Marble Capital-Romblon, Romblon

Our next destination after Tablas Island was Romblon, the marble capital and exporter of the Philippines. We asked the tourist information office we found near the port of a shipping line about the resorts where we could stay over night. He directed us to a small and simple yet awesome resort near the poblacion. Aglicay is a sure real nice to stay with all the amenities and very accommodating people as compared to this unknown beach resort where we stayed.

We strolled around the town and came across the capitol building and the old catholic church constructed in the 16th century by the Recollect Fathers. The church was built with coral blocks and bricks.

We also went looking for marble products and other native food delicacies. It was dark when we stopped at a hotel to have our dinner.

Overlooking the poblacion from the hotel.

On our second day, we planned to enjoy swimming since we were not able to do in Tablas due to the strong waves. We were about to swim when we saw some creatures which were foreign to us. Out of curiosity again, we took some twigs and tried to budged it. We did not have the slightest idea that this was a sea cucumber locally known as "balat".

...and that this one was a brittle star. 

There were a lot of brittle stars and sea cucumber lurking on the small rocks. Instead of swimming, we were absorbed looking for other sea creatures. The white strand seen here was said to be the "laway" of the "balat".

It was very rough under the water so we need to wear our slippers. We saw a different sizes of white star fish.  There were also sea weeds under which made us jerk every time it touched our skin. There was sea cucumber hanging around a medium sized sea urchin. This really made me run to the shore line.

However, it did not stop us from looking around. We went for another direction and were really observant if we encounter again those species. We stumbled upon two big beautiful star fish, a brown and an orange. 

On our left side, we saw this and argued if it was also a starfish. Whatever it was, we were very hesitant to touch it anyway.

The dead corals accumulated on the shoreline.

Beautiful starfish.
It was here that I broke my camera after taking a lot of pictures..:( 

Tablas Island: Alcantara's Aglicay Beach

One of the major islands in Romblon Province is Tablas Island which is the biggest among Romblon and Sibuyan Island. After our celebrating our Christmas in Boracay and our side trip to Aklan, we finally boarded the boat going to Looc, Tablas at exactly 9 in the morning of December 26. We paid something like 250 pesos per person.

We passed by Carabao Island which is being introduced today as an emerging paradise island. I think this is a nice place to visit as well.

2 hours of traveling by water was too long for me because I could not help myself to feel dizzy even if I tried to enjoy the view. The boatmen put down the boat's window cover because of the water coming from the strong waves hitting the vessel. This worsen my situation so I threw out.

We arrived in the port of Looc which is a small town in Tablas Island, walked for about 10 minutes going to the town proper since we did not know where to go yet. We planned to figure out where we could stay or what other places to visit when we stopped in a sari-sari store and asked the man who was hanging around enjoying a puff of his cigarette. He told us we could go to Ferrol or Calatrava if we wanted to see nice places.
His friends happened to pass by the store and told them of our inquiries. They were surprised to know we came from afar and that we were only 2.

We finally decided to go to Aglicay Beach which is located in Alcantara, a few kilometers away from Looc, after few minutes of bargaining with the tricycle driver. We paid him P400 when we reached the resort.

We were welcomed by a lady who was also in-charged of the restaurant. We asked her if we could camp there since we had with us our old tent. Upon saying yes, we assembled it with the help of a man working in the resort.

After putting up our tent, we ordered for a fresh buko and inquired more about their rates which vary according to number of guests and accommodation. The resort has standard and family bungalows which can lodge 3 to 5 persons and large kiosk which can hold 20 plus people. We excused ourselves and roved around the resort upon finishing our drinks.

The sound of the waves were rapping the rocks which gave music to the surrounding.

As we wander, we came up to a hill and curiously climbed it. The view was superb! We could see the water surfing its own way to the shore line.

We enjoyed the splendid view and the frostiness of the surrounding brought by the zephyr from the sea.

Around evening after having our dinner (cooked fresh fish caught from the sea), we were pleased to be toured by the owner around the buildings with different amenities. He showed us a big room with billiard table and other indoor games and a disco room.

enjoying the sea ambiance

The following day, we went up at the other side of the hill and enjoyed our temporary paradise.

Took more pictures and trailed down to the other side. There was also an undeveloped part of the resort which the owners are currently developing for fishing and swimming site.

We left this place on "habal-habal" en-route Romblon Island.

The pleasing and impressive qualities of Tablas Island mesmerized us as we traveled to San Agustin where we could take our boat going to Romblon. 

We passed by a broken road destroyed by the previous typhoon according to our driver.

If only we were not rushing, I would have asked the driver to stop so I could take more pictures and enjoy the scene. 

Approaching San Agustin...met one of my classmates here and had a few seconds of chat and picture taking before boarding the boat going to Romblon Island. 

Celebrating Christmas in Boracay

"What? Why are we stopping at the middle of the sea when we can already see Odiongan port?", asked by an old woman to an OJT crew. She was seated next to her grandchild who was pre occupied with the music she listened to on her cellphone.

The crew apologized and informed her including us what the captain saw as a problem. One of the Montenegro Shipping Lines vessel was docked in the port and it was impossible for our ship to enter.  One passenger jokingly said, "Ok lang basta may libreng Christmas party kayo sa amin" (It's okay as long as the management will throw a Christmas party to all the passenger all free of charge), then everyone in the room laughed except for a tall lady who looked  exasperated. She stood and blurted "Naghihintay ang pamilya ko. Ayokong magpasko dito!" (My family is already waiting for us. I do not wish to spend our Christmas here in the ship!), then she marched her way up to the ship captain's office. After almost an hour, there was a commotion at the 3rd deck. The lady went out of control and warned to sue the shipping line once the vessel did not dock. Minutes later, we felt the ship moved. 

She came back to the cabin and relayed to us what she did. She called her husband who was in another country and also a ship captain in an international cruise line. She was advised that perhaps there were other solution for docking so the passengers plans would not be ruined.

Since our delayed travel in Manila and the slow vessels engine robbed more than of our precious one day considering also the time (it was evening already when we reached Odiongan) we proceeded to Boracay Island. 

We arrived in the island at around 10 and looked for a cheaper place to stay. We found a room owned by a police inspector who was having a drinking spree with his neighbors and friends. We were invited for a shot which we declined.

On our way to the beach front,
we were invited by these 2 policemen to
celebrate an early (it was 11 in the evening)
 Noche Buena with them inside the Boracay Police Station.

Boracay Sand

with roaming Santa Claus

Boracay beach front

Side trip to Kalibo, Aklan

Our side trip to Kalibo, Aklan. Wished it was their Ati Atihan fest....

Left by the boat going to Looc, Tablas Island after our Boracay Christmas unplanned get away, Edith and I were convinced by some Aklanon who were in a jeepney waiting for more passengers going to Kalibo, to visit their place. We also thought of going to Iloilo but took the first option, otherwise, our itinerary would turn into a mess. 

We arrived in Kalibo after more than 2 hours ride. We asked some residents for a possible good place near the sea where we could spend our night. They suggested Tambak, a few km from the town.

While in the tricycle, we almost suffered from stiff neck looking around expecting to see nice beach resorts. Unfortunately, we felt betrayed. We were dropped to an inn near karaoke bars and pubs and were surprised to be asked "short time?" by the caretaker. Instead of  fussing about this experience, we decided to walk around and let our regrets be drowned by the furious sound of the sea waves. 

My eyes captured the waves lambasting the stones in the shore line.Little did we know it was a broken sea wall when we went nearer.

Stunned for a while, we watched the strong current as it mercilessly bumped into the the almost submerged shattered sea wall bringing more havoc to it.

Then we decided to take more pictures standing on the sea wall but the waves came to us before my killer smile and Edith's Ms Universe pose were captured by the camera. It either showed its hostility or just wanted to play with us. :) We chose to believe the later.

My Wondering about Wandering Street Children

Being with the street children who are better in surviving but know nothing (or limited only) about their rights and responsibilities  is an immeasurable experience. They are really aggressive and harsh especially if they feel they are being threatened, but they are also just like other children. They are just the same-innocent, playful, "makulit" and so on.  It only depends on how one approaches and treats them.

a child taking his afternoon nap on a pavement

Anyway, not so long ago, I have been wondering where street children and their families come from and why there are a lot when I first arrived in this big city of Metro Manila. I found it odd seeing them around the city. I am well aware there are really street children in the country even if I rarely see them in another city where I stayed for years. Now that they are already in front of me, several questions popped out in my mind. Base on my encounter with the street children who stay with their families mostly say their parents come from another province while some do not know their parent's origin. I asked the parents who come from the province about the reasons why they chose to come to the city. Mostly said it is because of poverty and included the following:
1. Calamities which destroyed their house and other properties; no means of living
2. Sold their properties and come to the city to look for a job and to have a better life.
3. Followed husband/wife/partner who went to the city to work.
4. Run away from their family and come to the city for work when they were younger or to escape abuse/maltreatment from family
6. Victims of human trafficking.

Migration is the common denominator above all these reasons. Most of them admitted that their notion of coming to the city and to search for their luck that would make their life better was a bad decision. They thought that the city was a promise land. They came to realize the difficulties since most of them did not finish their studies. They manage to be in the blue collar jobs but not for long because they are often abused. 

street children 

The parents can not afford their own basic needs much more to their children so they tend to let their children find their own way of survival. The children stay on street "working"-begging or scavenging in order to eat. They prefer to look for other means in order to live even to the extent of prostitution. To them "what is ABC if the stomach is empty?" Older children who roamed around the city are sent by their families to work especially if they are the eldest. They are already given responsibilities at a very young age when every other children enjoy their rights. They have little contact to their own families and would rather stay on street. 

street family sleeping

I remembered my big boss saying that there were few families living on the street before when he arrived to the country. Now, street families mushroomed everywhere around the metro. Street children find partner or "marry" at a young age (15 or 16 years old and above) and bear children. So the cycle goes on and on...