Philippine Travel Notes

I could have walked to this place from the church and/or convent. I could see the area which I suspected was really this, the municipal hall. But my driver said he knows everything in Southern Leyte, so we had to follow his route that still circled the town via the national road hehe! But okay lang, I got to see the rest of the center of Hinundayan. Emerging from the 'palengke', still on the national highway going south, I saw this park. Hmm, nice-looking! That kilometer marker says this place is 9kms to Anahawan! There's a tennis court, wide grassy greens, trees.., and oh, Jose Rizal is standing in the middle! And I saw signage that this is their Rizal Park. That big building is their 'municipal gym'. To which, I did not know, we were headed! Okay, this is one side of the gymnasium... The sides of this building are after all public offices! First door (on the right) is the office of Liga Ng Mga Barangay. Next door is "Office of the Sangguniang Bayan" ...

The San Jose (St. Joseph) Parish Church of Hinundayan, Southern Leyte. I liked looking at this church even from the road, before we entered the compound. But I could not tell which or what about it makes me like it! It's not ancient old nor very new. Maybe it's these wonderful surroundings that attracts me to this church... A lot of greens all over the place, and properly 'manicured', I think! And minimal concrete on the grounds (as of now anyway). It will be even better when those trees grow bigger! Maybe it is also the colors that this edifice was painted with. Not too bold... Blue, pink, white, some brown... those are the usual colors we see on churches - even town halls di ba? But here, they made it a bit on the soft pastel hues. Cool to the eyes... My driver who knows all the fiestas in this region told me that everything around this town must have been cleaned and beautified since their fiesta was just last month. All the more that I appreciated the outside ...

Hinundayan is a nearby town, just next, and to the south of Hinunangan. Hah, these names are twisting my tongue! And do they really have to be next to each other?! Hin...! Anyway, we entered the town of Hinundayan amidst lush green rice fields like this... I was not actually sure if this was still Hinunangan, or already Hinundayan. There are not so many big and clear signs in this area. What I was sure, and very much amazed of was, these were rice plantations in various stages of growth, therefore various colors too! This was like entering Hinunangan once again - wide expanses of fields planted to rice. Oh, on this one, I was sure we were already in Hinundayan! How? Because we passed by two barangays named Bugho! One is Brgy. Bugho, of Hinunangan, while the other is Brgy Bugho. (a.k.a Green Valley) of Hinundayan. I am guessing, they added the "Green Valley" to differentiate their barrio from that of Hinunangan! This is not uncommon. It's just like my Brgy. Banilad in ...