A Very Fishy Story (Sa Daungan ng Dipolog City)

The barge comes in and the wharf suddenly comes  alive. 

Men waiting and watching a few minutes ago, suddenly turned animated with energy --  containers piled on the side are taken one by one and filled with fish from the boat. Inside and outside the boat,  the fish fly quickly into  the banyera and men-by-twos quickly pick it up and run with it to the waiting motor vehicle. 

What we didn't notice right away was there was another outside action happening -- two of the men who were helping out by carrying the fish containers were handed fish to keep while  filching some  on their own and placing them on the side. It was their "payment" for helping out. 

As they scraped the last fish from the boat, the motor vehicle had left the wharf and the barge turned to go, the two men took their hoard   and laughingly walked off. 

"Tinola pang almusal!" 

(Photos taken in Dipolog)

The Kinilaw Husband and Wife Team

What could be fresher than kinilaw made by the side of the sea?

A pregnant missis slices luya, sili, kalamansi, sibuyas, kamatis inside the pedicab while her hubby cleans the fish (in this case, i think it's dilis) by the side of the wharf. In the meantime, a kaldero of rice is waiting for the ulam  at the bottom of the pedicab. 

Ang sarap!

(Taken June 24, beside the Dipolog Boulevard)

The Rizal Challenge

Our national hero plus a chance to explore our country? Like!

To celebrate his 150th year, the Department of Tourism, the Heritage Conservation Society, the Intramuros Administration, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the National Parks Development Committee came up with the Rizal @ 150 Heritage Trail Project.  

Basically, you are asked to be a "Rizal pilgrim" and follow his trail, by getting a  passport and having it stamped in the chosen places that proved significant to our national hero (27 stamps). Prizes are available, once you've completed and it's been verified, within a year. 

We've decided to take the challenge. Now, whether we'll be able to finish this in a year, I don't know but I intend to have my passport with all the stamps displayed on the wall some day.

It was a stroke of luck that in one of my  stalk-Cebu-Pacific-website-for-promo-tickets moment last August, I managed to book my husband and I,  less than P700 round trip tickets for two to Dipolog. Scheduled for June 22 till 25 it was the perfect way to start our Rizal Heritage trail challenge.


Unable to get Rizal passports at the Fort Santiago during the 150th year festivities (they ran out by the time we got there), I called up the Office of Product Research & Development of the Department of Tourism (523-1930, 526-7545 and 524-2254) and was informed that I could get passports from the Dipolog Tourism Board. And we did! We got there just as they were having their lunch break but they were nice enough to entertain us. We got our first stamp downstairs for the Dipolog Cathedral. (Tricycle fare is P7, fyi)

Stamp # 1: Dipolog Cathedral: Rizal is said to have designed the church altas of the Dipolog Cathedral. Athough the faced has been extremely renovated, the interior remains relatively intact. (Captions from Rizal Passport)

For Stamp # 2 - we asked the tricyle driver to take us to the terminal so we could get a ride to Katipunan. (Jeepneys and buses ply the routes outside of the city.) Our super islaw trike driver drove sloooowly but surely and once he found out where we were headed, stopped the jeepney going to Kalayaan (kasi daw if we went inside the terminal it would take us another 30 minutes of waiting) and forced (ay, encouraged pala) the passengers to play rigodon so we could squeeze in. Jeepney fare to Katipunan is around P26 ata. (Sorry, I pocketed the change without counting it). Once we got to the Katipunan plaza, we had our passport stamped at the Tourism site and then proceeded to the farm that was the site of Rizal's presence there.  (Distance of Katipunan from Dipolog, 20 minutes. To get from Kalayaan town proper to farm, you need to ride a single, around 5 minutes away)

Rizal Farm - Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte
The farm was acquired by Rizal from Calixto Carreon, a blind patient who offered it for free out of gratitude for his successful treatment. Rizal refused and paid him P200 for the land. He cultivated it every weekend with his pupils.  

Stamp # 3 - Left Dipolog early morning to catch a Everlast bus at the terminal bound for Dapitan (fare P25., travel time, 30 minutes, change in bus conductors, around 4) and headed straight to the Rizal Shrine.

Rizal Shrine and Waterworks of Rizal - Barangay Talisay, Dapitan City
Rizal's estate in Dapitan houses replicas of structures he built there for himself, his family, pupils and patients. Rizal purchased the property with his winnings from the Manila lottery. 

Stamp # 4 - From the Rizal shrine we had lunch beside the Gloria de Dapitan, facing the beachfront and then proceeded to the Santa Cruz Beach which has a monument depicting Rizal's arrival in Dapitan. 

Punto del Disembarko de Rizal en Dapitan, Sunset Boulevard, Dapitan City.
Rizal landed on Santa Cruz beach at 7pm, July 17, 1892, with Captain Delgras and three arillery men. They walked through Santa Cruz Street with a farol de combate to the Casa Real where he was presented to Don Ricardo Carnicero, the Spanish military governor of the area.

Stamps #5, 6, 7 and 8 - A tricycle ride from the beach brought us to the Dapitan plaza which the nice local tourist guide (free) told us that Rizal planted the acasia trees there and designed the plaza patterned after the ones he'd seen in Europe. Rizal was one busy, busy man while in Dapitan. Aside from the designing the plaza and making a relief map of Mindanao, he also farmed, taught, built a water dam, healed, wrote and goodness knows what more.  Walking distance from the church and the plaza is the Sangguniang Panglungsod Building where we got our four other stamps. 

Site of the Casa Real
The official residence and administration building of the politico-military governor of the district. Rizal lived there from July 17, 1892 to March 1893 when he was transferred to Talisay, now the Rizal Dapitan Shrine. The original building was demiolished in the 1920s.
  

                      

Dapitan Church
Built in 1883, St James Church of Dapitan has a historical marker which can be found in the exact sport where  Rizal stood every Sunday during his exile from 1892 to 1896.

 Relief Map of Mindanao -
A National Cultural Treasure, Rizal creaed this map as an aid in teaching history and geography to the locals.

Dapitan Plaza
Planned and beautified by Rizal durng his exile.

Four more stamps!

Region 9  - done! Six more regions to go :)

For more details, you can visit: www.tourism.gov.ph or www.nhcp.gov.ph. 

It's All About the Bike (The Single and the Motor)

Manong Dipolog

THEY called out at us, like they were in a cockfight, urging us to hire them. 


"Where are you going? Need a ride?" drivers of all shapes and sizes surrounded us the minute we stepped out of the airport.


Unfortunately, Ned and I were not in the mood to give in to them. 
"Ten minutes away lang ba yung hotel?" asked Ned. 
"That's what it said on their website," I replied.
So we gave justice to our backpacks and started walking.
We said no or waved them away with a smile or a shake of the head as the drivers continued to pester us and we walked....past mangroves, past singles, past tricycles, vans and two steel bridges.


"Malayo pa kaya?" I asked, drops of sweat dripping down my face, neck and back. 
"Baka sa paglagpas lang ng tulay," answered Ned. So we continued on, until we passed  a second bridge,at which point, Ned turned to me and said," Siguro sabi nila ang kukuripot nating dalawa. Siguro tayong dalawa pa lang ang tumawid dito ng naglalakad." Well, it did seem true as we didn't meet anyone else walking along the highway.


 As we reached the end of the bridge, we passed by a boy, on his way to school. Ned then asked him how far our hotel was. He looked at us, looked a the road, squinted and suggested in Visaya, "sumakay na kayo. Otso pesos lang."  Who were we to disobey?
 I'm glad we took his advice as the walk would have taken way more than 10 minutes more! And, oh, the boy was wrong. The pamasahe was only P7 each. 


The tricycles in Dipolog are different. They're a bit sloped up like a spoon and harder to get out off, but they are are roomy and can take in four in the main cab and an additional two at the back. 


As for the dreaded single or habal-habal, I'd seen them before in Bohol and Batangas but was too biased against them, because 1. i'm afraid of motorbikes. 2. I have no balance and envision scenarios of me falling off 3. I don't want to be a motorbike death statistic. and 4. my husband looked at my big  feet and said nicely, "baka kasi tumama yung paa mo sa gulong kasi hindi ka sanay." 


Headed for Katipunan in Dipolog, we couldn't convince tricycle drivers to take us to Rizal's farm. Only single bikes could manage the rough terrain, we were told. Left with no choice, I had to conquer my fear. Thankfully, I did.


It was exhilarating!  I clung to the manong's shoulder tightly like a leech but he was kind and patient with a novice like me. I enjoyed the fresh provincial breeze and forgot my fear as we were as balanced as could be.

Manong Katipunan 

But the best thing about riding the single and the motor (tricycle) in Dipolog and Katipunan was we discovered two great dads. Through their kuwentos, we learned how hard they worked to send their kids to school. Manong Dipolog had five kids with one already a graduate while Manong Katipunan had four children, three of them grads -- two girls with education degrees and now working in Manila and a boy who has a science degree and is now married. As Manong Katipunan   said, "(at least) may pang buhay na sya sa pamilya." The youngest, on the other hand, he added,  is in first year college.


"Sa pag motor lang yon," he added proudly. "Yung ibang ama, pinababayaan ang mga anak, ako naghirap talaga ako." 


Manong Dipolog, on the other hand, was not content on driving his trike. "I get off at five," he said, "garahe na." 
"Ang aga naman po!" we exclaimed.
"Nagpapakain pa kasi ako ng baboy," he explained. He has two in his care currently and does it to be able to put his four other kids to school.


I'm so glad we gave the tricycles a second change and I'm so proud I conquered my fear of the habal-habal, through it I got to know two fascinating people and experienced the life of the man on the bike.