Showing posts with label Burauen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burauen. Show all posts
On the first day of 2018, we went to the newly opened El Montaña Vista Resort. 
It's another local watering hole in my hometown Burauen. I've seen some photos of the location on Facebook and it doesn't disappoint in real life.
There are one too many picturesque parts in the resort. 
Growing up in Burauen, I never imagined that we would have anything as sophisticated as this place.

In truth, I could have taken better photos if the weather wasn't being such a b****. But here we are. I did the best I could with a camera that's not waterproof.


Team Rain or Shine
Tropical Depression Agaton was traversing the Visayas and Mindanao regions on the first day of the year. He brought with him a lot of rain. But I guess it would take more than some downpour to dampen the spirits of the swimming enthusiasts because the place was literally teeming with visitors despite the mad weather.
At the kiddie pool: me, with the two dolphins..errr my daughter and my hubby.
Kids don't need angles, they are cute no matter what.
Hey there! That's my mama and my brother.
Freezing, are we?
My darlings at the "waterfall".
 Here's the view from the top. 
Needless to say, we had a great time, especially my baby who was practically in the water the whole time. Honestly, I'm suffering from colds because of this little rainy adventure. 
See you next time El Montaña Vista. In the summer, maybe?


Happy New Year darlings!

XO,
Cassie

The El Montaña Vista is located at Bgy. Gamay, Burauen, Leyte.
It's kinda tucked away; Bgy Gamay is not exactly in the poblacion so it's best if you bring your own transport.
For non-Burawanons, this place might be hard to find so I hope the management of EMV would post some signage somewhere in the Bgy. Maghubas area, along the highway. 
But you can always ask the locals too. Burawanons are friendly and always ready to help.
If you have other queries though, here's the 
Official Facebook Page of El Montaña Vista.
written by at 3 comments:
Categories: , , , , , ,

But who could forget? I still get chills when I think about November 8, 2013.

Four years after Yolanda and here I am, hundreds of miles away from where it happened. But somehow, memories of her still have a way of unnerving me.

If I were in Burauen right now, no doubt, my family and I would be reminiscing about so many memories, good and bad, from November 8, 2013.

We'll be talking about wondering why November 7, 2013 was declared as a non-working day, in preparation of Yolanda's arrival. Who prepares for a typhoon? Aren't we Warays kind of used to that stuff already? 

We'll talk about the fried chicken that we cooked on night of the 7th, in preparation for our breakfast the following day. We also had a loaf of bread ready. Surely those would be enough to get us through  the 8th. Surely we can easily buy food afterwards. We know the drill; we've encountered enough typhoons in the past. 

We'll talk about huddling in our parent's bedroom at 5 am of the 8th, knowing that Yolanda has arrived,  winds not too strong yet. To quote my youngest brother "Asya ini it super typhoon?", seemingly unimpressed that it's not as strong as he expected. My sister decided that she will sleep through it.

We'll talk about standing by the gate at 6 am, still enjoying the view of the dancing trees and the "freshness" of the wind. 

Until it stopped being enjoyable.

The huge branches of the two mango trees in  front of our house started to give way. Our roof took a hit. Something broke. Rain water was everywhere.

We all moved to the safest part of the house: the kitchen. My sister decided she that she won't sleep through Yolanda. My brothers held on to the kitchen door, it seemed that Yolanda wanted to open it too. In the intervals that our door cracked open, we got a glimpse of our main house getting brighter: we've lost half of our roofing.

Random things seemed to fly out of nowhere. Getting hit by a stone flying at 200 kms, no matter how small would have been fatal. Celestine might have been feeling the tension too. She just clung tightly too me, underneath those blankets.

We didn't count the hours. It seemed like it would never it. The walls and the ground trembled.

And then everything went still. No winds. No rain. The eye of the storm. I've always known from lessons in school that the eye of the storm is mighty calm. It is.

It gives you the chance to see the wreckage. It gives you the chance to hear your neighbor's screams and cries. It gives you the chance to see how the street and neighborhood that you've known all your life is unrecognizable at first glance.

For how long? Just a few minutes.

The booming wind could be heard coming back from the opposite direction. We didn't go back to the kitchen; we knew that this time it would be the least safe place in the house. We stayed at the front porch; we opened our gate to 30 or more people who couldn't move forward when the winds came back. Suddenly we didn't feel so alone. We waited for the storm to die down.

It was past noon when the skies cleared up. We forgot about the fried chicken that we cooked. We all had a distracted look on our face. Our adrenaline was still quiet high though. I have a good memory of seeing my sister lift a huge galvanized iron sheet that fell into our room. You wanted to do so many things and yet you didn't know where to begin.

And then you had to think about tonight and tomorrow. Because things didn't end when the storm died. There was a different situation at hand.

 Oh, but here we are. Four years after we can look back on the lessons we learned.

By God's grace, we're still here.



No doubt, my family, we would all be talking about these things if we are together right now. 

And whenever some tough things come up, we always have a reference: "Kinaya ta ngani an Yolanda. Asay pa ini."
We love to say. And it's quiet true.

XO,
Carissa
written by at No comments:
Categories: , , , , , , , ,
...is not a novel thing to do. Camp Kawayan Resort has been around for quiet a while now and I know that as a Burawanon I should have been able to try it a long time ago. Circumstances. :) Well, it's good that I finally got the chance to do it with mi familia on the September 1st holiday. And boy did we have a blast, especially my Celestine who even quipped that "Camp Kawayan is amazing!" 

Take note though that the place is also open during the day so if you wanna come while the sun is high in the sky or when it's about to go down, it's totes up to you.
Since our home is located like 5 minutes away from this place, we can come anytime. We came at sunset and look ma, no need for shades and SPFs. 


It's located at Brgy. Balorinay, Burauen, Leyte. I honestly don't remember how this looked like before it was turned into a resort.  I have a pretty good guess that it was a forest. :) Under the auspices of the current proprietor, who happens to be my mama's former student in high school, this place has been greatly transformed. But it still feels close to nature with all those trees, bamboos and foliage. Plus an irrigation system is located right next to it so there's a sound of running water. You can hear cicadas at night and the air is just so cooold.

Camp Kawayan? So, asan po si Coach Bamboo? 😁 Wala po. Puro kawayan lang.
This bridge goes over a fast-flowing irrigation system. 
Where the catfish at? Yep, there are huge catfishes inside that pond, the size of my baby's arms or even bigger.


We brought in some food and rented out a cottage. There's an entrance fee too, btw, but trust me it's really affordable. 

The cottages - also made of, guess what. :)
So obviously, the main attraction in this resort are the pools. There's a huge one for adults which is about 6 feet deep at the center and maybe 4 or 5 feet deep at the sides. Thank God, or I'll drown because I'm not much of a swimmer. I perused the slides several times, taking chlorinated water inside my nostrils each time. Oh well. Happy naman. 
There are also two pools for the kiddies. One is 2 feet deep and the other one is just over a foot deep. There's a barrier between each of the pools for safety. 

 I adore these little water fountains that sprout everywhere. 

 Here are more photos of our fun time at Camp Kawayan Resort. :)


The look of excitement!
So inviting. Camp Kawayan Resort.
The slide at the kid's pool.

***
When we were kids, me and my younger brother, our parents used to take us to the Daguitan or Marabong river during Sundays. Somehow, it stopped being cool doing so. Maybe we just grew up but we hear that it's not as clean as it used to be or that the rivers have changed their course. Then we flocked to the beaches of Dulag or Tolosa. 
I'm glad that right now, we don't have to go far because different resorts have sprung in Burauen, pun intended. There's the Pines Farm Mountain Resort in Barangay Aboyogon or the Cansiboy Cold Springs, which I hope I can visit soon. It's really something to be proud of.

 Right now, I'd like to say 'kudos' to the people behind Camp Kawayan Resort and we hope to see you again soon.

XO,
Carissa
written by at No comments:
Categories: , , , , , , ,
We're in the year 2016 - that's three years after Yolanda ravaged the Philippines. We all know about how much of a deluge it was. So many lives lost. Too much destruction. I remember when the storm died down and I and my family went out of our home (what's left of it) and saw for the first time the unspeakable damage that Yolanda brought. "How do we rise up from something like this?", I thought. And we didn't even have the worst brunt. The Taclobanons and the residents other coastal towns in Leyte and Samar had it worse.

My home at San Diego, Burauen, Leyte a few hours after Yolanda left.
Flashback
On November 7, 2013, a day before Yolanda happened, the weather was gloomy but it wasn't even raining hard yet. Work and classes were canceled because according to the news, a very strong typhoon was coming and we all needed to prepare. The thing was, we Warays are kind of used to the idea of having typhoons every year, so some of us were easy to brush it off as "just another typhoon". Some of us actually prepared but since we have no idea of how strong a super typhoon could be, the preparations just fell short. Some of us were like me: was Facebooking all day. I've read on my timeline that said that the incoming typhoon's strength could lift a bulldozer. I thought it could also raise an eyebrow - mine. Apparently, there were so many others like me who didn't heed the warning.

It turned out that the warnings were true. Yolanda was unlike anything that we have seen in our entire lives. It was a nightmare and I prayed that nothing of its magnitude would ever happen again in our country. But there has been a juggernaut that entered our country every year thereafter; I've experienced Ruby in 2014 and Nona in 2015 and for this year alone, we've had at least 2 or 3 strong ones. And the year isn't over yet.

On Yolanda's third anniversary, I'm sharing some photos which were taken with our trusty digital camera, which luckily didn't get drenched or wasn't easily battery drained. I wish I'd taken a photo of my sister carrying those damaged GI sheets, just so we have an evidence of her strength when she is under adrenaline rush. But, here we are. :)

Lamp and electrical posts were down. A few weeks later, my sister and I took the time to touch the tops of the posts. Hey, it's a bragging right, being able to touch the top of the post, albeit a fallen one. ;)
Spot the big white clouds at the end of the road. There's going to be a great weather tomorrow. But how do we get to tomorrow with all of these? And how we dreaded the coming of the night. Photo taken on the afternoon of November 8, 2013.
My energetic grandma surveys the destruction. My brother may just be thinking about what we will be having for dinner. Wait, what?! We actually forgot about breakfast and lunch.
My high school, the Burauen Comprehensive National High School.
The Burauen Comprehensive National High School, days after Yolanda.
The Burauen North Central School, days after Yolanda.
Must have been taken by my father, somewhere in the Palo area.
My momma's school, the Burauen National High School.
The Burauen National High School,  days after Yolanda.
"We's havin'  a great weather", that's why my kid and my younger brother were relaxing on the floor. But remember....
...we still had no roofing.
We had our roof fixed about four weeks after Yolanda, just in time for the Burauen Town Fiesta. We wished we had a faster way to get things fixed but construction materials went scarce for a time., and well, it was just chaotic. After which, we took the baby steps towards the "pagbangon" or "pagtindog" process. We did whatever we could to have a nice Christmas and New Year, not without stories about Yolanda to keep us on our toes. We knew we would be talking about her for years and years to come. No matter how badly things went, Yolanda still brought out the best in us. There will be stories of bravery and courage, along with those that bring tears to our eyes. And that particular night when just about everyone I knew (and thousands more that I didn't) evacuated to higher ground for fear of a tsunami; that one was dangerous. But admit it, it was also funny from one perspective. 

We've come a long way from November 2013. We've risen up from the ashes. But I think we still have a long way to go. There is the issue of Climate Change and how it mainly affects us. 

This is in remembrance to all of those whose lives were lost. This is also in gratitude to those  who made great sacrifices to help their fellowmen.

XO,
Carissa
Tin adds the finishing touch to our tree. December 2013
P.S. 
I wish I'd found a way to  keep my post-Yolanda weight. (!,!)
written by at No comments:
Categories: , , , , , , , ,
The National Heroes Day Holiday on the 29th of August gave Tin and me the chance to fly off (not literally though, we took land travel!) to our homey in Burauen. Thus we were reunited with the 'rents and the sibs. It sure is mayhem when Mummy Cassie, Skinny, Fluffy and Boots are together. Top that with a 'lil Crumptious and we could have a camwhoring sesh all day. Okay, if I may speak like a human being again, those are our nicknames for each other. I know, I know. Our nicknames could double as names of pet fishes, dogs, birds and cats. But hey, we adore each other that way. Ha ha. Now on to the photo diary.
My sibs Fluffy (standing and feeling the waterfall like it's nobody's business), Boots and Skinny, together with my daughter Crumptious Celestine.
Pines Farm Mountain Resort
Location: Brgy. Abuyogon, Burauen, Leyte
I've been hearing about this resort from folks back home and with the name 'Pines' I thought that there would be real pine trees in the area. Well folks, you won't be seeing any of that sort of trees. There would be coconut trees, bamboos, hard woods and all sorts of greens but no pine trees because 'Pines' is in fact the name of the owner daw. Haha. But I'm not sure ha, because it was just word of mouth. There is indeed a farm and yes, it is in a mountain (or a hill?) so you better pack up with your oxygen because you will do some walking from the entrance to the resort itself.

Fees
Entrance: Php 20.00 for Adults and Php 10.00 for Kids
Cottage fees vary depending on the size, we got a Php 300.00 one and it was in the elevated part of the resort and indeed had a better view of the entire place.
View from the top! Lovely place surrounded by greens!
If you haven't realized it yet, this resort seems to have been built on a river. So you can see where the huge rocks are left and where cementing has been done to cover up the river bed and to create different depths of the pools. So you have that one where the kids can swim in safety. But as you go along it becomes deeper and that last one in the end according to my brother could be up to seven feet deep. So parents, if you have kids coming here, be mindful, especially that there are no explicit signs written around about how deep the waters are. Those cement walkways could also be slippery so please be guided.

Meanwhile I took the time to take photos of the flowing river. I hope I brought them to life through these photos. :)
The waters..it's how our town got its name after all. Bura. Foam. Water foam.
At this stage though, I think the place is still in the process of being developed as you can see that it is still pretty much rough around the edges pero surely in time, it will be in a much more prettified state. I'm glad that we Burawanons no longer have to flock to coastal towns such as Tanauan or Tolosa whenever we feel like taking a swim. We finally have these resorts to call our own. And the water is reaaaaally cold, even at noontime. As is the breeze; it's not like in the sea where the wind can practically burn your skin. Being here is just refreshing!

Now on to the subjects of this shoot. Believe me, they are always trying to upstage each other.
The early birds. We arrived there 9 am-ish and it was cold, I didn't immediately take a dip.
Work it for the cam, guys. :) This falling water part is located at the very end or the other side of the last pool.
Uncle duties.
Gotcha!
Ham it up, sis!
Ahm, I guess you have  a burning question in mind. Like, where was the blog mistress the entire time and why are there no photos of her? Haha. Well I confined myself to taking shots of my manicured toes. ;)

XO,

Carissa

PS. This is the part where my daughter tells me to 'put the camera down and start swimming'. Kids.
Sharing is caring...
written by at 4 comments:
Categories: , , , , , , , ,