"Childhood Summers ..." Province of Pangasinan by juiCybeaR

Villasis, Pangasinan

It was here where my father was born and raised; here where I spent many summers running loose with my cousins, chasing geese and eating green mangoes with a variety of dips (my favorite being sukang Iloko with salt and a siling labuyo).

What I love about this place:
~ This is I can find most of my relatives on the father's side.
~ They have this hawaiian mango tree that never fails to bear yummy mangoes!
~ Plus other fruit trees such as: santol, duhat, langka... (by now it's obvious i'm an avid fan of fruits...)

What I dont like about this place:
~ Despite the fact that there ARE trees, the place is still very hot and the air is humid.
~ Not to mention very dusty too.

***

I went there last April 21 for my cousin's wedding. My lolo's house was full of activity, rooms were packed and the kitchen+dirty kitchen+backyard smelled of distinct barrio cooking--lechon and its derivatives (mechado, menudo, tocino, etc.). Needless to say, it was one heck of a riot but it was great to see family again. We slept at my uncle's house, fifty meters (or less) away, but lolo's house was where the happenings are (and incidentally, where food is plentiful too).

My cousin who got married is only a year older than I am. Just graduated a year or two ago. And now she's settled down. I'm (supposedly) next in line, but that's gonna be 4-5 years from now. =)

Me--Doing the bamboo bridge thingie 4 teambuilding

...that's the Healing Gardens of Geo Farm. Situated in the not-so-ideal for farming province of Pangasinan, in the town of Bayambang. Geo farm is a small organic farm that runs on...wastes!

Central to the life of the farm is the biogas digester. It well, basically digests the wastes and produces methane that fuels the cooking (no wonder the food's so yummy...) and other things as well (forgive me for the lapses, I think my classmates and I were too busy taking pictures to listen to the guide). They have seven healing gardens--herbs, cactuses, flowers (haha forget the rest) and other plants that are grown using organic agriculture--without the use of pesticides. Another feature is their production of Spirulina, a blue-gree algae (or was it bacteria?) that is purported to have magical healing wonders.

They also have an organic pool (that's how they call it, but I think the only diff is that they don't put chlorine in it...) and living quarters. And they cook such yummy food with ingredients straight from the farm, as they also raise native livestock fed with all-natural food (no commercial feeds). The farm also produces lemon grass tea and other organic foodstuffs, soaps, and spirulina derivatives.

It's a great place to go to if you're wanting to connect with nature in a different way than what usual resorts and camping trips to do for u Edgard and his wife are very nice and can be very informative, just be wary that their thing might not just be ur thing. =)

Clear waters...(and my friend's back)

Anda, Pangasinan is the biggest of the hundred islands. So after the visiting the place I have yet to see only 99 more (minus the others that have 'sunk' so they say) beautiful islets.

I am BS Community Development student at Univeristy of the Philippines Diliman, and we often do community exposure trips. Anda is one of our field's areas for practicum because of the certain moves being made in the area to sustain the coastal resource and manage peoples' organizations.

Anda is an island, so needless to say, the beach is the place to go to! Not all the areas around the island, though, are ideal for swimming. One side of the island is totally packed with fish cages, and on the other side, there are also a number of these. Certain areas, however, have been dedicated to ecotourism. The beaches around the island itself are not that extraordinary, but it's very easy to get to another island by a small boat or, during low tide, some walking and swimming! Nice eh?

• Pros:Nice beaches, good food.
• Cons:Hot, humid and dusty place.