Perrysonal

I am extending my gratitude to my cousin, Ms. Mary Blanche F. Santiago, for painstakingly editing all the pieces posted on this blog. Despite her busy schedule, balancing work and graduate school, she spares time and effort in putting quality into my works. Thank you so much!

‘The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.’ Sometimes things happen because they are meant to happen. Climbing mountains is something I didn’t envision myself doing. Ever. See, I’m a homebody. I’m generally very happy in the comfort of my own home; reading books, watching movies, surfing the internet, painting, cooking and baking. I’m helpless in the face of the great outdoors, as you can see. This, however, didn’t stop the sharp turn of events as they unfolded. The stress from my daytime job reconnected me to an old acquaintance, who is a long time mountaineer. He became instrumental in my discovery of love for nature, and this ultimately paved the way for my passion in hiking. My first climb is in Mount Daraitan which is located in Tanay in the province of Rizal. My long time friend, Alvin, invited me to join his group in a dayhike. I accepted the invitation with the reason that I really need to go somewhere to take a

All the works (essays, short stories, reviews, etc.) posted on this blog are all original composition of the author. No part of these works may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without the prior permission of the author of this blog.

‘The more difficult it is to reach your destination, the more you’ll remember the journey.’ It was a journey like no other. A journey that seemed to last forever, that eventually took twenty hours before finally coming to a conclusion. It was physically and emotionally exhausting as much as it was painful and stressful. Like its famous rice terraces, the road to Batad is full of twists and turns and ups and downs. My sojourn in Batad was a real nightmare with many unexpected setbacks, though in the end it turned out to be a rewarding and memorable one. Many unforeseen events happened during our supposed dayhike to Batad in the province of Ifugao. Our trip commenced on a Saturday night and started smoothly even after the expected delay. So we thought it will remain a comfortable and hassle-free journey until we reach our destination. But we were all wrong. Upon reaching Nueva Vizcaya our nightmare began. The main culprit is, guess what? It’s traffic. We got stu

‘When you reach the heart of life you shall find beauty in all things, even in the eyes that are blind to beauty.’ ‘It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.’ I don’t harbor regrets because I believe that whatever decision we did in the past is something that shapes who we are today. But if ever I will reveal probably the biggest regret I’ve made in my life, it is that I didn’t visit Vigan City sooner. I had loved to visit Vigan before it was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, or even after it was awarded the title as one of the New7Wonders Cities. I doubt if a lot of people then, knew that a place like Vigan did exist. I admit that I only painstakingly decided to go there following the hype created by the awarding of Vigan City as one of the new Seven Wonder cities. The city is always in the news, not to mention, countless ad campaigns in the media promoting this fantastic tourist destination. From then on, it seemed that most people