A Visit to Panay

Just earlier this year, March 2011, I had a vacation with my family in Panay Island. This had always been our dream as a family to visit the place where my parents have lived at. We have gone there several times but never together as a family. We had a one-week stay and visited their respective birthplaces. My father is from Dumalag, Capiz. It took me 20 years to visit that place. I saw the house where my father ran and play around as a young boy together with his brothers and sisters. The house is almost empty but I know it is still full of memories. I wanted to go back there someday even if it stands like Japanese soldiers are still living in that area. One could really feel the fresh provincial air especially in the morning. Farm animals everywhere, wide-roofed tricycles which really amazed me. It was almost like a big "nigo" - a device that our old folks use in separating rice grains from their covering. Not to mention, there's also a sugar mill that was just right beside the old house.

On the other hand, my mother was born in Calinog, Ilo-Ilo. I visit that place more often than my father's place; maybe because my mother travels more than my father does and that she's more comfortable in her place than my father's. Ilo-Ilo is more civilized and well-developed than Capiz. I like how historical places, monuments, infrastructures and plazas still stands up to this century. Almost everything is like being in the Spanish era. Whenever I arrive in the clan's compound, I feel awkard that people stare at me and my sister like we're no humans. I didn't know that most people in the province know each other even if they live in different barrios. My sister and I are the only Cebuanas in the family. We understand their language(Hiligaynon), we know how to speak but we sound weird. Anyways, I never felt how it is like to be with relatives especially with cousins my age because we live far away from them. They are warm, very thoughtful and good at cooking delicious food! I love batchoy, biscocho, barquiron, my Aunt Cynthia's cheese sticks and butterscotch and my Aunt Edith's original calamay(faaaaaar better than commercialized calamay in Bohol). We went to the family's business which is in the public market. My grandparents own a bigger part in the market because they had a big family too (14 children in which my mom being the seventh child). I enjoy how the people there live. I know they have enough or even more than enough money yet they choose to live a simple life. They dress simply, they're not arrogant, they work hard but they still have time to socialize with others.

We took pictures in every place that we go to and in every event that happened. It was very unforgettable for me and my family to be able to visit Panay (though we never crossed to Boracay, sayang!).