Mayo-Mayohan

The month of May is ending. All the celebrations for the youngs including the youngs-at-heart in the long vacation will go with it. “Mayo-mayohan”, “Santacruzan,” “Sagala”, or Flores de Mayo parades will again be shelved for the next season. But in my memory in the countryside, in our sleepy village, “Mayo-mayohan” is an exciting life of May and is a diminishing practice which we valued most in our teenage life. I will try to relate and recall this cherished tradition, less it will be buried to oblivion.

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Daanghari

It’s again a sunny day and I’m readying my gadgets for a long anticipated ride. It is my bicycle riding stretch to the famed “Daanghari.” I’ve been eagerly trying to compile my experiences on this uphill climb and I think it’s about time –less this will be left to the shadows and obscurity.

 

The last issue of my cycling adventure was the healing effect of mountain climbing. The purpose why I engaged in this cycling sport was to improve my health. Mang Bert, the heart-by-passed-man and seventy-two years old, is still pedaling in the mountain climb. He has just finished the 45-degree slope at the back of GSIS Holiday Hills’ “Christ the King” church in San Pedro, Laguna. This is the training climb in preparation for “Daanghari Expedition” via Victoria Hills and Tat Golf. And he is perspiring profusely climbing up and down without let-up, a mark of great health.

 

Actually, the cycling haven is the “South Portofino” portion of well-paved concrete road, adjacent to Daanghari and Victoria Hills and under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Las Pinas City. It has a total of five kilometers, two-lane stretch together with the opposite lanes. Meaning you will cover a 50-kilometer distance on ten-round laps. And it’s enough to drain your fats and other body excesses. Only few vehicles are passing this route as this is considered a dead-end road –nearby Victoria Hills Village requires payment in entering the road for cars and other vehicles without official receipt which is an illegal practice of homeowners’ associations. This road cannot be used for drag racing as the Las Pinas Police Precinct is located along this route and violators will be apprehended. I believed this is considered as the safest place for cycling enthusiasts.

 

At “Daanghari” I met many new friends; all are cycling “addicts.” But I’m interested with senior citizens engaged in bicycle riding who were actually conscious in improving their health. The oldest I met, so far, was “Ka Vidal.” He is frequently called as “Kapitan”, the captain. Would you believe he is seventy-three years old and an advocate of long distance biking! When I met him he right away invited me to join their group to go to Tagaytay. And he is not joking. I followed him one time and he was convincing. He was inviting many cyclists along the road. At one instant, we were already fifteen in a group. We took the route to Molino, Paliparan, GMA, Dasmarinas –a total of almost forty kilometers with only one stop-over to have a snack of “Beef Lugaw” with egg along the Paliparan road. And others have no food limit, took bottles of Pepsi and Coke –no concerns of being diabetics! It shows they are able and healthy.

 

I also met “Ka Romy”, a seventy-year-old cock-fighting aficionado who stretches all his body parts before riding his expensive bicycle; another was Conrad, a retired consultant from AMCOR, who cannot cross the street without assistance; and there were Americans, British, French, Italian and other foreigners frequenting the site.

 

As “Daanghari” is a cycling hub, there were also peddlers of cycling accessories who sell their wares at affordable prices –cheap uniforms, gadgets, and other special tools were sold on Saturday and Sunday only.

 

There were many events I encountered at “Daanghari” such as: keeping pace with the fast pedaling one-armed cyclist; the swift lady-biker wearing pink attire which we failed to talk with as my two aging companions who kept following her –their tongues already “hanging” and engulfing for breath- were not able to catch-up with; and other cycling stars who were champions in cycling competitions. I will be always there at “Daanghari” pedaling my health to great heights.

 

As I pedaled back home, descending fast at Victoria Hills and Tat Golf, there again I saw “Mang Bert” now easily climbing up to “Daanghari.” Read more on this article...

Ah! Where Is The Beach?

The long and hard days work and then it’s summer! Everyone is craving for respite and vacation. These are the sweet sounding words that not only kids are so delighted to hear but adults alike ... and the “travel.”

I and my wife, Thelma, leisurely conceived an idea of travel and vacation in Sta. Cruz, Occ. Mindoro. We have a newly built family house in the countryside and it is the least expensive place to spend the summer-hot vacation that we can afford. The house is near the sea with fine sand and comparable to any beach in the province in its grandeur. We made enough preparation for the vacation. We are on the go and ready for the “escapade.”

On the following day, we were alarmed and heard a weather announcement on TV of a tropical depression. Later it was repeated as a storm. The weather bureau raised the storm signal on the path including the provinces of Mindoro where we are planning to go. An unusual weather disturbance on summer! How come we have a storm and it will be rainy days? We are expecting a “red hot” summer days and not the chilling clouds.

This is not global warming. This is the only summer in the Philippines or in Southeast Asia that typhoon developed in the South China Sea in an untimely period. We have already five weather disturbances that occurred in the country. This is very rare considering that we are expecting a warm weather as being espoused by the global warming alarmists. They are accusing carbon dioxide as the causes of global warming. How come that it is during summer, when we generate more carbon dioxide but instead of warming, we experienced raining and cooler morning breezes? If there indeed global warming, it must have ended and we are approaching the cycle of cooling or the time of “The Little Ice Age.” The sun is least active this decade and least sunspots and solar flares are being observed as previously reported by David Hathaway, the NASA Solar Physicist.

We want to go to the beach water in beating this summer heat; but it is now flooding in our backyard. We can no longer enjoy our summer vacation plan... Ah! Where is the beach? Summer ends leaving our summer vacation plan with disappointment. Read more on this article...