What to see in Baler

Baler is one of the most popular places to surf in the Philippines.  I don't surf but I got interested in the place when I read about the story on how surfing started in Baler.

It goes something like this - in the 70s, Francis Ford Coppola's movie "Apocalypse Now" was shot in Baler.  After the shoot, the movie crew left behind surfboards and the locals taught themselves on how to surf.   Today, it's not just Filipinos who go to Baler to surf but surfers all over the world.   It's amazing how one movie (without any deliberate intention) changed the fate of one simple and quiet town.

Over the weekend, we visited Baler.  It's about 4.5 hours drive from Pampanga (maybe about 5 hours from Manila).

The drive to Baler is very scenic.  You'll see landscapes like these -

We stayed at the Costa Pacifica Resort.  Here's the view from the main lobby. 

And here's our room -  

What's nice about the rooms is that windows are floor to ceiling and you get to enjoy a good view.  Here's the view from our room.

The interior of the resort is beautifully-designed.  Check out a waiting nook at the lobby - 

The food at Costa Pacifica is good. Breakfast is buffet. Yay! The resort offers lunch and dinner buffet too but it's a bit pricey at Php888 (if I remember right).  But you can always order ala carte if buffet is too much for you.

Here's the boardwalk.  

In the morning, the beach is teeming with surfers.  This was about 8am on a Saturday morning.

Since I don't surf and don't have the guts to try it out, I was contented just watching the surfers. :)

In exploring Baler, you could hire a tour guide.  I'm not sure if the rates across Baler are standard but the tour guide we arranged at the hotel costs Php1,500 (assuming you have your own transportation).  If you don't have a vehicle, they offer van rental for Php2,000 (half-day).

The tour usually lasts 3 to 4 hours. But in our case since we started way past noon, we weren't able to visit all the places in the standard itinerary.  Here are the places we visited:

1. Dicasalarin Cove.  This is the personal property of Senator Ed Angara but they allow tourists to visit.  There's an entrance fee of Php100.  

I've heard people say that Baler reminds them of Hawaii and when I saw this spot at Dicasalarin, it did remind me of Hawaii. Breathtaking view.  That's Pacific Ocean right there.

According to our tour guide, this is where Sen. Ed Angara stays when in Baler.

 

There are 4 cabin-like accommodations connected to a gazebo.

Here's the view at the Dicasalarin beachfront.  

And that tiny white thing on top of the rock formation is the Dicasalarin lighthouse.

Within the Dicasalarin premises, there are also sabutan trees.  

Here are close up shots of the sabutan leaves.  The tour guide said its fruits, which look like orange pineapples, are poisonous.

For those not familiar with sabutan, the leaves are made into straws and dyed like these. 

And then they are woven into bags, slippers and wallets like these -

They are also made into gowns and occasionally worn by beauty pageant contestants. 

2. Ermita Hill.  This is the place where you'll find the statues below. This commemorates the tsunami survivors of Baler in 1735.  The survivors who come from seven different families swam towards the Ermita Hill which saved their lives. 

3. Museo de Baler.  Fronting the museum is a statue of Pres. Manuel Quezon who's from Baler.  

Within the grounds, there's also a replica of the house where Pres. Quezon was born and raised. 

Inside the museum, you'll find artifacts, artworks and also memorabilia from the movie "Baler".

Costume worn by Anne Curtis in the movie "Baler".

Costume worn by Jericho Rosales in the movie "Baler".

Preserved Philippine Eagle

 4. Dona Aurora Quezon's house.  This is the replica of the house of President Manuel Quezon's wife, Dona Aurora.

Here's inside the house.

5.  Baler Church.  Right across Dona Aurora's house is the Baler Church.  

Once upon a time, this church served as a garrison for renegade Spanish soldiers.  This group of soldiers only surrendered to the Americans after one year of American occupation.  Because of this, this is considered the last Spanish stronghold in the Philippines and also known as "Siege of Baler".

That's all we saw around Baler.  I think the spots we missed to visit due to lack of time were the Balete Tree and Mother Falls which were a bit far.

Here are other tips:

For food, we also tried Bay's Inn - just adjacent to Costa Pacifica.

We tried several dishes but their bestseller according to their waiters (as well as from online articles) is the Garlic Chicken.  Yum.

As we were planning where to eat next, we checked the menu of the adjacent Baler View Inn and found out that most of the items we ordered at Bay's Inn were available there too.  Their garlic chicken might be worth checking out too.  

In the morning, there are vendors who peddle Suman.  The suman is wrapped in sabutan leaves.  I like Baler's suman because it's not too sweet.  The suman costs about Php5 per piece.  The breakfast buffet in Costa Pacifica has suman too and they have chocolate flavored suman.  Yum.  

For pasalubong, you can go to the Pasalubong Center located near the market (palengke).  This is where you can buy sabutan-made products, souvenirs and food items.  

Another popular product of Baler is Nanay Pacing's homemade peanut butter and coco jam.  There's a sales outlet just a few minutes away from the Pasalubong Center.  Each bottle costs Php150.  

If you like vinegar (like I do), you can also buy a bottle of Sukang Tuba.

Lastly, while in Baler, don't forget to appreciate the beautiful sunset. It's opposite the beachfront though. :)

A short gist of Wicked the Musical

My first exposure to Wicked was hearing the Broadway soundtrack in 2007 and I fell in love with the songs.  I kept listening to the soundtrack over and over again even if I didn't know the story.  Then in 2008, I saw a Wicked book in a bookstore, got a copy and finally read it.  Later that year, I got to watch Wicked the Musical at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood during a vacation.

I couldn't forget that day because my friend and I were running late for the show and we didn't have the time to change clothes.  We ended up going straight to the theatre in shirt, jeans and sneakers!  And the people seated beside us were in long gowns and suits! Cringe... But I forgot what I was wearing the moment the musical started. It was the best musical ever.

When I heard Wicked was going to be staged in Manila, I decided to buy tickets.  But even if I read the book and watched it already, I couldn't remember much of the details.  All I could remember was Elphaba, the green-faced witch, isn't really wicked.  She is kind and intelligent except that some unfortunate circumstances in life pushed her to do what she did.

While everything is still fresh on my mind after watching the matinee of Wicked in CCP today, I'll have to write my cheat sheet.  However,  if you're planning to watch Wicked and you don't want any spoilers, please stop reading now.

If you read or watched "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", Elphaba, is also known as the Wicked Witch of the West (the witch who melted when Dorothy threw a bucket of water at her).

Elphaba's mom was the wife of the governor of Munchkin.  When the husband was away, the wife fooled around.   One time, while the governor was away, she fooled around with a man who made her drink a bottle of green liquid.   Months after, she gave birth to a green baby - Elphaba.

Elphaba had a younger sister named NessaRose but she was born with underdeveloped legs so she was wheelchair-bound.  Nessarose was the dad's favorite and when they went to university, the dad gave her a pair of beautiful shiny shoes.  (NessaRose later became the Wicked Witch of the East - the witch which was killed when Dorothy's house landed on her; if you remember in the movie, the witch had shiny shoes which Dorothy ended up wearing).

Anyway, before the two sisters became known as wicked witches, they were good. Here's a brief flashback:

While in University, the two sisters met Galinda (who later became the Good Witch).  Galinda was pretty and popular. When one of the professors asked the class who would like to accommodate Elphaba as a room mate, Galinda accidentally raised her hand (but for another reason).  They ended up becoming room mates but both hated each other.

One day, Fiyero (a prince) arrived at the university and Galinda was smitten by him.  She wanted to focus her attention on Fiyero but she had an admirer/stalker named Boq. To get rid of him, she asked Boq to do a good deed for her and that was to invite the helpless Nessarose for the school's upcoming dance.  Nessarose thought Boq truly liked her so Boq ended up riding along since he didn't want to hurt Nessarose's feelings.

As I mentioned, Galinda and Elphaba hated each other and Galinda liked to mock and make fun of Elphaba. On the day of the school dance, Galinda saw her black witch hat which was a gift from her parents.  She decided to give it to Elphaba to wear to the dance so she would look like a fool. Elphaba was touched and thought it was a sincere gesture.

During the dance, their sorcery professor approached Galinda and gave her a magic wand.  The professor relayed to Galinda that Elphaba (who was the professor's favorite) asked her to give her the wand and to include her in sorcery class or else Elphaba would quit sorcery class.  Galinda felt guilty for Elphaba's sincere gesture.  So when Elphaba came to the dance wearing the black witch hat and while everyone mocked her, Galinda danced with her.  That started their friendship.

Around that time in the university, there were strange things happening like animal professors were disappearing and the last animal professor (who Elphaba really looked up to) was banned from teaching.  The students were told that animals should be in cages instead.  The new prof demonstrated this cage treatment to a lion cub (this became the Cowardly Lion).   Elphaba and Fiyero ended up saving and releasing the lion that day.  That also started a special friendship between Elphaba and Fiyero.

When school was over, the Sorcery's professor informed Elphaba that she finally got an appointment for her to see the Wizard of Oz.  Elphaba ended up inviting Galinda with her to Oz.  When they met with the Wizard, the Wizard asked Elphaba to demonstrate her gift of sorcery by doing a levitation spell to a monkey.  The Wizard and the Sorcery professor asked Elphaba to read something from the book of spells.   Her spell made the monkey turn into a gargoyle and Elphaba found out that there were more monkeys inside cages that became gargoyles.  Elphaba was outraged for being tricked.  She also realized that the professor was a fake (he doesn't have any power) that's why he needed someone to do the spells for him.  The Wizard called in the guards and Elphaba was declared a criminal. Galinda, on the other hand, decided to stay in the city and she was declared a Good Witch and became a public figure in Oz spreading cheer and encouragement.  Fiyero became the head of the army.  Eventually, Galinda and Fiyero got engaged after Galinda proposed to him.

While Elphaba was in hiding, a lot of rumors were spread about her - one of which was that her heart was so impure that water could melt her. (This is important as it is critical in the latter part of the story.)

Anyway, moving on, one time, Elphaba visited Nessarose who was now the governor of Munchkin after their father passed away.  Nessarose asked Elphaba to use her sorcery to make her walk and she successfully did.  When Boq (who ended up becoming a servant of Nessarose since he was a Munchkin himself) learned that Nessarose could already walk, he felt free to leave Nessarose and he planned to go to Oz to declare his love for Galinda, his true love.  Nessarose got mad and read a spell from Elphaba's book to remove Boq's feelings, literally removing his heart.  To save Boq, NessaRose asked Elphaba to do another spell and the only way to allow him to live without a heart was turn him into a Tin Man.

Elphaba returned to Oz to release the caged gargoyles.  The wizard offered her a deal - he will release the gargoyles only if she agreed to work with him.  She agreed and the Wizard opened the cage.  However, Elphaba suddenly saw her goat professor coming out from the cage.  Realizing the Wizard was behind the disappearance of the animal professors outraged Elphaba.  The Wizard called in the guards for help and ordered them to capture Elphaba.  Fiyero, being the head of the army, distracted his soldiers to save Elphaba and he escaped with her.  This hurt Galinda as his fiancee chose Elphaba over her.  Out of anger, she suggested to the Wizard and the Sorcery professor that the only way to get Elphaba is to spread rumors that Nessarose was in danger.

They didn't spread any rumor. Instead, the Sorcery professor created a cyclone which resulted to Dorothy's house landing on NessaRose and killing her.  Elphaba mourned for her sister and as she was mourning with Galinda, guards arrived and they tried to arrest her but Fiyero arrived to defend her and she was able to escape.  Fiyero was captured and was tortured in a cornfield.  Elphaba tried to make a spell to save him and so that he won't feel any pain.  Fiyero became the Scarecrow.

Meanwhile, Galinda found out the plans of the Wizard and the Sorcery professor to attack Elphaba's castle so she went to see Elphaba to warn her.  Galinda offered to tell the truth to the public and clear Elphaba's name but Elphaba refused since she thinks that people will turn against Galinda if she does that.  Elphaba made Galinda promise never to tell the truth and to just let people believe what they already believe.

Guards arrived in Elphaba's castle and fought with her. This is to save Dorothy. BTW, the only reason why Elphaba detained Dorothy was because she wanted her sister's pair of shoes back which Dorothy was wearing. Anyway,  Dorothy ended up throwing water at Elphaba (in the movie though, I remember, the dress of the witch caught fire and Dorothy's intention was just to put off the fire).  Elphaba melted (as it has been rumored that she will be melted by water) and that was the end of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Galinda ended up being in charge of Oz after discovering all the evil doings of the Wizard and the Sorcery professor.  It was also revealed that the Wizard was the father of Elphaba when Galinda saw the same bottle of green liquid in the Wizard's lab which Elphaba had (a souvenir left by her mom).

In the ending, the Scarecrow and Elphaba are seen together leaving Oz.

The turn of events in my gist might sound serious but the lines are very witty and funny, and the music is really upbeat and fun.  If you ever get the chance to watch it, just watch it. :)

What I talk about when I talk about running

I often see books of Haruki Murakami on display shelves but since I don't read a lot of fiction, I've never thought of picking one.  A couple of years back, a friend mentioned that one of his best reads is Murakami's "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" which isn't a fiction but a memoir.  That got me interested and I finally got around to read a Murakami book over the holidays.

From the title, yes, it is about running since Murakami enjoys running, joins marathons and he considers it a very important part of his life.

He begins his book by sharing how an article about marathon once caught his attention when runners were asked what goes through their head to keep themselves pumped during the race who all gave different answers.

When Murakami asked his older brother's mantra when he runs, he shared:
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you start to think, Man this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself. 

I've never run a marathon and my farthest fun run is just 5K (haha!) but what keeps me pumped up is  thinking about the big breakfast we'll have after the run.  Big breakfast...Big breakfast... is my mantra. :)

I enjoyed reading Murakami's book and here are some of my favourite excerpts:

On time:
There are several reasons why, at a certain point in my life, I stopped running seriously. First of all, my life has been getting busier, and free time is increasingly at a premium. When I was younger it wasn’t as if I had as much free time as I wanted, but at least I didn’t have as many miscellaneous chores as I do now. I don’t know why, but the older you get, the busier you become. 
(I couldn't agree more.  Chores and errands just keep on adding as soon as you tick off some!)

On competing with others:
The thing is, I’m not much for team sports... I’m also not very good at one-on-one sports like tennis. I enjoy squash, but generally when it comes to a game against someone, the competitive aspect makes me uncomfortable.... Don’t misunderstand me—I’m not totally uncompetitive. It’s just that for some reason I never cared all that much whether I beat others or lost to them. This sentiment remained pretty much unchanged after I grew up. It doesn’t matter what field you’re talking about—beating somebody else just doesn’t do it for me. I’m much more interested in whether I reach the goals that I set for myself...
(Funny but that's how I feel about playing too. I don't care whether I win or lose.)

On winning and losing:
In the novelist’s profession, as far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as winning or losing. Maybe numbers of copies sold, awards won, and critics’ praise serve as outward standards for accomplishment in literature, but none of them really matter. What’s crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you’ve set for yourself. Failure to reach that bar is not something you can easily explain away.
(Beautiful.)

On growing old
I don’t care about the time I run. I can try all I want, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to run the way I used to. I’m ready to accept that. It’s not one of your happier realities, but that’s what happens when you get older. Just as I have my own role to play, so does time. ... And one of the privileges given to those who’ve avoided dying young is the blessed right to grow old...
(Growing old is a blessing!)

On pursuing your goals
I didn’t start running because somebody asked me to become a runner. Just like I didn’t become a novelist because someone asked me to. One day, out of the blue, I wanted to write a novel. And one day, out of the blue, I started to run— simply because I wanted to. I’ve always done whatever I felt like doing in life. People may try to stop me, and convince me I’m wrong, but I won’t change.
(Very inspiring.)

While reading the book, I also found out that the distance from Athens to Marathon is just 25 miles - a mile short from the official length of a marathon which is 26.2 miles.  Murakami discovered this as he ran there once. He said that if you watch the Athens Olympics, you'll notice that at some point, runners go off on a side road then later return to the main road. The side road makes up for the extra mile.

For those who aren't aware of the origin of marathon, Marathon is a place in Greece and legend says that there was once a Greek messenger (sometime in 490 BC) who was sent from Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians have been defeated in the Battle of Marathon.  It is said that the messenger ran the entire distance without stopping. When he reached Athens and exclaimed that they won, the messenger sadly collapsed and died.

Anyway, if you're into running, or even just brisk walking, or writing, "What I talk about when I talk about running" is a good read.  You'll be able to relate to a lot of Murakami's stories.

As a final note, I like what Murakami said about running:

When I’m running I don’t have to talk to anybody and don’t have to listen to anybody. All I need to do is gaze at the scenery passing by. 

This is exactly how I feel too - when I am walking!  Haha... :)