Claire Bear's Thoughts

I just read one of Ludwig Van Beethoven's famous love letter and a line there inspired me to write this article...

To be apart from the one you love most is the most agonizing thing one could ever have to go through. To have sleepless nights of constant thoughts of your love could be as cruel as death itself. And with this, I so wonder….

Why do lovers who claim to so dearly love each other choose to be apart? I could not comprehend how this should be.

I do not judge them with their reasons as it may be most true for them. Still, I am left puzzled.

To have witnessed several common situations as this, though with different grounds, I could not help but be saddened with the thought that they have to submit themselves to endless desire of being with the ones they love most - - the ones they claim as their life, their all.

Why be apart when you know you will be happiest together? Tell me please, help me grasp what you thought is best for you and your love.

As for me who has been in love with and loved by my truest love for almost eight years now, I would not have the courage to bid goodbye and be separated to him. It would cause my heart to unstoppably bleed. It would cause a lot of anguish…of sorrow… I so dread to feel.

So to you, who bravely opted to separate yourself from your most true love, tell me this, are you happy now?

I just got back from a one day exploration of the island of Camiguin last May 30th. I’ve wanted to visit the place ever since but never got the chance due to my work’s very hectic schedule. Good thing my boss permitted my applied vacation leave and with my constant pleading to my husband, he finally agreed to use his remaining leave credit and be with me on my vacation. Of course, we brought along our 6 year old daughter, Pia who was all excited as well.

I always loved to travel that is why even with the knowledge that the trip to the island requires almost 10 hours, I never hesitated to take it. And so the trip started off….

We reached Benoni Port, Camiguin at exactly 6:30 AM on May 30th with a very lovely sunrise greeting us. It was enough to take away the exhaustion from the very long trip we just made.

Now, what did I love about Camiguin? Let me enumerate….

First, I love the coastal roads they have. The trip going to our ecolodge, Enigmata, which took about 30 minutes, didn’t bore me at all since the view and the beach definitely entertained me.

Second, Camiguin has lots of ancestral houses…and they can be found right in the main streets of the island and since I love antiques, I’m always left opened-mouth every time I spot one. Too bad, I was not able to take pictures of every house I saw but I got one though, the ancestral house of the Corrales family, a famous clan in the island.

Third, I love the oldie feeling of the Gui-ob Church Ruins. I love looking at the details of the walls of the church. You can still see shells and rocks that penetrated the walls, probably due to the eruption of the old volcano.

Fourth, their beaches are so inviting with bluish-greenish clear waters. You can’t help but be tempted to take a dip.

Fifth, I could laze in their coldest cold spring even at mid-day!!! You will never feel the heat of the sun when you’re sank in their cold spring pools.

Sixth, even how exhausting it was to climb the walkway to the old volcano, the experience of having reached the top and experiencing the 15 Stations of the Cross was very fulfilling. You’ll probably wonder how the people were able to get the statues up there.

Seventh, I loved having to experience sunset at the White Island, one of my best moments ever, especially with the fact that I spent it with Dennis and Pia, my best friends.

Eight, I loved the fact that I was able to finally stay and sleep in a treehouse which is a childhood dream of mine. A dream fulfilled in Camiguin. The house was filled with artistically made crafts… by creative hands and minds. A piece of art!

Ninth, I could sleep in their hot spring forever!!! It was truly therapeutic. All the exhaustion from our 1 day tour vanished after a 2 hour dip in the hot spring. I so loved it!!!

Tenth, I had one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten my whole life in Camiguin! We had lunch at the Sto. Niño Cold Spring…we had tinolang lapu-lapu, sinugbang songhan (my first time to eat this fish and it was incredibly delicious!) and deep-fried native chicken (so tasty!) To add, we had fresh bukos as beverages!!! Super sulit meal and all at Php 452.00 only.

Camiguin is indeed one of the best memories I have…

This is a love letter written by Juan Luna...I just don't know for whom...It's quiet a sad love letter I should say, and I love it....

Someday my dearest, some things will be easier to understand. Time takes care of the truths we hold in our hearts, the most sacred things that sometimes have to be hidden, even from ourselves. We both accepted the uncertainty that threatened all our tomorrows and we tried not to let it matter and yet, it does matter for what use is a world that can only be real for a moment. Somehow, we all seek an amount of uncertainty in out lives, or else we lose whatever little grasp we have of the future.

I’ll always love you. That’s the only thing that will remain with me even after everything else has gone. What we had is the most real thing that even happened in my life. However, much it had been cloaked by deceit and lies. I don’t think that there could be anything else I would live or die for.

But we can’t continue to live within this world we’ve created for ourselves when another world exists outside, a world that will never give us a chance. I would have wanted to risk everything for you, but I can’t. Some realities are just far greater that you and I can’t continue to fight.

You and me, it was such a good dream.

Someone forwarded me this article and it does make a lot of sense...^__^

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes; but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes. One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese. You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice; yet the plural of house is houses, not hice. If the plural of man is always called men, why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen? If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet, and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth? Then one may be that, and three would be those, yet hat in the plural would never be hose, and the plural of cat is cats, not cose. We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother, we never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim. Let's face it, English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea, nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends, but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes, I think all the folks who grew up speaking English should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down; in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

Ang masasabi ko lang...oo nga naman....

When I was just a kid, whenever we go road tripping, I often experience nausea and I still have this travel sickness even until now and so I’d still have to take a pill every time I go traveling. Fortunately, Pia, my 6 year old kid, doesn’t have the same that is why as young as she is now, we’d take her wherever we go. And this kid’s got too much energy; I really wonder where it’s coming from knowing that she’s really petite.

Her first long trip was when she was still 5 years old…to Butuan. We were attending my inaanak’s baptismal and so we brought her along. We were very worried that she might get tantrums while in the bus or might go pee all the time so I had to force her wear diapers which she was really not agreeable with. She kept telling me “I’m not a baby anymore.” Still, I forced her. She was really excited to ride the bus which she calls a train at that time, by the way, and amazingly, she never gave me a problem the whole trip. She was enjoying the view and when we got to Butuan, she was still in the highest level of energy, unlike me who was all tired already. That time, I was just glad that she survived the whole 14 hours ride to and from Butuan.

This year, after our Camiguin trip, I can now say that my child is certainly a Certified Biyahera who, for the whole 19 hours to and from Camiguin, she never gave a sign of exhaustion. Never had any tantrum of any sort and this time, she insisted she’d not wear diapers at all.

If you can just imagine, we left Davao Thursday night at 9PM and arrived in CDO at 3AM. Then we headed towards Balingoan which took 1.5 hours and then boarded MV Yuhum towards Camiguin which was 1 hour long. The whole trip was without stops and rests. Right after arriving in Enigmata, we just changed clothes and had a quick breakfast and then proceeded immediately with our island tour which took the whole day. Our tour lasted until 10PM in the evening. So you see, from Thursday night to Friday night, we never really had much sleep or rest and yet, Pia was still all energetic. The next day, we were off our way back home which will take another 9.5 hours. The whole trip to Davao, she just slept like for an hour. We were all sleeping including the other passengers but she was still playing with her Barney toy and looking out the window just enjoying the view. As for me, I was asleep the whole time.

Pildi ko sa akoa anak oy!!!

The Highbound Adventures Society, Inc. sponsored a Php300.00 worth island tour of Samal last May. Since Jed, an officemate, is a member of the group, we got tickets right away as early as April. I joined the tour with Dennis and Pia, some officemates and some close friends. Since meals are not included in the fee, we decided to bring food individually and just share it.

And so May 17 came…

The meeting place is at the Sta. Ana Wharf where we will be boarding a 150 capacity barge, our tour boat. There were a lot who joined the tour, I was kind of surprised about it, and since we boarded last, we were left with backseats but no complaints though. After some waiting for latecomers, the journey started off.

There was a tour guide in front who talks about every spots we passed. He was using this amplifier so everyone could hear but it wasn’t beneficial for us at all who are situated at the back. So instead of listening to him, we just let the tour map guide us. They gave out maps as well. In addition, as part of their gimmick, they raffled out our tickets and gave out simple but memorable tokens of all sorts, from keyholders, tumblers, bracelets, necklaces, hammocks, etc.

There were 3 dropoffs…first stop was on the Vanishing Island which I really loved. It was truly beautiful! They call it the Vanishing Island because it actually vanishes when the tide is high. They built a cottage there though for whatever purpose people may use it for. There aren’t many trees as well but I noticed that there are mangrove trees just planted so I guess, in the future, we’ll be able to see more trees on the island. The sands is so, so white!!! We spotted huge starfishes as well with different colors. The dropoff was just for 15 minutes so we took the chance of taking as many photos as we can on the place.

On the way to our next stop, we passed on many beach resorts, and I was amazed at how resorts has mushroomed the island of Samal. There were a lot!!! We were able to pass on Pearl Farm which, unfortunately, I still haven’t stepped on to, and there was also this zipline where you’ll land right on the beach. Cool! I’d like to try that one of these days.

Next stop is on our lunch dropoff which is in Kaputian Beach Resort. The place is also nice with its real blue waters and white sand. There were many people that time so we were not able to grab a cottage so what we did was just put some blankets on the grassy parts of the island and enjoyed a picnic-style lunch buffet. Lunch is only for an hour so we just lazed in the island for a while and then boarded again the boat.

Our last stop is at Babo Santa, Talikud Island for some quick swimming. On our way there, we passed by Isla Reta which I haven’t gone to as well, and which I would really love to go to. One of these days, I hope. Finally, our last dropoff, Babo Santa. It was kind of different compared to my last visit more than 2 years ago. It’s more crowded and the beach was flooded with boats. Sadly too, I was looking forward to enjoying fresh bukos which I was able the last time, but there weren’t any this time. So, to pass the time, I decided to just take pictures instead of swimming. I was able to capture some nice shots of the island with my models (Mishi and Val) in tail. After an hour, we were already getting ready on our way back.
In conclusion, it was a tiring but fun and educational day...

We spent Easter Sunday at Eden Nature Park in Bayabas, Toril. I called them up a week ago and they said they have several Easter activities lined up for kids and so I thought my Pia would just love it. We took two of our friend, Redz and Fojie (BF-GF); it was their first time and my husband’s too.

I would say, the trip to Eden is quite long, but the higher you are in the mountains, the more you’ll enjoy nature and its wonders. You’d immediately forget the hassles of the city.

We purchased a lunch buffet package of Php420.00 each and a guided shuttle tour to the garden at Php50.00 each. The whole tour took an hour with our English-speaking guide explaining to us how the park came to be. And with each spot we passed by, she sure has a lot to say about it. Along the way, we got to see the different cottages in the park all available for accommodation. We also passed by their green houses, all abundant with vegetables. There were a lot of planted herbs which the guide gave us samples to smell….and I would say, they smell really good, I had no idea there were herbs like those.

We had 2 stopovers during the tour, one at the ampitheatre which has an overlooking view of Davao and which has a variety of pretty and colorful flowers. It is very ideal for weddings. The second stop was at Lola’s Garden which is filled with gumamelas and other native flowers. There was a nipa hut in there with a carabao at its side. There was also this wishing well, which they named Mayumi’s wishing well, the owner’s daughter’s name, which is filled with floating gumamela flowers of different colors. It was truly beautiful. As the tour continues, the guide showed us all the other attractions in the park which we could later on check out. The guide also brought us to the highest level of the park which is 3000 feet above sea level. What I also love about the park is that it has so many pine trees and the climate is nicely cold, you’d think you’re not in Davao.

While waiting for lunch, we let Pia play at their playground and we enjoyed ourselves as well riding in the Indiana Jones ride. And then lunch time came….There were so much food of all varieties. If I were a vegetarian, I would definitely enjoy their very colorful super fresh salads. All the vegetables they used in their menus were taken right from their gardens. I super enjoyed their baked macaroni, I had 2 servings. I would have to say, the package was kind of expensive but it was worth it.

Right after lunch, the magic show which they prepared for the kids started. The magician was James of Okiddo, a local show, and Pia, as expected, was so amazed with his tricks...all kids were.

Later, we explored more of the place by hiking and ended up in the Fishing Village. We tried our luck on fishing...they all caught some, all of them except me!!! All in all, we were able to catch 2 kilos of tilapia, 7 pieces in all and we decided to have it cooked and ate all of it. Whew!!! We had it cooked in 3 different dishes, 1. deep fried, 2. grilled and 3. pinaputok (covered in banana leaves and deep fried...unique!) All were sinfully delicious!!! I felt so bloated after eating.

After all that, we headed straight home and slept!! The hike got us all tired. No one dared eat dinner anymore.