CROSS

The cross at Fort Pilar.

Photo taken last month.

HELLO JUNE

Summer is officially over. Well, in Zamboanga at least. I noticed that for the past nights, the evenings have been a lot cooler. Even if the fan setting is on 1, I still need a light blanket. The boys however, still prefer to sleep without one. Another thing I noticed was the rains. It has been raining frequently so that is definitely a welcoming sight. I suppose there won't be any more water rationing here in the next months. Hopefully, the weather/climate won't be too warm in Manila as well. Only 4 more days to go...

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Last night I was watching Living Asia Channel. Would you believe they featured Zamboanga City? Oh, I was so glad. They of course showed centuries old Fort Pilar, the wonderful parks in Pasonanca, the very old City Hall in the heart of the city, the modern (and huge) cathedral, the breathtaking sceneries, colorful vintas, majestic mosques, delectable cuachas, the skillful Yakan weavers, and my goodness, so many more. It was actually exhilarating viewing Zamboanga through the eyes of another. It was wonderful to see that there are some people who appreciate Zamboanga for it's simplicity and laidback feel. When I was in college, I invited some friends to spend some summer days in Zamboanga but they parents wouldn't allow them. I guess they were kind of wary about news reports of unrest in the nearby provinces. I do understand the parents' fears. But I really did want to show Zamboanga to my friends. Oh well.

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At last, Ethan got a haircut other than mine. I have been expressing my frustration over Ethan's lousy haircut to my mom and dad and my dad finally asked his barber to come over to the house for a home service. Yup, that barber was my dad's barber since he was a little boy so you can only imagine how old he is now. I was quite excited about it because not only will Ethan look handsome for his birthday, he will finally get a barber cut! So, at 10am, the barber came to the house. Nikki was the first one. He was really well-behaved. He did fidget a bit because he was a bit ticklish but Nikki loves getting his hair cut. I, of course, took his photo while the barber was cutting away. After a while, it was Ethan's turn. He refused to sit on the chair so I had to sit on the chair and let him sit on my lap. The barber no longer used the electric razor because Ethan is scared of those. He just snipped away using his scissors and after a while, I was covered with Ethan's hair. Ethan, fortunately did not scream and kick this time (yup, it was quite horrible, the last time we were in a barber shop) but he did put up quite a fuss. I had to be stern with him sometimes just so the barber could do his job well. Although Ethan's haircut was not as cleancut as Nikki's I'm still sooo happy with the result. Heck, any haircut that isn't mine is a whole lot better! I'm sure Ethan will now look so great in his birthday pictures! YAY! =D

PASONANCA

The boys, mom, dad and I visited a place called Pasonanca this afternoon. It's composed of several parks that's a short drive away from home. We thought that it would be a nice place to go after our Fort Pilar trip last week. Of course, the boys had a wonderful time running around the place. =D

With Mommy and the boys.

At the butterfly farm (soon to open).

The sign says Welcome! (Bienvenidos!) Jardin (Garden) Maria Clara L. Lobregat. This woman was the former mayor of the city. She already passed away.

At the statue of Maria Clara Lobregat.

Hey Ethan, look here! =D

At the Boy Scouts camp. My dad said this place already existed when he was still a young boy. So this place is really several years old! Good thing they still keep the place clean and maintained.

In one of the huts.

Before heading home, one more shot at the entrance.

FORT PILAR

My mom, dad, the boys and I wanted to take photos and go around Zamboanga so we decided to go to Fort Pilar yesterday. That's a centuries old Fort a distance away from our home and is located beside the sea. From vistapinas.com:


If Manila has Intramuros, Zamboanga City has Fort Pilar. The fort is officially called the Real Fuerza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza, which roughly means the “Royal Force of Our Lady of the Pillar of Zaragoza.” The Virgin Mary reportedly miraculously appeared on a pillar in Zaragoza, Spain, on October 12, 1492, the first time she manifested herself on the Iberian peninsula. This led to the Christianization of the Hispanics from the Moors and October 12 then became the feast day of Our Lady of the Pillar. The “Charter of Zamboanga City” was signed into law as Commonwealth Act No. 39 on October 12, 1936 and subsequently, the Our Lady of the Pillar became the city’s patron saint. A statue of the Lady is found on the east wall of Fort Pilar.
The fort itself was built on June 23, 1635 by the Jesuit Melchor de Vera as a military defense structure against the Moros and pirates. It was originally named as Real Fuerza de San José, before taking the name of Our Lady of Pillar in 1719. Today, the fort stands as a religious shrine and open air masses are held here every Sunday.





Close up of the image and the altar. When we arrived, there was a mass going on so we quietly waited for it to finish before we went around to take photos.
As was mentioned above, this is the east side of the Fort.


Mommy took this photo. Looking at my hair I could say that the hair vitamin capsules work, wouldn't you think so? =D Anyway, Nikki is clutching a bunch of candles (which I bought for only P10). We will light those later on...

By the fountain. My mom had to get several shots because the first ones were blurry. A few years ago this fountain did not exist. I must say it's a refreshing addition to the place.

By the cross. This is where people pray first before lighting the candles. A prayer is engraved onto a tablet at the foot of the cross. This has always been here for as long as I could remember but the cross has been wonderfully redone.

After saying our prayers and lighting the candles. Sometimes, there would be soooo many candles it looks like this whole stretch would be on fire. Now there are only a few. Maybe because it was a weekday. Nikki looks so worried about getting too close to the candles.

More prayers before the image. There are a lot of people at the altar. Some of them say their prayers in front of the image of Jesus and sometimes wipe the image with their hankies for blessings and luck. You could see how Ethan is quite attached to my dad (literally and figuratively as well).



By the bells. And there's my mom. Nikki didn't want to go up the ledge. He was scared and was telling my mom to put him down so he wasn't smiling at all in this photo.





We had to go home after this because it was getting dark. I had fun going back to Fort Pilar. Too bad the museum was closed. It would have been nice to take more photos in there. Well, maybe next time. But we did have a lot of fun. Maybe next week we could go to Pasonanca and take photos there as well.

ZAMBOANGA SUNSET

Looks like a painting, doesn't it?

MORNING EXERCISE

COCONUT TREES

I took this photo last April 7, on our way to the pool party. There were just rows and rows of coconut trees, as far as the eye could see...

SWAMP

I love this photo I took. It looks really macabre, doesn't it? I just removed the "colors" and this is the result. Kinda looks like a painting too. I like that little touch. Also, the mountains and clouds in the background greatly adds to the effect of creepiness...

ZAMBOANGA

I took this photo on the way to the pool party. There are small huts and fields and mountains. Opposite this though (which is behind me, as I was taking this photo) is the sea. So, you could say Zamboanga is between mountain and sea. =D



























This is a map of Zamboanga and the nearby regions. Zamboanga City (where I am right now) is the pink one. The red dot marks the town or city proper. The yellow one is Zamboanga del Norte, the green one is Zamboanga Sibugay (a new addition to the map, which was previously a part of ...) and the purple one, Zamboanga del Sur. The separate island is called Basilan. A ferry from Zamboanga takes passengers to and from the island.

The Zamboanga peninsula looks a bit like... what do you think? Hihihi! =D

MISSING MY ZAMBOANGA HOME

my mom, dad and siblings ... and lechon

toasting the New Year... notice all the Christmas decors still around

missing them all...

June 21, 2005

BEAUTIFUL ZAMBOANGA


Zamboanga seems so far away
But that is where my heart will stay.
Colorful vintas, quiet streets
Bustling town and city beats.

Yummy fruits throughout the year
Family reunions, far and near.
Barrio fiestas and lechon feasts
Fresh seafood for all to eat.

Pasonanca and Fort Pilar
Beautiful sunsets from afar.
All these make Zamboanga great,
and wonderful, but wait!

Serene beaches, mountains galore
Zamboanga is this and so much more.
My lovely home it will always be
And I will love it for eternity.