The long wait will soon be over. At long last, Dashboard Confessional will take the Manila stage this coming May 27, 2010 and I so love it! Hopefully by that time, I'm in Manila already. I've been waiting for them for almost 4 years now and finally, they will be here! I really hope I will experience a DC concert. This will be my greatest birthday gift ever!
I am a certified fun of them, I have a playlist on my W580i phone with my favorite music from DC. Imagine, I memorized all the lyrics of my favorite songs, from Vindicated, Hands Down, Screaming Infidelities, Stolen, Currents, The Ghost of a Good Thing, The Best Deception, The Brilliant Dance, Dusk and Summer and even Bitter Pill (screaming while singing this song), name it and I have it!
Since it's already summer, i thought of posting this one, my perfect summer destination. Have you heard about Canigao Island? Well, it's the mini Boracay for us Leyteños.
Located at Matalum Leyte, this popular island welcomes you with it's most crystal clear water and white sand, no doubt it's very popular today. Canigao also has a fish sanctuary. Snorkeling is one of the activities here you'll enjoy the most. You can tour the island with just half an hour under the heat of the sun so don't forget to bring your sarongs and hats.
When it comes to transportation, there are several ports or jump off points to the island. You will find one at Bato Leyte port and there are 3 jump off points also along Matalum Leyte itself., so you have several options. Canigao Island is very popular, ask anyone at the community and they will tell you where to go. Minimum fare for the pump boats is at 450pHp as of January 2010. If you are from Cebu, I would like to recommend that you will take Fiji or Southern Pacific at Pier 3 since these will dock in Bato Leyte port.
Enjoy the photos below, these are my favorite Canigao experience!
What can you possibly do to pay tribute for our struggling mother nature? Even in our simplest way we can give in return for the richness and abundance that nature gives to mankind. A very active, responsible individual made this possible; they called themselves as ELITE (Extreme Liberty Intellectual Transparency Endurance) Mountaineering Society, Inc.
Extroverts, diverse and very distinctive personalities with a common interest were the birth of ELITE. This is composed of different mountaineering clubs namely: Peak Settlers, Kalit-Kalit, Way Tiil, Angels, Ambac, Tres Eco Team, Sierra Sugbo and Alimatoc. ELITE was launched last Dec. 17, 2005 in Moalboal Cebu.
Sunday morning, November 22 of 2009 wherein the weather wasn’t good that much but rain showers doesn’t discourage ELITE’s interest. They made such an enormous contribution to mother nature on that very day “Mangrove Planting” heated up in Binlod, Argao, Cebu. This was in cooperation with the Binlod Barangay officials and from CCEF (Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation) with special participation of Sun Star Cebu and Umod Mountaineering & Outdoor Club, Inc. CCEF works for the conservation and wise management of coastal and marine environments to sustain biodiversity and improve the quality of life for the local communities which depend on those resources. The DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) provides us the mangrove seedlings.
Mangroves generally are trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics. They grow in loose, wet soils, salt water, and are periodically submerged by tidal flows. They aren’t only playing multiple ecological functions essential to its surrounding habitats, but also play as an important resource for coastal communities. These also provide one of the basic food chain resources for marine organisms like for example their falling leaves where bacteria and fungus decompose these leaves – these leaves form the base of the food chain. The mixture of decaying plant material, soil, water, fungus and bacteria makes up detritus which provides food for marine organisms.
Mangroves provide physical habitat and nursery grounds for a wide variety of marine organisms and serves as a storm buffer by reducing wind and wave action in shallow shoreline areas. They trap and cycle various organic materials, chemical elements, and important nutrients in the coastal eco-system.
Their distribution throughout the world is affected by climate, salinity of the water, fluctuation of the tides, type of soil in the area and more recently, by development of tidal wetlands for residential as well as industrial uses, such as shrimp farms. Mangroves are one of the mainstream reinforcement in conserving our eco-system.
Everyone was fully participated in this activity. Though it was tiring but at the same time it was fun, as if never felt the heat under the sun as long as they made it for a cause and its worth it. About 1,100 mangrove seedlings poured out in the muddy shore. Planting is not really a joke believe it, it’s really true. Those seedlings will play an important role in the coming days to sustain the balance of our ecosystem.
My last year's Christmas holiday vacation was a memorable one. Seems like it was all at the right place and at the right time. My boss gave me a two weeks vacation so that was from December 23 2009 to January 3, 2010. Can you imagine that? For me, that was a very long weekend.
Two of my friends from Cebu called me day after Christmas and told me they're coming to my hometown .These friends are not ordinary friends, I consider them as my second family because they're all I've got in Cebu, I don't have relatives in Cebu and I work there. I was happy hearing the news, at least I can show them the beauty of our place. They did arrived the following day and we planned our itinerary for their three-day stay in my hometown. We went to Agas-Agas bridge, Southern Leyte's highest bridge and newest tourist attraction, one afternoon on their first day in Bontoc. Funny thing was,we used a tricycle as our service, we spent 30 minutes to get there(usually, it only took 15 to 20 minutes of private vehicle from Bontoc to Agas-Agas Bridge). But we did enjoy our ride and the breath taking view of the bridge coz we were able to witness the sunset view. We were with my sisters and niece and my uncle too with his son and wife.
Their second day was the most memorable one. We were planning the night before to woke up early so we can catch up with the first trip bus bound to Tacloban, our next destination, San Juanico Bridge and Mac Arthur Park. What happened was, nobody wants to got up when the alarm clock rungs. It feels like the bed drag us and the weather was not cooperating too. It rained the whole morning and nobody talked about the trip. Lunchtime came and the rain begun to stop. We hurriedly took a bath and ate our lunch. We went to Sogod terminal and luckily, a V-hire was available and off we go. We spent two and a half hour on our way to Tacloban and spent 30 minutes at San Juanico Bridge then went back to Tacloban Terminal to catch the last trip V-hire bound to Sogod. We asked the driver what was the last trip and found out that we still have a 2 hour vacant so we rushed to the nearest mall for a quick bite at KFC. Our feet still wants to go to Mac Arthur Park so we asked the guard at Robinson's mall how far was the park. He said that it was just 10 minutes away so we rushed again to the waiting jeepneys outside the mall and went to the park. We spent another 20 minutes their and we were satisfied with all the rushed move we made. It was really fulfilling because we never thought we could go that far with just a little time. Can you imagine, we spent 5 hours to commute and only 1 hour to explore San Juanico and Mac Arthur Park? We knew it was stupid but we were happy. I guess that's life, we have to grab whatever is there. Live like we're dying!
Oops, it's not the end. They still have their last day in our place. And believe it or not, it's all the same pattern with the previous day, the rain and the rushing to the bus station. And take note, we even managed to explore Canigao Island. We arrived at Bato Leyte almost 3 o'clock in the afternoon and the ship's schedule bound to Cebu was at 8 o'clock pm. Another rush hour to Matalom Leyte, jump-off to Canigao Island. We spent for almost an hour their and they really enjoyed the beach and the white sand, and of course my niece too. She was accompanying us the whole time and she's a beach lover too at a very young age. They enjoyed the island so much that we almost forgot that I have to catch up the 6 o'clock trip bound to Sogod with my niece. The whole vacation was all in a rush from the very first day. But i didn't regret any of it because it was all worth it! Unplanned trip are always great!
