When I asked how many islands the Hundred Islands really have, my tour guide Chu answered with the promptness of a seasoned beauty queen, “123 at high tide, 124 at low tide.” Tall and tan and charming, all she had to do was do The Wave and the crown was hers. The Hundred Islands in […]
Author: Betsy Gazo
I liken the click-clacking of the looms of Tabao to the metallic grating of the espadings in the haciendas. They say that where there is noise, there is money. Yet, there is a difference. “Ang linagating sang espading sa campo” is seasonal, but the rhythmic dance of wood with wood is heard the whole year […]
I cannot imagine how Marawi City looks like now. I do not even want to know. I prefer to preserve memories of my Marawi twenty years ago when, still fresh-faced and in between jobs, I took time to accompany a friend who began the first steps of her spiritual journey. Micmic Abello and I spent […]
I would like to think that our history books do not highlight enough the exciting event that is The Cry of Sta. Barbara, that 1898 revolt that gave the municipality its independence from Spain after the Philippine flag was raised for the first time outside Luzon. This municipality 30 minutes from Iloilo City is perfect […]
All Aboard Fastcat! How do you spend a day in Iloilo from dawn to evening without having to stay overnight? I mean from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.? It is possible with Fastcat’s Bacolod to Iloilo route where one boards and disembarks at the Banago port. Fastcat has a canteen that offers rice meals, snack […]
I started my blog www.betsynegrense.com last year and it was when I realized that blogging seriously is not a walk in the park. The park has rough pathways and is strewn with stones and, sometimes, dog poop. “Madugo” as we say in Hiligaynon colloquial to mean back-breaking, stressful work; and sometimes, underpaid or unpaid work […]
When the internet became an instrument for writers of all kinds (professional, frustrated, trying-hard, and the (ugh!) copycats), weblogs developed into platforms for all sorts of expressions (creative, rants, gossip, and (eeks!) fake news). Popularly known now as “blog”, individuals or groups create their online publication where they post regularly and update those posts. […]
In the Philippines, there are halo-halo, inday-inday, baye-baye, maya-maya, and, as I discovered in Pangasinan, there is pigar pigar. Akin to our carne frita without the sauce, the beef is cut into short strips, stir-fried in hot oil with sliced cabbage and lots of onion rings. “Pigar pigar” is the constant motion of stirring […]
This article should be titled “How I got My Back Power” and both titles would mean the same for me. It was quite timely on my part to finally see my doctor Filipinas Ganchoon, MD, FPARM, for what ails ladies when they reach their golden years. I am talking about my poor aching back. It […]
We all know very well that Negros Occidental is home to the Gaston clan, descendants of Yves Leopold Germain Gaston from Normandy, France. So, when I had to take a French couple around our province, lunch at Hda. Sta. Rosalia in Manapla was a natural choice and so was a visit to Balay Negrense in […]
