I am already going into my third month here in the Philippines, and unfortunately I am not doing as much sightseeing as I should! So finding nothing better to do, I packed my camera bag, braved the torrential downpours and accompanied my mom and her class of sophomore college students to the town of Alaminos in Pangasinan, where the aptly named Hundred Islands is located. You can love or hate the Filippinos for naming this place almost banally. But fortunately such is not always the case, as there are some places in this country where the names are totally out of whack. One example. a town in my beloved province of Pampanga was called Sexmoan before. It was only in recent years that the town changed its name into Sasmuan, certaily less pornographic!
With 40 shrieking students in tow, cloudy skies and strong rains coming and going it was certainly not the best time to take pictures. Still I was able to force myself to think and luckily I was able to come up with some decent shots. I particularly like this photograph of my mom's students silhouetted against the entrace to Cuenco Cave, located in Cuenco Island. This is just one of the many islands one can explore (on a good day!) and although, small, some of them are quite charming, and have terrific beaches.
Of course some islands are better left to the wildlife. Like Bat Island, which, not surprisingly, is full of bats. Hundreds of thousands of them. Our boat had to slow down and be very quiet while we crossed this island. Since it was rather dark, the bats were half awake, and loud sounds can send them flying in all directions. I was able to get a decent photograph of these bats hanging upside down on a tree. But of course it would have been better had it been a really sunny day and had a powerful lens with me. It is times like these that I wish I had my Canon 1D Mark IV and the 500mm Sigma lens back (of course my neck and shoulders would disagree).
So as the monsoon season kicks in, only time will tell when the next outing will be. In the mean time, I have a sore throat to nurse, and I will probably need to look for a job real soon.
And some good news: my sister's recent MRI scan shows that her brain tumor has reduced in size, and she will be off chemotheraphy and radiation theraphy for two whole months! Hopefully this means we will be able to go out more. But, as always, we should always keep an eye out for any signs that her illness might be taking a turn for the worse. But I continue to keep my fingers crossed and pray for many, many days, months, and years of good health for my sister, and many more road trips with her.
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