When Libraries Rock and Rule!

This summer, I helped organize a library-museum-bookstore trip for the faculty of our high school. It was a lot of leg work but it was worth the time and effort. Our first trip was to the Ateneo University Press and the Rizal Library.

Librarian Angie showing us how it's done.

The press is on sale till June 29 so do come and buy books! Needless to say, we had good buys and got big discounts. I bought for my own consumption this book by Dr. Michael Asis, I am Because We Are. This is a book I can share with my family as well as couple friends in the Magis Deo community.

In the afternoon, we headed to the Rizal Library. We were welcomed by Tommy dela Cruz, our librarian tour guide. He did the usual rounds of the library tour but it was the Microfilm collection that took our breath away. The ALIW office was just as impressive as they hold original documents of manuscripts, passports, diplomas, etc. of women writers who've inspired and influenced many young women, particularly, to pursue their own dreams. To me, it was the Jose Garcia Villa exhibit that made me giddy. Villa was a big part of my college years studying literature and English at PNU. It gave me goosebumps reading his comma poems in his own handwriting.

Doveglion

 Majority of the teachers in the group were first timers in Rizal Library. Now they have an idea where to go should our small collection in the school library could not meet their specific information needs. Thank you Rizal Library for coming up with user friendly visitor guidelines. We hope to come back despite the distance from where we live (we're southerners) because there's so much more to see and discover in "your" library!

Next week, we are off to the Asian Development Bank library and the Lopez Museum and Library in Ortigas. We've schedule another book trip to Fullybooked, the UP Press and the Filipinas Heritage Library. Vacations and summers are usually spent in beaches and far off island retreats. Museums and libraries are tour destinations too. Here's hoping that more libraries and museums grow and develop for cultural tourism!

Here we are at the pictorial site.

Puerto Princesa City Tour

In the afternoon of April 29, 2010 Dir. Lou David and I went on a city tour of Puerto Princesa. We visited The Crocodile Farm, the Butterfly Garden, Baker's Hill, the Mitra Ranch and yes, the city's market. We rented a transportation to bring us to these places. The drive was slow but sure. There is a speed limit for all means of transportation in all of Palawan, so our guide told us. Signs on speed limit litter the road side. Needless to say, we reached every destination safe and sound.

The good view of the country side was an added treat. The temperature was searing hot, but with plants and tress in abundance, the warm weather in Puerto Prncesa was not as offensive compared to Manila. Our guide told us that Palawan is far from any fault line. Typhoons rarely visit or pass the islands.

The places we went to were the usual tourists fare. The skeleton of the giant crocodile displayed at the lobby of the Crocodile Farm museum was amusing. The fearsome reptile was caught with half a fisherman's body in its mouth. Five years later, it died in captivity due to stress. The Butterfly Garden was currently under construction so there was little to see. Mitra's Ranch offered us a breath taking view of Honda Bay. Baker's Hill boasts of the best hopia in town so I bought some for pasalubongs. At the market place, we bought fresh dried fish. Yes, fresh. The catch from the sea is immediately preserved. Cashew nuts are aplenty too. Roxas, the town next to Puerto Princesa is famous for its cashew trees. I got some for the hubby because nuts are his favorite snack.

If time would have allowed us to visit the Underground River, we would. But Dir. David and I have full schedules the following day. Now that gave us another reason to go back to Puerto Princesa some time in the near future.