Day 5

The Baths Tadlac x Dampalit

7:00 am

Try backtracking writing or braided

Memory of first Tadlak Lake walk


No traffic on Lopez. Young people on jeep. Some with large baggages. Possibly to travel via buses at Calamba.

Jeep stops at the junction. Talk about this junction a bit.

  • one of the most functional I’ve seen in the Philippines.
  • Most cities and towns dont have such a level of sophistication. Mostly relying on traffic enforcers
  • My father believes rhat when u put a traffic enforcer traffic getd wlrs
  • A really old traffic enforcer past the retirement age sits inside the shed and just talks via mic. He calls out errant drovers or gives directions. His favorite words “Go lng ng go. Sige lang go lng ng go” could easily be a motto.
  • Jeep stops at Olivez Plaza whose drainsge system is being repaired.
  • People waiting for buses are forced to wait beside a bank
  • Motorcycles blast into the side road endangering everyone else including cyclists.

Very tightnit community

Laguna lake

  • A man was over looking at Laguna Lake.
  • Two children were fixing their boat.
  • Children asking for photographs. They asked me what I was doing. I said I’m just enjoying how beautiful their place is. The boy said “Oo nga po eh.”

Tadlak lake

  • A couple came before me, sat on the end of the dock, where I once sat while enjoying the lake on a rainy day.
  • Tadlak lake is the best view of Makiling on water.
  • no fishermen
  • No boats
  • I wonder how locals value this beauty just on their backyard.

People here communicate

  • signs
  • They are the most approachable ive met so far

09682659777 Aling Maring Rullosta and Lorena Rullosta Lolo died 102 He stopped cooking kakanin at 98

Kakanin stories (connect with rice)

Subdivisions and then inside these are resprts

  • Makiling Onsen Hotel
  • Blue Garden Korean Restaurant (closed. Pandemic victim?)

Fiesta to dampalit

Water is cold here. Really cold. All silence is broken. But here is a noise so alluring I don’t think I can live without it again. The strength of the falls depends of the season. There was not much rain the past 3 days but there was last week. It isnt as strong as last I went here. This strength and sound is what I like better.

We are all pilgrims. A pilgrim approaches something he holds value. A deep care. Or perhaps even just a brief awe. But what if the germ from which awe and deep care comes from is even way simpler: the desire to break the monotony of one’s life, to post for a selfie, to experience something else, something different for the first time: what if this is where they spirit begins?

Fluttering butterflies

A meditation on children.