Balaan Bukid Shrine

Let me start with this picture, which was/is the last photo in my previous story... the shrine.

I heard these youngsters talking so I asked them.., mga igkasi taga-didto ha aton dapit ngayan! Waray folks who live (and work) in Metro Manila. I did not tell them, but I knew they would have been of help if I fainted or expired on that spot due to thirst or exhaustion. Good none of that happened. Simba ko!

Anyway, they soon left, and I was all alone. Who was to annotate what I was seeing eh my driver cum tour guide was more than a kilometer away, just waiting for me at the base of this mountain? Wala! So I roamed around looking at whatever was there in front of my eyes. Wala rin namang pwede nakawin!

Hahaha, mangungulimbat ka ba sa isang religious place? Hehehe eto... kung me laman hahaha!

Seriously, I took a picture of that box because of what's written on it. It says: "Limos sa pag-pakayo sa simbahan sa parokya sang Jordan". In Tagalog that means "Abuloy para sa pag papa-gawa (or it can be "pag papa-ayos") sa simbahan ng parokya ng Jordan. In English: "Donation for the improvement of the church at/of the parish of Jordan". I interpreted that as "donation" in the context that it's used here, although I think "limos" is closer in meaning to "alm/s" for the poor and needy (people) than donation!

So what?! Well, why am I being asked here to "limos" for a church in Jordan and not for this chapel?

Here is the altar of this chapel anyway. Simple, no-frills, nice and bright. Even cute, right?

See the crucified Christ at right? Below that is the donation box. Pagnanasaan mong nakawan? haha!

Okay, once done looking inside this little chapel, I closed the door and took this picture...

Why did I close it? That was the instruction of the tricycle driver cum tour guide of the group that just left. He even handed me that door's padlock with instructions to just hook it in place but "don't lock it".

And then I stood in this place looking at it, wondering why it was built here, when and by whom. Well, I smiled thinking that even if my driver came with me, he wouldn't probably know the answers to those questions. The very short time we've been together in his multicab, I already sensed he is too "manol".

Oops, wait, I have been away too long my Ilonggo is already 'evading' me. Manol is probably not the word since it only means "ignorant". I think the more appropriate word is "dungol"? Basta I mean gago stupid tarantado ganun. Yung "manol" na nga but still has the nerve na mang-loko, that's what I mean.

Anyway, there's some writing on that pillar-like portion to the left, so I went near and saw this...

Whoah! So this chapel is about 62 years old, donated by people of notable surnames! Hmm, sino sila?

Anyway again, I walked to that grotto at right which is also the vantage point to viewing Iloilo City.

So there it is, what now? In my mind I was again seething in anger why that faggot did not provide me a real tour guide me pambayad naman ako. If he said 'there are no tour guides in Guimaras' (which is highly impossible) I would probably have been fine. But to tell me that my driver would also be my tour guide, who turned out to be profoundly useless, who sent me hiking up a kilometer of wilderness, not telling me there's no available drinking water on a hot morning sun was not irresponsible but a sham.

Add salt to a gaping wound, the group that just left was given proper annotation by just their tricycle driver. So bakit hindi ako binigyan ng tricycle driver eh I asked for it. Hindi daw kaya, eh those 3 trikes were at stations of the cross 8, while I was let off before the first station. That faggot obviously just wanted to get a huge chunk of my pocket, no, my wallet, without giving due and appropriate service.

The breeze was cool at this vantage point so I rested a while, looking blankly at Iloilo City, thinking of all the things that I deserved but was deprived of. I would have launched a war, but the tour was just starting! Erratic mobile signal but I started txtng some folks I know in Iloilo and Metro Manila - in case I already blew my top and really wring my driver-cum-tour-guide's neck - they'd know where to find me!

Well, yes, the breeze and the views helped to calm me down - while sitting up there.

But I needed to go back to that red multicab called my tour vehicle, right?

So I had to walk more than a kilometer again. At least it was now a downhill walk. A bit easier.

But alone, in this wilderness, negotiating skipping or jumping some muddy areas...

Everything that came to mind was how shoddy a tour I have gotten my self into. I was angry again...

Near the 4th station of the cross, I saw my driver walking briskly uphill. He was lugging my backpack, and was with another man. I said "o, bakit mo bitbit yan" (referring to my backpack) and he said "basi kawaton", while the other man was saying "sir, okay lang kayo"? I said "okay lang" as I got the bottled water from the side pocket of my backpack and immediately guzzled up its contents. Silence...

I did not ask, but I knew why my driver was rushing up the hill with my backpack. He was probably told by any or all of the three tricycle drivers and their passengers, that I was alone up there, dying hehehe!

Which was true at one point in time anyway, right?

Let's continue this unbelievable tour - in my next entry.

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Meantime, here are some lessons from my notes:
- bring water (even snacks). there are no stores going and up at that hill
- don't be too early (and probably don't stay too late) up there, esp if alone
- as said in the previous story, habal-habal would probably be the best ride
- don't go up if it rains - muddy, no sheds nor houses along most of the way
- dusk would probably be a good photo-op with Iloilo City lights already on
- then again, do ascertain if this hill is safe during an evening's darkness. Duu!