It was an impromptu trip, me and floro we're discussing where are we spending his first day of vacation from the seminary. Many province was considered in our choices, even HK and Singapore was considered but eventually we decided to have our vacation in my home province.
And my mother was like, "Anong gagawin ninyo dun??" (what will you do there??)
And I was like, "Uhmmm I'll check the koprahan and will drink buko juice".
Lame excuse I know but I still insist on going to Leyte.
To make the long story short, I bought the tickets, Mom asked our relatives to assist me in our Leyte tour, and bought fins and lifevest for Kalamangan Island trip (which will be posted soon).
We got the earliest morning flight and my cousin and her husband are already in the airport, and after an hour of travel from Tacloban to Jaro (our hometown) i said to myself "Wow, this is the REAL province vacation experience!"
Floro was much excited as I am.
After arriving at my cousin's house and ate breakfast, we we're off to our barrio Ilawod where the koprahan is.
It was a long walk from the main road and the path is muddy, grassy and full of ferns.
Yes ferns, parang Cristy Ferns-nin.
(insert corny joke here).
"Road to Ilawod"
The barrio is situated in the depth of the forest in Jaro, where Coconut trees are abundant and the soil is fertile. Swerte namin!
Floro resting before the photo-op
Hello Coconuts!
Father told me that there are 100+ coconut trees in the koprahan, but not all of them bear fruit altogether, and with summer season + insect infestation there are low turn out for the coconuts last first quarter =(.
Di bale bawi nalang kami sa susunod na harvest =P.
At shempre, hindi mawawala ang kulitan portion sa picture..Here's our version of coconut pose :P
Sige na ikaw na ang best in pose bro!
After all the walking and posing of course we we're thirsty and hungry and what else should we eat......shempre coconut!
I did mentioned earlier that the place is muddy because it just rained the day before our arrival, which resulted to countless times I slipped while walking (and floro as well). This is the exact place where we both slipped while walking! Waaaa!
After our ocular inspection at the koprahan, we we're off to Palo to meet the General.
Tacloban-Carigara mini bus (Php 45)
From Jaro it's a 1 hour drive to Palo either by Bus, mini-bus, van or jeep. All of these transportation are available in our town but in limited time only. You'll know you're in Palo when you noticed many government buildings in one area. Almost all of these agencies are located here in Palo =)
From the main highway you have to take a ride via tricycle or pedicab (20 Php each) to get on the park, or puede rin maglakad. But we opted to ride with the pedicab, ang saya kaya sumakay!
Happy riders! LoL!
ayaw nang bumaba ng pasahero
Cousin and pamangkin
After 10 minutes of gruelling pedicab ride (hirap yung driver kasi ang lalaki ng katawan ng pasahero nia) we finally arrived at the park!
Yehey! Hello General!
I remember my grandmother before and she loves sharing her story during the war. She told me that during the late stage of WW2 they live practically everyday in the rice fields just to avoid the japs and they are also afraid with the "makapili". She had this hymn about them that goes like this "makapili turo, makapili tago!". She always sayit even until her death actually, maybe because she was traumatized deeply by the war.
The park has a well manicured lawn and clean bleachers. Perfect place to have sa 'date" with your special someone kasi maganda yung back portion of the park.
There's a small portion in the park which is dedicated for the 50th anniversary of the general's landing.
Floro checking out the monument.
Walking past by the church, you'll see another park along the bay but this time it has an amphitheater. Coolness!
Park along the bay. Sila na!
City hall is right across the amphitheater. at nasa tuktok sha ng maliit na hill.
And the park didn't end there, another park can be found at the back of the city hall, it's a japanese themed park to commemorate the friendship between Japan and Philippines.
Commemoration to mark the two countries friendship
Awwwwww!
Our Lady of Madonna
And to end the trip we finally arrived at the Provincial Capitol building, which used to be the capitol building of the Commonwealth when the General arrived together with President Osmena. Very very nice!
Lady Justice after dark
See, im not joking! LoL!
Serene park
After the mini city tour me and Floro was very very tired! I have a feeling na we've burned 1000+ calories in walking around the capitol and park! Good job for us!
On my next post, I'll tell you what the hell im wearing a life vest on a store.
Next post: Adventure sa Kalangaman Islad (the hidden jewel of Leyte). Abangan!
