tayo na sa antipolo!

i know you've been the antipolo church already,

but anyway it was my first time last week,

and i enjoyed some of the elements of the church...

like the floral iron gates...

the big dome...


the gold chandeliers...

and the nice old doors...

yun lang!

baguio art tour

the next time someone asks me what you can do in baguio, aside from eat and shop at the ukay-ukay (which are perfectly good things to do!), i will definitely recommend going on the baguio art tour!

baguio, home to many artists and artisans has tons of relatively unexplored artspaces that are truly a sight to see :)

from the art of traditional weaving....

to centuries-old huts

ethnic art and sculptures

outdoor installations

and native antiques

from a large museum housing philippine contemporary art

to a hole in the wall that serves dogmeat next to edgy wall art and graffiti

its definitely a perfect way to spend the day in the city :)

magtanim ay di biro

or in english, "planting rice is never fun" - a song we learned at a very young age, i can't even remember exactly when.  but i can sing the lyrics off the top of my head at any given time, without really realizing what it is saying to young, impressionable minds: that planting (rice, trees, etc) is not fun, its a hard job, not something you would eventually want to do when you grow up.  

but maybe (hopefully), they aren't teaching this song in schools anymore.  because in the last forest building activity i volunteered for this year, we had lots of little hands helping us plant trees in Tublay Central, Benguet....

a beautiful town, with picture perfect scenery, 

where kids can really enjoy nature 

(in order to truly appreciate it and to later on protect and care for it)

gradeschool kids from the city
together with highschool kids from the local school

carried seedlings to the mountains

and little 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds helped plant trees 

alongside the villager elders :)

and everyone shared the same meal at the end of the day -
cabbage soup and pinikpikan :)

hopefully, the seeds have been sown for the next generation.

so one day, i will take the messybessitas with me, (and hopefully stella, tati and alvaro too) to plant trees :)