A New Blog!

I’m creating a 2nd el toro bumingo blog. The reason? I already consumed my free 15 GB storage from Google that contains all the images I used on the 1^st el toro bumingo blog over the years. I am using the full size of the pictures straight from the DSLR and it’s probably the reason why the 15 GB got full. I also had that blog since 2011 and contains a lot of pictures from my #LocalTravel.

I bike my way to Quezon Memorial Circle yesterday. It’s almost 40 kilometers (back and forth) from my place in Pasig City. It’s my latest #LocalTravel this quarantine season and I did it via bicycle.

I still have tons of backlog from my 2019 travel that I want to share with you guys. Even if I’m working from home since March 2020 due to Covid19, I still haven’t published my photos of:

• Mangaldan, Pozorrubio, Laoac, Binalonan, and Urdaneta in Pangasinan
• Alaminos City (where a lot of ancestral houses are located), Bolinao, Lingayen, Binmaley, San Carlos City and Malasiqui  also in Pangasinan
• Naujan and Calapan in Mindoro Oriental
• Puerto Galera, San Teodoro, Victoria, Pinamalayan City, Roxas and Bulalacao also in Mindoro Oriental
• Boracay, Malay Town, Kalibo, New Washington and Balete in Antique
• Piat Town in Cagayan
• Callao Cave (Penablanca) in Cagayan
• Tuguegarao in Cagayan
• Balloon Festival in Carmona, Cavite – March 2020 (before the Enhanced Community Quarantine)
• General Community Quarantine (QCQ) Travels – via bicycle – to Cainta, Rizal
• Trip to Baras
• Trip to Tondo
• Trip to Quezon Circle

I’m hoping before the year end, I am up to date with my travel photos. It’s not much but I still love #LocalTravel

I hope that you’ll support me on this new blog the same way as you supported the 1^st el toro bumingo blog.

Let’s take care of each other and travel safe this pandemic era.

Technorati Tags: New Blog,el toro bumingo 2,#LocalTravel,#eltorobumingo2

Monasterio de Sta Clara, Katipunan

The Monasterio de Sta Clara (St Clare Monastery) is located along C-5 Road in Katipunan, Quezon City. I visited it a few days ago. I was in Marikina City that day and I decided to visit the famous monastery.

From Marikina Town Proper, I rode a jeep to Cubao and drop off to C-5 Road in Katipunan. Its a few meters away from the Katipunan Station of the LRT Line 2. I walked on an overpass to the other side of the road and followed the path where vendors are selling eggs wrapped in colorful cellophane.

The Monasterio de Sta Clara is one of those places of prayer where you will really find peace and tranquility (same as St Pio Chapel in Libis). There are statues to Saint Francis and Saint Clare. At a distance, I thought I’m seeing the entrance to the chapel, but it turns out to be the rear wall of the chapel.

There are lots of photocopied novena to Saint Clare lying around her statue. I took one, copied it, and posted it here on this blog.

Saint Clare of Assisi (July 16, 1194 – August 11, 1253, born Chiara Offreduccio and sometimes spelled Clair, Claire, etc.) is an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. She founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition, and wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been written by a woman. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, commonly referred to today as the Poor Clares. (Wikipedia)

Eggs are donated to the sisters residing at the Monasterio de Sta Clara, C-5 Road, Katipunan, Quezon City. It’s wrapped in colorful cellophane with each color representing certain prayer.

Is this the logo of the Order of St Clare?

Statue of Saint Francis near the entrance of the Monasterio de Sta Clara, C-5 Road, Katipunan, Quezon City.

Copies of the Novena to Saint Clare are left at the foot of St Clare’s statue.

The chapel at the Monasterio de Sta Clara. It’s very… serene and spiritual. The same feeling I had when I visited the Chapel of St Pio in Libis, Quezon City.

The statue of Saint Clare at the Monasterio de Sta Clara, C-5 Road, Katipunan, Quezon City.

Technorati Tags: Monasterio de Sta Clara,Katipunan,C-5 Road

My First Time At The La Mesa Ecopark

When my coworkers from our call center in Libis invited me to join them on their picnic at the La Mesa Ecopark, I immediately said yes, since I've never been to the place. I first heard about the La Mesa Ecopark from one of my fellow photographers. La Mesa Ecopark is one of the two most popular pre-nuptial shoot venue (the other being the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife). The La Mesa Ecopark is literally a good place to have “a stroll in the park”. It’s beautiful, green and wide.

The La Mesa Ecopark is part of the bigger La Mesa Watershed – an ecological nature reserve site in Lagro, Quezon City. From our call center in Eastwood City, Libis, we rode a jeep to Cubao and then another jeep to Lagro. We then rode a tricycle to the La Mesa Ecopark. The La Mesa Ecopark has so many facilities for different activities like biking, Zipline, fishing, paintball, bungee fan, horseback riding, among others. It also has such facilities like the Ipil Pavilion, swimming pool, Narra Pavilion, multi-purpose hall, Butterfly Haven, Drilon Orchidarium, Petron Amphitheater and boating pavilion.

There’s a P50 entrance fee that goes as a donation to the Save The La Mesa Watershed Project. So every visit to this park adds up to the fund used for maintaining this park. The La Mesa Ecopark indeed is a place for pre-nuptial shoot since we saw a lot of photographers and couples. The Drilon Orchidarium is also beautiful with its wide collection of orchids. It’s good to know that in spite of the modern city we live and work in, there’s always a patch of green that we could visit within the Metro, to unwind, relax and get in touch with nature.

Stairs leading to the La Mesa Watershed.

Statue of a couple (Malakas and Maganda?) on the back of a giant turtle.

The park has so many tall trees.

The La Mesa Ecopark is an ideal place for picnics.

The Orchidarium is dedicated in honor of Atty Violy Drilon. It has a wide collection of orchids.

The La Mesa Ecopark is full of beautiful flowers.

A unique tree.

Geese roaming around the La Mesa Ecopark.

There’s a souvenir shop at the La Mesa Ecopark that offers henna tattoo and sells dream catchers and other tribal ornaments.

The different activities (and facilities) that you can do at the La Mesa Ecopark.

BuzzNet Tags: La Mesa Ecopark,Lagro,Quezon City

Remedios Royale Resort, Novaliches

A few weeks ago, our team decided to have a swimming activity at Remedios Royale Resort in Novaliches. We also created a music video for our account’s Summer Song Contest. We selected Calvin Harris’ “Summer”.

Remedios Royale Resort is located at #6 Katipunan Avenue, California Village, Novaliches, Quezon City. It’s very far from our company’s location, which is Libis, and I wonder why my colleagues selected this place.

Aside from the downside (which is the location), everything else is okay with the resort. The cottages are nice. The place is clean and the pool is lovely. I have no idea how much our team paid for the day swimming but it’s a decent place.

BuzzNet Tags: Remedios Royale Resort,Novaliches,Summer,Calvin Harris