Raw and wild, Bucas Grande is a paradise

SOCORRO, SURIGAO DEL NORTE—We were warned: the trip going here could take forever. Almost finishing one clock cycle, the journey could mean dozing off inside your vehicle, passing by pot-holed roads and experiencing provincial scenes along the way.

“Are we there yet?,” was asked on an hourly basis, perhaps a reflection of either weariness or excitement.

But as expected, there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Now seven hours on the road on the waning days of blistering summer, we reached the reddish town of Claver, our gateway to one of Mindanao’s best destinations. From there, a 45-minute banca ride took us to paradise.

Welcome to Bucas Grande Islands, where different shades of blue and green serve as an effective killer of exhaustion. It’s the color of sweet escape, too, where all over the place the sweet marriage of blue and green are pleasant for the eyes to see. The truth is, everywhere you look—and I’m talking 360 degrees—the panoramic vistas are just perfect background for a photograph.

APPROACHING PARADISE. Making your way to Bucas Grande is an exciting experience.

Bucas Grande lies in the northern part of Mindanao and shares the famous waters of Siargao. It’s under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Socorro of the Province of Surigao del Norte—a province known for wide array of sea-based activities.

Here, happiness abounds, thanks to the frolic waves, the awesome coves, the white sand on distant shores, the cliffs, the caves, countless lagoons, lakes and the jellyfish.

Bucas Grande is such a bliss.

Stingless jellyfishes make Bucas Grande as their abode, living calmly and peacefully in a solemn cove with waters the color of a posh swimming pool. One has to pass a narrow passage to enter this cove, which could elicit a feeling that somehow you’re like entering a basilica. It was a fleeting moment, but having the opportunity to touch a jellyfish is bliss.

Beauty that is Lake Holon

Panoramic Shot of the amazing Lake Holon in Tboli, South Cotabato

The mountains persisted in summoning my soul despite the countless times I dreaded it for its treacherous hills and its dangerous ravines. This time, I found myself in the deep jungles of South Cotabato's tribal municipality of T'boli, a land endowed with the gifts of nature and nurtured by the vibrant people that carried its name. In this town, simplicity is king, from its laid-back poblacion to the peaceful sitios. Life is slow here, which makes it all the more enticing. In this town also lies what could be considered as South Cotabato's prized gem—Lake Holon—which, despite its being serene and silent and relatively unknown, trumpets the moniker of the province as a prime destination for tourists possessing an excess appetite for adventure.

Centuries ago, the place where the lake is situated has become a witness to the rumblings of Mt. Parker, a stratovolcano that has last erupted in 1641. The eruption led to the formation of the Crater Lake, that became an abode for different creatures including the highly-celebrated tilapia. For two years in a row, Lake Holon—settled at 1,350 meters above sea level— earned the distinction as the cleanest lake in the Philippines.

The T'bolis protect it with highest regard, considering it as the gift from the Supreme Being. While allowing the public to marvel at the lake's unparalleled beauty, the tribe also sees to it that the lake will not be subject for abuse and destruction. The soft-speaking T'bolis, who undeniably bears the country's warmest smile, commit their life to maintain the sacredness and cleanliness of Holon.

Holon is an image of serenity and peace from afar and at close range.

In the waning days of this year’s blistering summer, I joined a number of travel bloggers from Davao and Manila to discover Lake Holon. From a distance or at close range, enjoying the beauty of the lake is sweet and satisfying. But getting to Holon is not easy as strolling in the park. One has to walk past through a thick canopy of forest trees, in a trail that will offer you different treats taking form of a cold stream, towering trees with really huge trunks, abaca, wild orchids and flowers or better yet, the company you’re with.

Drench and Sunny Tales

One never runs out of superlatives when it comes to Mati, that fabled town 114 kilometers south of Tagum City. To label the place as "amazing" is actually an understatement. With its picturesque seascapes and landscapes, Davao Oriental's prized gem is truly a haven for extroverts and introverts alike. I'm no stranger to this place, having visited it in different occasions, yet I keep coming back. Some would frown on me frequenting the place, but who am I to be blamed?

Last week, I was joined by my officemate Leo and bestfriend Zyzle in yet another weekend escapade to Mati. This time, we took it slow and just let ourselves be taken by our restless feet to anywhere it would lead us. It turned out to be a worry-free trip and we just enjoyed every bit of it without breaking the bank. The good thing about traveling with buddies who perfectly understand the idea of being a "backpacker" more than the idea of being a "tourist" is that you don't worry when one decides to hike rather than commute, eat in a carinderia over a fancy café or sleep in a simple hostel rather than a posh resort.

THREE'S A CROWD. Me, Zyzle and Leo in Dahican in Mati City.

The threat of a looming low pressure area brought an overcast sky on that Saturday morning when we left Tagum bound to Mati. The sky brought fury in the afternoon, with the intermittent rain bringing a heavy downpour and damping mists to the cottage's balcony where we stayed for a night. But this didn't hamper us to enjoy the moment. A traveler's greatest nightmare aside from missing the ride is actually the dark sky, the rain, the fierce wind and everything that goes in between. Those don't make a good setting for a perfect photograph.

The Book Thief: A Movie Review

There are no real winners in war; all are losers.

But behind the pandemonium, as in many disasters, is a champion—not the villain strategists, the soldiers nor the bombers, but the greatness and goodness of the human spirit. Wars may represent all the evils in the world,but the tiny and unnoticed details prove otherwise.

The Book Thief, based on the novel of the same title authored by Markus Zusak, succinctly provides the grim realities of war and the price every soul has to pay. Casualties and bombed buildings in rubble may quantify its damages, but its unspeakable horror goes beyond every poor soul: a child longing for love and affection, families that have to part because of segregation and forced duties.

Set during the aristocratic rule of Adolf Hitler in Germany, the movie follows the story of Liesel, a girl who has all the right to be mad at the world but chose not to. Hers is an admirable story of a soul-searching little girl looking for answers to the questions that haunt her. Life has been grossly unfair to her,and every episode in her life is mimicking that of a bomb's explosion loud enough to tear your heart apart.

The movie starts and ends with a narration by death, who in the finale told that it has constantly overestimated or underestimated the human race. Faced by many misfortunes, death wondered how the same thing could be so ugly and glorious,and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.

What I like about the movie is its love for words, most especially how death narrated his amazement at humans. The discourse between Liesel and Max and his adoptive parents are equally thought-provoking. I just wonder how words both written and spoken can mean so much in time of chaos; how it comforts in time of despair and fear; how it offers hope amidst a helpless situation.

In times of war, these words are much louder than exploding bombs. I have never been so interested in the evil rule of the Nazis under their self-righteous Führer until last night after watching the film, especially after learning for the first time a book-burning ceremony to get rid of"intellectual dirt." This adds up to the kristallnacht during Hitler's time, which calls for a violence and death against the Jews.

Poetically delivered in the movie,the dialogues trigger certain emotions enough for you to connect in each character, most especially to Liesel and her parents. These dialogues and lines blend well with excellent cinematography, which makes it one of my early favorite movies this year. The visual scope of The Book Thief is indeed remarkable. And did I mention that the Academy Award-winning John Williams provided the musical score for the film?

The words written in this movie review doesn't compensate the thrill of watching it in the big screen. It tells of the goodness and the greatness of the human spirit that even death wondered how it is to live:

"In my job, I'm always finding humans at their best and their worst, and you always wonder how the same thing can be both. I've seen many great things, attended the world's worst disasters, worked for a great many villains."

Referring to Liesel, death narrated:I took great pleasure that she had lived her ninety years so wisely. She was one of the few souls that made me wonder what it was like to live.

Despite the grim realities of war, Liesel indeed taught us what it was like to live and embrace every episode with a brave heart and a soul never seeking for revenge.

Louie.

Back to Square One

How do you unlove a person?

The latest blockbuster hit from Star Cinema "Starting Over Again" employs a simple-structured plot that have surely been presented in the silver screen before. Themes of closure, happy endings and moving heavens and earth to win back the love of your life had already been accepted as vital elements of a blockbuster hit, and anything that revolves around these themes will be considered a passé and obsolete.

But Starting Over Again managed to turn things around in presenting the so-called merits of the case. It did so by trying to find an answer to the penultimate question of unloving a person and erasing the memories of the past. Along the process, it showed the difficulties that come with it, especially so that time and destiny seem to be in tandem in rekindling the old flame. Both the lead actors Piolo Pascual and Toni Gonzaga gave justice to their characters. Some films failed on banking on professional pretenders plainly acting as themselves but in the two-hour romantic flick, we don't perceive them as Pascual and Gonzaga, but as Marco and Ginny, respectively.

I first weighed on the film's effectiveness loosely on the characters but reflecting the entire Film on my way back home, I think such great film as Starting Over Again credits its success to a good story material that was presented in such a meticulously-planned pacing. It didn't bother its audience with the problem of finding the causes of why things ended up that way. You just sat there and be blown by the turn of events and lo and behold, you just found yourselves the answers to the questions that's been running in your minds since the beginning of the film. It was never a spoon-feeding film nor a formulaic step-by-step build-up, but rather it was able to move on with the flow of the story by offering a trip down memory lane which further nailed the story.

What I find amusing is how they were able to create a fictional love letter-sending website where one letter sent by Marco to Ginny became the latter's springboard to win back the love of her life. Such a tricky move, considering that she's the one that got away in the first place. Such letter pokes her to reality and embarked her on almost false hope. Ah, what love can do!

The film's true-to-the-core narrative was effective maybe because we can connect or relate to each of the characters. We can maybe connect to the fact that we are passionate about pursuing our dreams that we forgot the ones dear to us, or the other way around. We can maybe connect through the fact that along the process of loving somebody too much, we lose ourselves and forget the world won't stop revolving without them. We can also relate because when you miss someone or love someone too much, every little thing reminds you of your love.

But as what the movie tried to answer, how do you really unlove a person?

You can't. You don't. There's always this one person that no matter how hard you try to forget, you fail. It's because this person has become an integral part of your being. You may end up with someone in the future, but there's always this person you wished you could be together in the end. Or that someone you wish could join you in everything you do whether in traveling, dining out, spend weekends with, or better yet, spend forever with.

While there are dreams that really do come true, there also those that remain as such. You can work hard for it to turn into reality, but when things don't go well the way you planned, don't fret. Acceptance holds the key to moving, closures and happy endings as what Starting Over Again tried to impart.

So when Ginny finally decided to hit the delete button and move on, it was truly the greatest gift she had given herself. More than that, it's actually the peace of mind, knowing that she won't sleep with regrets because she had given her all. It's like playing Flappy Bird: you get annoyed, you get depressed, but you have no choice but to dust yourself off and move on. It's definitely tiring to go back to square one, but it's the only practical thing to do.

L.

The Curious Case of Frank Underwood

Kevin Spacey plays the wicked Congressman Frank Underwood in the political drama series "House of Cards" shown in Netflix. 

Congressman Frank Underwood knows how to win you over. With his fierce eyes aimed at the camera, his soliloquy lets you unravel the pitfalls of ambition and thirst for power.

Frank Underwood is the anti-hero in what I believe is the best political drama series to date—House of Cards—that offers a backstage pass to the halls of the United States Congress, its working environs and the portrayal of Washington D.C. as a melting pot of people good and bad.

House of Cards’ fluid storytelling can be credited to both concept and good direction—it’s as if the production team plans to drop a bombshell in every episode, a thing they managed to achieve. Each episode—from the beginning until the very end of its first season—offers a gripping tale of influence, interests, ambition, revenge and one’s thirst for power. The themes tackled by House of Cards can be very vague ideas to an ordinary person, but as the story unfolds, the audience can understand how these fuel the ineffable desire to wield power and influence and stay on the top.

Congressman Underwood, a Democrat, is the complete representation of that. He just doesn’t want to be seen; he wanted to be significant. After being backstabbed by the President who failed his promise to make him Secretary of State, Frank plots revenge to the administration he helped elect. In doing so, he gets the nod and help of his equally ambitious wife Claire, who heads the non-profit organization called Clean Water Initiative.

As the show suggests, politicians like Frank (played by the great Kevin Spacey) can be covered by good imaging and well-thought public relations strategy. Through this, politicians are fashioned as god-like individuals to make them appear clean, fresh and appealing to the public that elects them to public office. How they managed to get on top or how they struggle to stay there remains unblemished and kept away from the public’s keen scrutiny.

This is how Frank Underwood fashions himself, laying his cards one step at a time without tarnishing his unstained reputation. He sits as House Majority Whip—enough reason to explain his insurmountable amount of influence. As he lays down his cards, he utilizes this influence to advance his own interests and personal ambitions.

More often than not, politics can be like that. As writer James Poniewozik puts it, you are either eating flesh, or you are on the menu.

Watching the first season of House of Cards is truly entertaining. Watching it makes you a part of a wicked world, and as Frank Underwood talks to you straight to the camera, you can’t help but be a part of his wicked ways to not just be part of the circle of the powerful but be the most significant of them all. You knew, but hates to admit, that he definitely won you over.

Louie.

The Second Season of House of Cards will be released February 14, 2014.