the perfect cone - mayon
the lovely city - legaspi
quezon national park ...................... the zigzag
along the coastal highway to lopez.......................................
the hotel in lopez to get by ............you want guns, you stay here....
a pull-over stop-by.............................. bridge over peaceful water
air jambu .............................................the open fields
naga city ..................................... stop for lunch here
nabua ...........................................mayon turns up - surreptitiously
the church at cagsawa ruins ............. gulliver and liliputians
'lean on me' .............................mayon's foothill like moon, low gravity
lignon hill.....................................mayon from lignon hill
the replica of cagsawa church ....... inside the church
daraga .................. ..........................a bustling town
They resumed their journey going south after the tea in romi's house....
The stretch of journey from atimonan to lopez was a risky and beautiful journey, zigzagging over the hill, snaking along the east coast of quezon province. at some turns, they were so sharp with one side dropping abruptly down hundred feet, vehicle had to change driving lane(to drive in the wrong lane), so the driver seat was near the ravine to make him easier to manoeuvre the turn. along the whole stretch of zigzagging road, there's people standing there waving flags to direct the traffic, 24-hours, 7-day-aweek.... but it was a beautiful journey, with the mountains and farms at the beginning of the stretch, then later with the ocean at the left side, stretching miles and miles..... stopping by in gumaca, for fuel.
At one point,the van was approached head on by a big tourist bus, but in the nick of time, it swayed away to the right to avoid hitting the van. Another time, the driver did an overtake, and on came a big bus from the opposite direction. Both sway right before anything happened..... THANK GOD.
They had to pull over when after the sun set, nite driving in bicol highway would be suicidal. They put up in rospan hotel(600 ps per 2-person room, extra of 150ps for addition guest in the room, extra pillow cost 100ps, anything extra also ps100...). it's the only hotel within many miles, it's a nice hotel, nevertheless. they had a good dinner there for a very reasonable price. the room had a tv, which they turned on to view the election result. aquino led erap by a big margin.
the next day, he woke up very early, while others were still soundly asleep. he checked out the surroundings, nothing much to explore. had breakfast. then they took off at 7.30am. the journey from lopez to naga city via the quirino hwy was long and strenuous in the sense that, there's no towns, cities or municipalities to pass by or pull over, for bio-break or stretching the limps, or just for the sake of entertaining their eyes and minds with something different from the incessant rolling-by's of the fields and plants outside the windows...
they reached naga city before noon, sopped over in biggs restaurant for lunch outside naga city.
after lunch, they took off, passed by the town of pili(famous for pili nuts, of course) along the maharlika(also known as the pan-philippine highway, or AH26) highway, and less than half an hour later they reached nabua. before reaching naga, they saw on the left side, a tall mountain with clouds covering its top. they thot it was mount mayon, since it was quite symmetrical. but after nabua, they realised they were wrong, the true mayon creeped up surreptitiously.... there's clouds covering the top 1/3 the mountain. they pulled over next to a wide-open padi field, and took pictures with mayon in the background. they reached daraga at 1.40pm, and asked people for the road to the cagsawa ruins.
the cagsawa ruins is a tourist site. in 1814, Mayon Volcano erupted and sent lava flows cascading down its sides. The towns people of Cagsawa fled to the church where they perished when it was engulfed in the fiery flows. today, only the church tower remains as a memorial. and when they were there, they appreciated the power of the volcano which now looked so majestic and harmless. from the east side looking at mayon, the mountain top was clear of clouds that covered its west top. it was quite a view to cherish. a local boy 'volunteered' to act as their tour guide, giving info on the site and also helping them taking pictures with weird angles..... it was quite fun.
the guide led them to lignon hill, in daraga city, a mere 10 minutes ride from the ruins. from there you could have a bird's-eye view of legaspi city, all the way to the ocean. legaspi was a lovely city, not big but looking from the hill, very enticing.
on lignon hill, there's a replica of the church that was ruined in cagsawa, built in 1854.
they came down from lignon hill at 4.20pm...... and headed south for donsol for the nite.
before they parted they tipped the guide.
he said, "sir, you know, i owe everything to mayon...."
"ok......" he was not that surprised at the guide's parting shot, thinking that mayon did him a favor in providing him a way to earn his keep. but not till he heard what he had to say......
"mayon gives me a livelihood, now.... but, 200 years ago, i gave up my life running from mayon's eruption...."
watch youtube here
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