In my previous blog, I have mentioned how the province-like aura of Daraitan reminds me of my own province, Guimaras. Guimaras and Iloilo have been my escape since I was a child. I always look forward to summers spent in our probinsya. Those were the hometowns of my mom and dad and it also feels like home for me.
So, here are eight of the many reasons why I like visiting our provinces.
1. A break from the city life
Province life is so simple yet serene. It is very very far from the city life that I used to struggle every single day of my life. We don’t have that fancy vacation house in our province but ours is full of joy and memories. And btw, it is the same houses that my parents lived when they were young.
Here’s the one where we usually stay. It’s my mom’s house. It was just reconstructed once but almost everything is what it is used to be. The front part is the living room and the back part is the dining area (we have a very deep well inside the dining area).
The kitchen is outside the house. Very traditional. My grandmother’s banga are still alive! They store our drinking water there.
We have a good amount of space around the house. Different plants grow around. We have Indian mangoes, bamboos, gumamelas, bougainvillea, cotton, and many more. We also have different animals roaming around the house—chickens, dogs, geese, ducks, etc. The back of our house is mostly rice fields with carabaos soaking in mud, cows staring blankly, goats chewing grass, uncles plowing the field, and children playing in a hot summer day.
Some days we also go around the neighborhood who happens to be our relatives also. When the tide is low, we used to gather seaweeds, gulaman, or other sea creatures. We even had a punot, a fish farm, when I was a child. When the moon is high, we go there and catch fish sometimes using nothing but our bare hands. Those memories are priceless but my most favorite thing to do is watch the sunset by the port. The silhouette of Mt. Kanlaon becomes more beautiful as the sun sets and the lights of Negros turn on.
Going in and out my mom's hometown, we have to take a motorboat ride from Iloilo City. My mom always scold me because I love it when the waves are high and it seems riding a roller coaster. She said those are dangerous. Well, I guess that doesn't work for me.
That’s how I spent my childhood in the province and if I could just press any playback button of life, I will gladly return to those times.
2. Good Food
I have no regrets of gaining extra kilos everytime I return from province. Who can blame me? My lolo is such a good cook and he always wants us to taste the best of the sea and of his flock. I am not fond of eating seafood but when he cooks it, I can’t say no. Have you heard of adobong pagi (stingray)? Or adobong salagubang (beetle)? Sounds weird but delicious!
Have I mentioned that the sweetest mangoes of the Philippines came from Guimaras?
3. Trace my ancestry and time for relatives
“Hey, you’re the daughter of Joan, right?” “You’re already a grown up!” “Is this the child of Bauting?”
I always hear those words when I’m in province. There are many people who know me and I don’t recognize most of them at all. Where have these people been all my life?
Every time I go back to province, I make sure to know or be familiar with some of my relatives, even just those who are of second degree. A bond with cousins and relatives is really different from the bond with anyone else. The comfort is just so real.
I once went to Maasin, Iloilo, home of my father. I went to a mini historic place there and I found this list of previous leaders of Maasin. I found my surname there, dated 1909!
4. Know my parents more through their roots
How naughty my parents were when they were kids? What are their hobbies or the “crazy stuff” that they do? What shaped them as a person and what are the things they grew up with?
These are the questions you will only answer if you see them for yourself.
In Maasin, there is a place they call Gines Hill. My father still knows how many steps you take to get to the top. It's 106!
The statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus awaits you on top with a good view of Maasin.
There’s this place called Balaan Bukid. My mom used to go there when she was still a child. I am really amazed with the religious practices of people in the province.
Meanwhile, this is called the suba or river. When my father was a kid, he used to take a bath here and sometimes he and his siblings will go here naked. It was summer when we went there so water is not that high.
This is the basin or the Metro Iloilo Water Shed. This is where my grandfather worked.
See the contrast of the purified water and not.
I feel some kind of belonging everytime I know more about my province. A familiarity in a strange place.
5. Learn history not written in my textbooks
Each place has its history and it’s more exciting if it’s the history of your own place.
Before going to our father’s hometown, we pay visit to the San Nicolas de Tolentino Church, the “Model of Temples”. It was built in 1834 headed by Fr. Ramon Alquizar, an Augustinian priest.
Another historic place in my father’s hometown is this salty spring. They say Maasin (salty) is called as such because of this spring. When invaders came to Maasin, they drank from the springs of this place and surprisingly, among all the springs, there is one which is salty.
History never fails to entertain me. They will always be part of me.
6. Discover for myself
Of course, stories are not enough for me. I have to try it on my own.
From tasting the water from the Maasin spring
To climbing Balaan Bukid which I consider my very first climb (I wasn’t a mountaineer then).
I was enchanted by the beauty of nature and the view atop Balaan Bukid. From there you can see the whole Iloilo City. Beautiful.
We also made a side strip to Holy Family Hills where there are life-sized statues of Saints and religious personalities. Very simple yet beautiful. The silence there is so perfect.
7. There will be someone to take my pictures
They just love to take pictures. “Punta ka dyan, pose ka. (Go there and pose.)” I know the feeling of not-having-a-decent-picture-of-yourself-because-you-are-the-one-holding-the-camera so who am I to say no?
Fine. I am not your VS angel.
8. Create beautiful memories
I really love the simplicity of life. The basic. I appreciate every little thing that the nature has to offer.
I love those fallen calachuchis,
The carvings on a bark of a tree,
The mud,
The trees along the road,
Even the dry ends of a flower in a summer season.
Everthing.
Nature and history is timeless. Whether it’s your parent’s time, yours, or your children’s generation, it will still be beautiful. You just have to claim your own time and make your own meaning out of it.
