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Boljoon: More Reasons to Return

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8 and 9 June 2007. When editor Kristin Llerin asked me to write about Boljoon for the Cebu Yearbook, I asked, "Why ME?". I'd just written an article on it a few months before for the Lifestyle page (supposedly, it was what inspired the Yearbook editors to feature Boljoon in the yearbook), and I felt I had written all I had in me to write about Boljoon, after years of yearning for it. I'd explored all I wanted to. It was a closed book, as far as I was concerned. "Because you like to travel!" she said. Fine. It was MY Boljoon, after all, so I thought it might as well be me. When I got there on a Friday morning (the first weekend of the schoolyear, and I was already on another "vacation" :P) to interview some government officials, I discovered that there was an archeological dig going on in front of its historic church, and that there were actually still a couple of places I hadn't been to...which some of the locals hadn't even heard of, eit...
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Meeting Marrakech

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04 a 06 de abril 2009. First time to set foot in Africa, and no less than in exotic Morocco, which is only a ferry ride away from Tarifa in Spain. Went with my Italian flatmate and his German friends. After quick visits to Tangier and Rabat, the capital city, we took the long train ride to Marrakesh, with its big square Djemaa El-fna populated with snake charmers, henna tattoo artists, musicians, and carts selling snail soup, spices, and nuts. All around the square were narrow, winding streets lined with Ali Baba's treasures--markets called souks with different streets for metalworks, carpets, leather, lamps, and everything else you've ever imagined you can find in an Arabic market. As expected, I thoroughly enjoyed the bargaining, just as they enjoyed the good fight. After the stern negotiations, we would smile, shake hands, and say goodbye. And always, they would ask where I was from. I'm afraid I've just created a reputation for Filipinos being barat :P But now, es...
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Cambugahay Falls, Lazi, Siquijor -- up, close and personal

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15 to 16 September 2007. My first real field trip as a teacher, and of course, Murphy's Law went into full swing even though I'd called the shipping lines more than a week before the trip and got reserved seats two days before the trip. So half of us got left behind at the pier. By the time we got to the island, the tide was too high for our lab exercise, and some people HAD to go home that same afternoon. No time to do the scheduled itinerary. So I decided to at least let them have some fun after all that stress. I chose Cambugahay Falls, because I had the impression many of them had never been to any waterfall yet. It was also my underwater casing's first time in a freshwater setting (at last! considering that it was a trip to Kawasan last year that convinced me i really had to buy an underwater casing to capture a friend's expression as we rafted under the waterfall). And here's evidence that people tend to have more fun with waterfalls than at sea. (Must be th...
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