Happy Birthday!

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

Here are some of the pictures

There is a hanging bridge in Majayjay Falls; it serves no practical purpose – merely convenience – as the rocks below are so large you can cross the stream without getting wet.  But why  trek  to a mountain stream if you don’t want to get wet? And if convenience is what you long for in an eco-adventure then perhaps you can limit yourself to SM Discovery Center.  But still, you want to cross the bridge to gain bragging rights, and view the falls from the perspectives of the tree nymphs who don’t bother to make their presence hidden. You open up your senses and you experience beauty at its primal best. You sigh several times because such luxury is so rare you feel blessed to be given the chance to savor it.  Nothing compares.

Around you ancient trees sway with the raindrops; their leaves swing with glee to the rhythmic sounds of the forest fauna. Gigantic ferns, wild anthuriums, ground orchids, and birds of paradise accessorize the landscape. It is an eye feast, if you can take your eyes away from the waters, certainly a difficult task.

The waters capture your eyes and take your breath away. At the foot of Mount Banahaw, Majayjay Falls drops to a pool so clear you can actually count the pebbles at the bottom, which might take an eternity.  From the bridge, the view is simply surreal even if the falls knows that she is just an accessory to the inexplicable grandiose of the mountain which owns her, like pearl earrings on a pretty face.  Despite the volume of water two-storey high, it is actually a soft drop. We spent view moments right under the falls and it felt like a good Thai massage.

The icy water soothes rather than invades your tired body, it feels like a dip in an ultra-expensive cold jacuzzi. From the springs of the mountain known for its spiritual abundance, the water heals. A dip in the pool removes not only your anxieties and stresses, it cleanses your soul and magnifies your faith, that yes, there is a God, or there are gods, and their blessings come free and in abundance.

You leave Majayjay falls with a tighter skin and a grateful heart. You realize that there is so much in this country of ours to love and to celebrate, and you bless the fact that you are called to be part of this land.

Note: The Heritage Tours are eco-cultural adventures for those who want to rediscover the richness of our culture and nature. The Laguna leg includes visits to stone churches, bridges, underground cemeteries as well as lakes, streams and forest falls. The tour is a combination of storytelling, rituals, woodcarving, and scientific lectures on cultural and forest conservation.

“To feel at home, stay at home. A foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It’s designed to make its own people comfortable.”-Clifton Fadiman

Philippines have 7,100 islands during high tide while the 6 islets emerge in low tide. Almost 3,000 of these islets were named and the three biggest islands were Luzon Visayas and Mindanao. There are 17 regions from Batanes to Tawi-tawi .We all knew these at Grade school History Class. But do we get to travel in one or two of these regions in our country? Mohammed said “Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled.” It saddens me that most of the intelligent people have travelled the whole world but never in our own country.  They’ve been around the world, maybe to the 7 continents,  most popular word tourist destinations but if you ask them how many regions have you seen and came to visit in the Philippines-they will probably look up and think or maybe bow down their head and start a new topic or maybe a better place to talk about, or worst they will excuse themselves and just leave you in a middle of a conversation. Foreigners come and go in our country. Tourist volume in the country’s major destinations from January to May 2010 totalled to 3.65 million for an increase of 5.37 % vis-à-vis the same period in 2009.  The movement of foreign tourists in key tourist areas expanded by 12.81% compared to the travel of domestic tourists which posted 2.12% growth.

There are a few travel television shows that help boost local tourism in our country. Now we have “Trip na Trip” A thrilling, exciting and fun-filled series of journeys and adventures, Fridays 12:00 midnight, over ABS-CBN Channel 2.Hosted by Kat De Castro, Uma Khouny, Jayson Gainza and Kian Kazemi. They feature places that are not so popular and they give the costing to their viewers so they can plan a cheap but fun trip with family and friends. Twenty four years ago there is “Travel Time” with Susan Calo-Medina, hailed as the Queen of Travel Shows in Television, she went to places like Bohol in 1989 who no one even bothered to visit at that time but look at it now. She also featured local delicacies in each of her destinations, thus promoting local tourism has been one of  her hobbies. Until now her show is aired on ANC, 9:30am every Saturdays. We all have a choice to explore, have fun and learn. We can have it all by travelling and consider OUTSHOUT COMMUNICATIONS’ “LIWALIW sa  LAGUNA” A Tour to Philippines’ heritage sites and nature’s best.

LIWALIW sa LAGUNA is a 2 day tour exploring heritage sites like,Old houses in Pila,  Nagcarlan’s Underground Cemetery,Liliw and Pakil’s Old churches,Wood carving s of Paete, San Pablo’s Seven lakes  and natural wonders like Pagsanjan and Majayjay Falls.It’s good to start a destination closer from home. Two three hours away from Manila you get to see breath taking view, scenic spots and Heritage sites from a a province full of legend, myths and history.

As the Queen of Travel Show ends her program, she leaves us with this spiel.  ”WAG MAGING DAYUHAN SA SARILING BAYAN”

Majayjay Falls, Majayjay, Laguna

In line with its vision to be a company that communicates CHANGE in the field of politics, governance, culture, arts, and environment, OUTSHOUT COMMUNICATIONS launches  LIWALIW: A Tour to Philippines’ heritage sites and nature’s best.

LIWALIW, liwanag at aliw, transports participants to places that enlighten and entertain at the same time.   PDI’s Tina Dumlao wrote, “It’s a shame, really, that many well-traveled Filipinos know more about other countries than they do their own, making them the proverbial strangers in their own homeland. Some might just need a little bit of convincing that they should know more about what makes the Philippines unique and why they should be proud to be called Filipino.”

This eco-cultural adventure hopes to do just that: to convince Filipinos and foreigners alike that there is so much to discover and to love in this country. Included in every tour are visits to Heritages Sites like centuries-old stone churches, cemeteries and bridges with accompanies historical tidbits to perk up your imagination and deepen your appreciation of our culture and history. Also part of the trip are nature tripping with accompanying lectures on the importance of nature conservation in the light of such issues as climate change and global warming.

Schedules this year:

LIWALIW SA LAGUNA – August

TARA SA BULACAN – September

BAYBAYIN NATIN ANG BATAAN – October

INTAYON: EXPLORING ILOCOS – November

ADTO TA SA BOHOL – December

For details, please contact Deejay at 4106260

The San Pablo Belfry (photo by John Bago)

Belfries, those bell towers often attached to old stone churches, have played major roles in our literature and folklore. Images of ghost bell ringers are evoked upon hearing the Angelus, or the eight pm agonias meant for the dead. It is eerie, and for Filipinos who think the spiritworld is an adventure, it is exciting.

Liliw Brick Church and Belfry (Photo by John Bago)

A special attraction of the Laguna Heritage Tour is the belfy exploration. The centuries-old bell towers in Pangil, Nagcarlan, Liliw, Majayjay and Pila serve as time machines that take us back to history, to a time when churches were centers of civilization and the sounds of the bells were orders coming from heaven.

The Belfry of the Majayjay Church (photo by John Bago)

The tour also includes storytelling of the ghosts of each belfry: tales of headless priests who roam at nights and sightings of floating ladies who mourn in agony at the foot of the bells.  If ghosts don’t scare you, perhaps the living insects will – you don’t know what hides behind the think cobwebs. The climbs are steep; the staircases, having survived earthquakes and fires, are thrillingly weak. You need to speak in soft voices as anything louder than that will awaken the bats, and the echo will travel to the nooks and crannies of the tower where sleeping ghosts lie. You don’t want to awaken any of them.

The Belfy at the Heritage Town of Pila

You can see here some of the pictures of Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles in an interview with ANC and Unang Hirit dealing with the cases of her clients.  Some Outshout staff joined her at these media engagements.

Click to view slideshow.