Posts
All Comments
We started roaming at the City Walk. We saw the indoor skydiving and we enjoyed viewing the people doing it. It’s an experience of human body flight in a vertical wind tunnel. This is a little expensive and charges around USD60 per person.
Entrance to the theme park is USD 67 per person and is valid as annual pass. Inside the theme park, we went to the House of Horrors. This is a place of dark and windy terror maze where we saw Chucky, Frankenstein, Wolf Man and other scary characters. Most of the visitors especially the ladies like Oline and Cristy were screaming loud. When we got out they were gasping.
I had a ride alone at the Jurassic Park. I saw the different “living” dinosaurs and the 50-foot Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the largest land carnivores of all time. At the end of the tour, there was a gate that opened and we had a sudden treacherous plunge down into the 84-foot raft. It was the highlight of the ride and that shocked everyone. This was the reason that my companions did not join me anymore.
We tried the psychological thrill coaster ride at the Revenge of the Mummy. It is an indoor roller coaster that moves forward and backward. The track launched us in horrifying curves, drops and sweeping turns while we heard the mind-blowing horror sounds in a totally dark place. Everybody screamed.
We went around and had taken some drinks and churros for snacks. We monkeyed around with Curious George by taking pictorials with him. Many children went to queue up for photo.
One day is not enough for Universal Studios. There were still so much to visit and see but we have to take our dinner at Beverly Hills. I was treated with a buffet dinner at Todai Restaurant. We enjoyed so much good food.
The train was just right on timeI alighted at Riverside Downtown train station at around six o’clock in the morning. I got out of the station thinking that I could easily be seen by my childhood friend Porfirio Basilio, Jr, who was my classmate in elementary and high school but he went the other way. Nevertheless he saw me from the bridge of the station and called me out as Apiong. We warmly greeted and hugged each other. It was nice seeing him after a long time. 
Pareng Jun droved me down for a quick visit to Riverside County Hospital where he works as a nurse. He showed me around to his workplace and introduced me to his colleagues and later took out a cup of coffee from the canteen. We proceeded to his house and I saw the mountains by the neighborhood which I requested to climb before we got inside his house. It was so peaceful and quiet at the top overlooking the entire Riverside. The city’s name was taken from the nearby Santa Ana River and this is the birthplace of the California citrus industry. I remember that California oranges were so popular. 
I met his family for the first time with wife Bernadette and children Chelsea and Jeremy. Chelsea is my inaanak. I was even surprised that she showed me the list of his godparents from an invitation card that she keeps. I was the third one from his ninongs that she met. We dined together for breakfast. I was lucky to be served with adobo and tuyo which I missed a lot. 
The following day we went for another round of shopping at Promenade Mall at Temecula. I bought some souvenir shirts and later watched movies at Edwards Cinemas. This was my first time to try a US cinema house. I enjoyed the latest movie release of Fast and Furious with Cristy whereas Oline took her kids on a separate animated movie.
On the last day of my sojourn, I thanked the wonderful family for my experience of the American Dream and bade them goodbye. I was fetched by Jun to show me around this time. We attended mass on an Easter Sunday at Corpus Christi Church in Corona Hills. Later, I witnessed the exciting Easter egg hunt by the children. Then we went for an early lunch at Cheesecake Factory then rested for few hours at their house. Jun and his kids took me to Downtown Disney and saw what was so American setting.
As Jun said that he has to feed me with Filipino foods before I go home to be acclimatized, he took me to a buffet eat all you can resto as they charged only US6 per person. Wow I was so full. I had so much of Pinoy foods before my flight. Later they sent me off to LAX airport and bade each other goodbye. All things simply have to end even if you hate it but I was happy to go back home equipped with those wonderful memories. I definitely had an adventure of a lifetime.
When I went out of the airport I did not expect that it was chilly and so I donned my jacket. I became excited to the thought of relaxing here since I had so much fun from my adventure especially in Peru. I was picked up by my host Jericho Ayson, my friend and former intern who had been working now for a year as physical therapist.
The very highlight of my sojourn in New Mexico was our outing organized by Jericho and his friends Grace, Jun, Maple and Joel. Together with his group, we went to Rio Grande Zoo where we saw various animals. I enjoyed our visit to the section of Africa. We saw giraffe, elephants, camels, flamingos, zebra, the marine animals too and so much more.
It was amazing to see the old building structures which were made of adobe. It’s a mixture of clay, mud and straw which is baked under the sun. Most modern structures were designed in the Spanish or Pueblo revival style. We saw the buildings of Museum of Fine Arts, Palace of the Governors, Public Library and other museums. The façade of Basilica Cathedral of St Francis of Assisi was covered undergoing some renovations ready for its anniversary celebration. Before we left the place, we saw a wedding couple and entourage parading around the plaza accompanied by a Mariachi, a Mexican musical group.
New Mexico has a nickname of the Land of Enchantment and joined the Union in January 6, 1912 as the 47th state. It is located in the southwestern region of the United States with the largest population of Hispanics and American Indians I remember that this state was the site of the documentary film Miss Navajo I recently watched in the American Indian Museum in Washington DC. It’s geographically made up of desert. The air was dry. The old historic US route 66 passes through this state that runs 487 miles.
It was really a good time but I have to move on to the last leg of my trip. Jericho and Ces sent me off to downtown for I took the Amtrak bound for Riverside. It was a nice transportation besides offering cheaper rates it has spacious legroom and amenities such as canteen and a viewing room.
We visited Parque Kennedy, the central plaza in Miralflores. We have seen the Cartuja de Santa María de Miraflores Church and the beautiful mansion Casa de Ricardo Palma. Then we went to Peruvian Market where I shopped for some souvenir t-shirts. We met up with Angel and Juliet at the same park who later took us to Larcomar Shopping Center. We walked down to the Lovers Park which is a popular dating place for couples. A kissing couple monument is the landmark for this park fronting and overlooking the beach area or the Costa Verde. I have seen a few surfers on the water.
I started my visit to the Congress building where I joined a group tour of the people from the jungle of Iquito. The guides showed us the plenary hall and the other features of the building. I met one of the congressmen. I have learned that the first Speaker of the House was a priest.
The building structures were so old. Plaza de Armas is the ultimate attraction of the city. It’s a nice place to spend an afternoon. You will find in the square old churches where you can visit, stores and restaurants that you can shop and dine. The Cathedral, Church of San Blas, Santa Catalina Convent, Church of San Francisco, La Merced Church and Church of La Compañia de Jesus are the churches the can be visited here.
We also visited the Inuwayan Falls which is located 0.35km from the center. We walked to the site for 30 minutes. We did not take a dip because we just had pictorials at it. This falls is small compared to Anuplig. These are only some of the alluring falls that can be found in the town of Adams.
One memorable experience we had was the donning and trying on the ethnic costumes. These are available at the tourism office and can be worn upon request. Yapayao and Igorot costumes were the ones available. I chose the Igorot costume since I have to only wear the G-string and a chaleco. Its actually my second time to wear it and I wore this for the first time during a program in Japan. The ladies then got intrigued if I wore underwear.
Manang Lita was the one responsible for borrowing the costumes for us and she even took us to the beautiful Inuwayan Falls for our pictorials. There was even a traditional Yapayao house built just beside the falls and we made use of it as our backdrop.
I went to this trip with Mai and Angelo of Redemptorist Missionaries in Baclaran, Dustine, Kevin, Rodolfo, and Herson of St Clement Seminary in Quezon City. We definitely had a great ethnic experience.
At the first round of the pageant, candidates sashayed on the ramp displaying their colorful traditional costumes. It was so amazing to see the hand woven costumes of different ethnic groups complete with accessories.
At the end the pageant the Muse and Adonis of Adams ran away with the title of Mr and Ms INCC. Runners up for Ms INCC were from Carasi and Dumalneg while Mr INCC were from Dumalneg and Adams.
Santacruzan (Festival of the Holy Cross) is a historical-religious beauty pageant held in most cities and villages of the Philippines during the month of May. It’s a colorful celebration during the Flores de Mayo. This joyful celebration is the commemoration of the search of the Holy Cross by Queen Helena or Reyna Elena and her son Emperor Constantine. After the Holy Cross was found in Jerusalem, it was brought back to Rome and a thanksgiving celebration was held. This is where the festivity started .
This festival was introduced by the Spaniards to the Philippines and it became part of the Filipino tradition. Aside from the novenas conducted, procession, and pageant; a culminating activity is being held for the children to enjoy. It is called pabitin. It is a square trellis where goodies such as candies, toys, chocolates were hung by strings and these are being picked by kids by jumping while the trellis goes up and down. This activity was held at the Plaza Maestro where the different goodies came from the business establishments nearby.
Calesa parade was also one of the events being conducted. Calesa is a tourism attraction in the city so annually they participate in showcasing their creative designs. There are more than 200 calesas in the city however, only 86 of them participated in the contest. Business establishments and organizations actually sponsor the decoration of each calesa. Decorations were so creative. They used indigenous materials such as the tobacco leaves, plants, corn, garlic, onions, and popular products empanada, longganiza, burnay and abel cloth.
I had the chance to talk to some of the kutsero or calesa drivers. One of them was Lakay Santiago who is in the business for 30 years now. He remembers that the fare then was only 10 centavos whereas now its already 50 pesos. A fee of 150 per hour is being charged to visitor for an hour ride around the city and nearby towns.
