebrate one but I think it's more like giving thanks for all the harvested goods or blessings that we have for the past few years and hoping for another one.

Haven:

I consider batangas as one of my cheapest means of relaxation. It's my time to be alone and enjoy silence in anyway possible and listen to the whispers of the trees swaying and leaves falling, the chirping of the birds, the laughter of the kids (the younger gen. in our family), a time to watch the sunset... and the millions of stars glittering in the sky, its one of the things you can never find here in manila.

It's a place where you can lie in the roof and stare in the big blue sky, a place where you can go anywhere and won't even feel lost. It's a place where everyone is treated as a family. A place even our dogs love... (they chase chickens and ducks!). A place where funny or weird stories you'll ever hear.

It's my home and I missed it!

Facade: ( O di ba... Sosyal We have Pine trees... hihihi)