Had the chance to visit the Rizal Shrine at Calamba. Went around Rizal’s reconstructed house, and then crossed the street to check out the plaza, which housed a big melting pot.
You could go near by climbing up the steps, and the place gives you a sweeping view of Rizal’s house and the Church where he was baptized.
I immediately went up, excited to take close shots of the monument. Upon climbing, though, I saw these:
It’s sad that we can’t even respect, if not appreciate, the monuments we have, and it is perhaps even sadder that we can do nothing to fix these defaced monuments. Across, a councilor’s name is painted in big, bold letters, to indicate that he built the new structures in the plaza. Again, he couldn’t do anything to restore the monument, and to enforce proper discipline among the people.
When we were about to go home, we decided to stop and visit the Watawat ng Lahi, where a huge monument of Rizal and a tiny Bonifacio monument were placed. While taking sots, several kids ran up to us, asking us to shoot them as well. I asked them questions like “Why is Rizal standing on the bungo (skull)?” The replied, saying things like “Because there are insects which make you itchy inside the globe” and “Because people put it there.” I asked why Bonifacio was considerably smaller, and I got this answer: “Because he was born first and Bonifacio came next.” Funny kids!
After that uphill climb to Watawat ng Lahi (a brief, probably less than 5-minute climb) which exhausted us because of its steepness, we walked down, rode another tricycle to the highway and asked him to drop us off at the buko (coconut) pie factory so we could buy some, and then went to the bus terminal to head back to Manila. But there were no aircon buses in queue so we stopped at KFC to freshen up, bought a sandwich and a drink, went out to just try our luck at hailing a bus at the highway, and became successful after around 15 minutes.
Loved the bus trip to and from Calamba; it rained hard. Every time we stepped out of the bus, luckily the rain ceased.
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