# 32 palawan !! (pala)WONDER !!

the philippines is in the news !!  no, it is not the miss universe crown that was an arm's length away from our country's bet in glittering ceremonies aired this morning.  boy,  that was close!!

the news has nothing to do with any act of notoriety.  some losers have somehow ingrained in their sick and twisted minds that the path to fame is best (and quickly) achieved through ill-repute. sadly, quite a few of our countrymen have chosen to follow this infamous path.  thankfully, as well, the news is not about any tragedy that has befallen our country. it has nothing to do with breaking any guinness records, either.  yes, the shortest man on record is a filipino and yes, we just recently caught the biggest crocodile in the world. oh but there are much bigger crocodiles in government. no trap, no matter how intricately laid out or how tempting the bait is, can ever snare these two-legged crocodiles.  just saying.

the philippines is in the news as it attempts to include one of its own stunning natural landscapes as one of the world's new seven wonders of nature. the poll calls for natural wonders not man-made creations. the winners are to be announced on the eleventh of november, just two months away. puerto princesa in palawan (southwest of the philippine archipelago) boasts of the world's longest underground river.  it covers a navigable eight-km stretch and winds through a cave before it opens up to the south china sea.  no cosmetic renovation has changed the landscape of this paradise.  picture-perfect and postcard-pretty are how one would describe such scenes that take one's breath away.  it is perfect and it is pretty alright but it is not a postcard nor a picture.  it is real.  real natural beauty beyond words.
 

 official publicity shot  of the underground river as an entry into the final phase of the competition.  the worldwide poll started with 261 natural landmarks.  the list has been narrowed down to 77 and further down to the remaining 28 finalists.

 

  gugud started off her summer vacation with a trip to palawan.  safety among its visitors is topmost priority on the river cruise.  gugud and her daddy gear up for the ride that would take them through the underground river. 

 they enter the river and are instantly caught up in a world of stalactites and stalagmites. these are stuff that one learns in elementary school.  textbook pages come alive in a flash.  even in the cavernous shadows, the magical sight is enough to throw them overboard in captive awe.

one would think that when God, the supreme artist, used the earth as his canvas, He singled out puerta princesa in palawan as one of His masterpieces.  it was not meant to be an abstract and monochromatic tableau. He carefully pieced together paradisiac details to dream up a perfect harmony of seascape and landscape. glossing it over with a blend of colors, the giant mural that is the subterranean park emerged. gentle waves and whirring murmurs of bats create a semblance of a serene dance of sights and sounds.  it gives one a feeling of walking through an art gallery.  only the paintings are real.

twenty-eight finalists in a worldwide poll. one of our own makes it to the list.  isn't that awesome?

# 31 that which we call a rose....

by any name would smell as sweet!  juliet could not have said it any better to her romeo.

a rose by any color would look as beautiful, too.   as enchanting as the flower of its name is, rose (the color) carries its own charm.  on the color wheel, rose is the color halfway between red and magenta. there are several variations of this color - copper rose, french rose, lavender rose to name a few. there is one that stands out, one that you like best of all - old rose.  everything in your old room was old rose or a gradation of the color. there is something in the color that speaks to you, a vibrancy that jumps at you and springs every little thing to life.

there are many shades of old rose for the picking but this is the one for you. it would seem dull to many but it is bright and peppy to you.  it looks old-ish to some (it is not called old rose for nothing) but it spells everything young to you.

the kids know you like the color.  in a moment of inspired creativity showing their penchant for play and art, they whip out their own interpretation of your favorite color.  their imagination knows no bounds. there is continuity in their storyline, too, one picking up where the other left off.  in an instant, you have free-flowing imagery and a hilarious tale.  these kids think they are funny.

when a rose gets old, says wawa, it sits in a big armchair with a pair of glasses and a ball of yarn.  this is crochet the old rose way.

and when the rose becomes all bent, says yangi, the cane becomes a necessity.  how else can an old rose wander without being led by the cane?

 the cane will soon be replaced by the wheelchair, says tete, the better for the old rose to cruise along corridors and walkways.

it will get worse according to gugud.  medication will be needed  to sustain its  life.  gone is its young and carefree life;  sick and bedridden it has become.
it has lived up to its name, an old rose to the end.

sometimes, it takes an innocent remark to set off an endless exchange of goofiness among kids.  maybe a comic drawing here, an awkward dance move there.  or a spontaneous spongebob-squidward repartee here, an ad-libbed song there. randomness followed by a burst of laughter. such a welcome breather from all that we in the adult world have to deal with! who was it who belted out the line let the children's laughter remind us of how we used to be?  ah, whitney houston.  it is contagious, too.  no, not whitney's song.  children's laughter is.

an old rose to spark good spirits on an otherwise ordinary day.  isn't that awesome?

# 30 BER

that is not a name nor a term of endearment.  not a place.  no acronym, either.

just simply BER or the start of the BER months - september, october, november, december.  in our part of the world, this means the (un)official start of christmas. only in the philippines will one feel a tinge of excitement in the air when the BER months arrive.  the street children who bang on car windows when one is stuck in traffic have now changed their repertoire of songs to christmas carols. we are known to have the longest christmas.  it starts in september and ends on the sixth day of january.  you have to be a grinch not to love anything that signals the start of the most joyful season.  it is also the most expensive season. on tv this morning, the show hosts greeted the audience by bursting into a jackson 5 hit, urging everyone to give love on christmas day... no greater gift is there than love, oh what the world needs is love....yes the world needs your love.  no other time of year do our auditory senses process so much of the jackson 5  pre-puberty singing voice.

however big or small one's house is and wherever it is - in the heart of the city or in rural areas, the christmas lantern (known as parol) is always the centerpiece.  it has evolved from the simple colored paper-wrapped star to the ornate, multi-bedecked work of art.  some are giant jaw-droppers with lights that speak of the wonders of technology.  nothing simple about the present-day star.

christmas makes us smile. hakuna matata means no worries, a problem-free philosphy according to timone and pumba in the lion king.  one would think that is the peculiar mindset of the filipino.  we are a smiling people like we are problem-free.  no worries, hakuna matata. others are often amazed at how resilient we are. our country is constantly dodging the bullet of ruination.  we can never seem to pull ourselves out from the pit that we have deliberately dug to wallow in. we are plagued by a massive mountain of problems on all sides and yet we are known to be a happy people. we celebrate many occasions and when there is no occasion, we invent one. christmas is the biggest celebration of all.  we love to sing and we sing the loudest during the christmas season.  no one minds if it is out of tune.  we love to dance and we break our bones dancing away at christmas parties.  no one minds if we are not stepping to the rhythm of the music. we love to tell stories and we repeat the same stories at christmas gatherings.  our listeners pretend they have not heard our stories the previous years.

christmas gives us a hundred and one reasons to smile. we are now into the BER months;  the season has officially started !!  isn't that awesome?