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| remnant of a horrible past... |
Cagsawa Ruins Park in barangay Busay, Daraga town is the first
place to visit if you’re driving down from CamSur. This is where you will find
the belfry of the
Cagsawa
Church that was submerged
by mudslides in the 1814 eruption of Mayon Volcano. There were shops for
tourists around here now, so you can buy souvenirs too.
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| Mayon's 'perfect cone' in clouds |
This trip to Albay was totally spur-of-the-moment. My
cousin’s kids--newlyweds Jim and Pau--showed
up at my sister’s house where I was spending my long holiday weekend, and “dragged”
me with them. They know I went to college in Legazpi a decade ago, so they
thought I could be their tourist guide.
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| beauty and madness... |
Ha! I didn’t have the heart to tell them I barely remember
the place now, a lot of things have changed in the city since I graduated, and
combined with my hopelessly pathetic sense of direction, well it wouldn’t be
pretty if they ask me to show them where to go now. Good thing they showed up
in a car with a driver who knew the place, so off we went. I regaled them with
what I recalled from my four years of school in Albay. I got a kick out of
their excitement at seeing Mount Mayon for the
first time.
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| with excited first-timers |
Having spent years going back and forth from my Albay school
to my home in CamSur, I have to admit I have taken for granted Mayon’s awesome
perfection. I mean, it’s beautiful sure, but it’s just there. It was just part of the landscape, no big deal. So it was
fun to rediscover this place and see it with new eyes, with people who are appreciating
it for the first time.
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| trick shot taken by a kid photographer there |
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| can't you tell we loved it? |
I feel really blessed to have been born in Bicol, amidst so
much natural wonders and beauty. I have lived in Manila since med school, and have traveled to
different places this year here and abroad, but I chose to post about “home”
first. I’m just so darned proud of my province Camarines Sur, Albay and the
Bicol region as a whole… I hope you can visit, you won’t regret it.
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