stamporama's VirtualTourist Home Page

Ahhh, back in the USA! What I really look forward to my trips here is not only do you get to see your relatives who live here but first and foremost to escape the SIZZLING HEAT of Manila! Really, global warming is becoming unbearable in my country, it's amazing that nobody has died of heat stroke yet (or perhaps it never gets reported?).

Anyway, for this year we've done away with the long road trips across America not only because my 2 kids loathe it, but with gas prices reaching as much as $4 a gallon, road trips are getting to be a costly option. But that did not stop us from travelling, even if it'll be in familiar places.

As in previous trips, we always go to New York City/New Jersey coz those are where my and my wife's sisters are. Which is fine as one just can't have enough of the Big Apple no matter how much you go there. To top it all, my other sister and her family from the Philippines also went there at the same time so we had a reunion of sorts but without my folks to join us.

My daughter's class in school staged an excerpt from the 'Lion King' Broadway version during a school contest and won. Now she longed to see the show that inspired her. So together with her brother, they watched the matinee whose tickets cost their poor father (that would be me) $ 164. But since they LOVED the show, I guess it was money well-spent.

As for my son...well, he's a die-hard fan of WWE, the staged wrestling program. While walking in NYC, we came across Madame Tussaud's wax museum and at the entrance was the figure of the Rock, one of the WWE's popular characters with his signature stare.

So much for NYC...

On our last US visit 2 years ago, our side trip was in Canada. For this year, we head south to Mexico. My son did not join us as the thought of seeing ruins and culture did not appeal to him (what, no amusement parks?!), so with my wife and daughter in tow we first stopped at the Mexican capital. But before going, we made a vow not to eat at any familiar fastfood restos (Burger King, KFC, etc.) and that we would eat only Mexican fare plus either tequila or margarita. And we DID! OLÉ!!!

As mentioned in my Intro page, we met up with Laura_Mexico and had dinner at a Mexican resto where the food was superb but also had a cultural show where a mariachi band played and folk dances were performed to my great delight.

Mexico City is also the pilgrimage site of the Basilica of Guadalupe, so as Catholics it was incumbent upon us to make a visit and hear Mass there.

What's sad about the place is that the earth upon which the church stood is so soft that the church is sinking. This becomes very noticeable when you enter the church and see that the floor is uneven. And when you look at the front facade from the side, there is a forward tilt that looks so precarious that a strong earthquake will certainly topple it. Heaven forbid!

During the planning stage for this trip, my wife said she would only go with me to see the Mayan ruins only if we passed by Guadalupe. And I agreed. Now that we have, we proceeded to the next leg of our journey -- the Yucatan to see the fantastic ruins of Chichen Itza and the surrounding areas. It was a dream come true.