Bacolod, Philippines

Sweet Philippines


Seeing Life Pass
Visitors on the balcony of the Balay Negrense museum.
Patrimony
Bernardino Jalandoni's Ancestral House in Bacolod.
Line of tricycles, Bacolod
Row of trycicles is the livelihood of many residents of Bacolod, as well as the Philippines in general.
very Angry Christ
Altar of Angry Jesus Church, Vitoria City, Bacolod.
outdoor clinic
Healer attends a baby on a street in Bacolod.
Cathedral of San Sebastian, Bacolod
Cathedral of San Sebastian in the historic heart of Bacolod.
Sinoker
Children play mini-snooker on a street in Bacolod, the capital of Negros Occidental.
Christian Core of Bacolod
Facade of San Diego Cathedral in Silay, Bacolod.
Above all
The gleaming dome of the Cathedral of San Diego in Silay.
Bacolod is the capital of Negros, the island at the center of Philippine sugar cane production. Traveling through the Far East and between history and contemporaneity, we savor the fascinating heart of the most Latin of Asia.

Having just disembarked from the ferry that connects the island of Iloilo to the main town of Negros, we went straight to lunch at a buffet with traditional food from a shopping center in Bacolod.

We were famished and, accordingly, immersed in what we had brought on our plates. Betsy Gazo, the native guide who would accompany us throughout the days, was unfazed. Betsy, is – we have no doubt now – one of the most proud citizens of Bacolod in her city and eager for visitors to admire her for the much she had to praise.

Even so, armed with maps and pamphlets, Betsy serves us the thoughtful suggestion of the itinerary she had outlined. We make an effort to keep up with their cascades of reasoning, all too often in vain, lost among the gastronomic delights of the meal and successive and inevitable thematic detours.

We didn't see Betsy disarm. As we never saw her lose the focus of the mission to reveal to us what in Bacolod most dazzled her.

Negros is the fourth largest island in the vast Philippines. By far the supreme of the Visaya sub-group we continued to explore.

The Families and Historical Mansions of Negros

Outstanding among its historical treasures are the mansions built by wealthy families, some of these families with Hispanic names, others pre-Hispanic: the Lopez, the Ledesma, the Locsin. Still others are the result of strategic mergers carried out, such as Locsin-Ledesma.

Over the decades, several of its old homes have been restored, improved and turned into small museums. On the opposite pole, many others found themselves doomed to an abandonment that Betsy was hard to see.

After lunch, the guide took us and Michael – the guide who accompanied us wherever we went in the Philippines – to one of these last cases. "Well, I'll just give a little push here and it should be resolved, this has owners but I'm sure they wouldn't mind our visit, quite the opposite."

Visiting Malacañang Palace

We pass through a badly closed iron gate. In front, a mansion with a base of bricks with carved stone ornaments shines. Malacañang Palace, as it became known, is considered the first Presidential Residence in the Philippines.

It was erected by General Aniceto Lacson during the 1880s, in a style called “bahay na bato", with the simple translation of Casa de Pedra.

At a time when many Filipinos had had enough without returning to the impositions of the Spanish Crown, Aniceto Lacson took the dissatisfaction to another level. Part of a regional group of insurgents, led the revolt katipunera (anti-Hispanic) general of the Isle of Negros against the colonial garrison of Bacolod, November 5, 1898. Spanish forces were quick to surrender.

During the hangover, Aniceto Lacson was appointed president of the newly formed República de Negros. He established his presidency's office in that same mansion that we admired, first from the outside, shortly afterwards, in its unfurnished interior and from the panoramic balcony that goes around the upper floor.

Throughout the 1970th century, until XNUMX, the mansion was inhabited by a succession of children and grandchildren of Aniceto Lacson. That year, as happens every year in the Philippines, the typhoons came into action. One in particular ravaged Negros and damaged the building's roof.

Lacson's descendants still pondered his reparation but, faced with the magnitude of the damage, were forced to abandon him. The Malacañang Palace entered a process of degradation that devastated Betsy.

To his satisfaction, in 2002 a foundation of co-owners bent on raising funds for restoration was formed. When we went around, it was far from finished.

Balay Negrense Museum, Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Philippines

Visitors on the balcony of the Balay Negrense museum.

The Victor Fernandez Gaston Ancestral House…

Betsy's plans dictated that, until the sun settled on her bed off the Strait of Guimaras, we would still visit another old but resplendent home, the Victor Fernandez Gaston Ancestral House.

Victor Gaston was the son of a Norman named Yves Leopold Germain Gaston, who proved to be one of the pioneers of sugarcane cultivation in these parts of the Philippines. The construction of the house took place in 1897, when Victor Baston was still living in his father's house, a certain Hacienda Buen Retiro.

During this same period, his wife died. The house was completed in time to accommodate the widower and his twelve children from 1901 until his death in 1927, the year in which the family no longer lived there. Completely abandoned in 1970, it began to deteriorate.

Unlike what happened with Aniceto Lacson's Malacañang Palace, its restoration has generated one of the most valuable cultural heritages in Negros. One of the heirs, Father Monsignor Guillermo Ma. Gaston, decided to donate it to the Philippines Tourism Authority.

This Authority used its national fundraising capacity, including state-owned funds, and invested five million Philippine pesos (around one hundred thousand euros) to repair and furnish it with period props and furniture. That purpose achieved, he transformed the mansion into the Balay Negrense museum, which we entertain ourselves to examine.

… Now, Balay Negrense Museum of Bacolod

The museum displays a near-living example of the home and lifestyle of a Negro sugar baron. It rests on Filipino hardwood foundations. balayong, and the long, wide, and thick floorboards were cut from the same material.

The upper floor appears covered with a roof of galvanized iron instead of tiles, according to indications released by the authorities in Manila, in the wake of the earthquakes that devastated several locations on the mother island of Luzon.

With quiet and secure Negros, we enjoyed the upper hall of the museum house in all its fresh splendor. A couple of lovers who were visiting her simultaneously arrives at the arched triple window and peers at the lushly landscaped Silay scenery in front of them, under a centuries-old lamp with warm light.

Outside, the sun was about to go out. We were already using the last energy of the day so, moments later, we retired to the modernized shelter of the hotel where we were staying.

The Masskara Festival and the Real Life of Bacolod

We arrived on the Sunday determined for the Masskara Festival, a kind of Carnival created to liven up the city and the island after the tragic sinking of the M/S Don Juan ferry. Little by little, Bacolod comes to life.

As the participants prepared for the masked and bouncy madness of the event, we followed Betsy on yet another series of surgical twists and forays into local life. Under the archway of one of the city's streets, an elderly healer sees patients of all ages.

Healer, Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Philippines

Healer attends a baby on a street in Bacolod.

We have slight back pains, almost unavoidable from time to time due to the weight of the photo backpacks we carry.

More curious about that open-air office than in need, we put ourselves in line, beside a bench used by the weakest patients and a stall full of vials of oils, homemade medicines and the like.

The lady is mainly a pediatrician, but she assists one or another adult with ailments that she dominates. When he finds out what we were complaining about, he enlists the services of a chiropractor who, for the sake of our sins, shies away from radical treatments.

The Taj Mahal of Blacks

Next, we visit the Talisay Ruins, called the “Taj Mahal of Blacks”, what remains of a mansion built by Philippine sugar baron Mariano Ledesma Lacson in honor of his Macanese-Portuguese wife Maria Braga Lacson, who died in a domestic accident while pregnant with the couple's eleventh child.

On the way to what is left of this other mansion burned down by the Filipino resistance to prevent its occupation by the Japanese in World War II, we crossed one of the sugar cane plantations as far as the eye can see of the island.

A group of young workers cut cane under the tropical sun. Others carry it on top of a lorry box already half full of withered stems.

The Historical and Artisanal Production of Sugarcane

Betsy is moved: “Incredibly, sugarcane is still cut like this around here. And we still have people like them: so poor that they accept to work from sunrise to sunset to earn a measly peso.”

Centuries after the introduction of sugar cane on the island into the hands of Arab merchants who brought the plant from the Celebes, some time less since the expansion and improvement of the cultivation enriched several of the island's owner families, Negros' economy has evolved. and diversified.

Still, Negros is the largest producer and exporter of sugar in the Philippines, the nation, in turn, the world's ninth producer of this raw material. But it's not just sugar. A large refinery located in Cadiz, guarantees the production of a good series of derivatives: acetylene, fertilizers and even rum.

Later in the afternoon, we return to Silay. Betsy takes us to the top of a building that houses the city's state services. We pass through a series of rooms and offices.

Panoramic Expedition to a Bacolod State Terrace

On the terrace that closed the floors of the building, we admire the green urbanity of the center of that kind of sub-city of Bacolod, with the silver dome of the San Diego Pro cathedral, well highlighted from the life below: that of the conductors of t.Ricycles who roam it without rest.

Trycicles, Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Filipinos

Row of trycicles is the livelihood of many residents of Bacolod, as well as the Philippines in general.

That of teenagers engaged in a basketball game, that of gardeners who water and trim the vegetation at Silay Public Plaza.

Since early morning, we have been given over to the cultural and historical criteria of Betsy Gatso. Possessed by a beneficent spirit of mission, Betsy asks us to use our last energies, to use them in a last trip to a place completely different from the previous ones and that promised not to disappoint us.

We traveled about 20km to the south, almost always on the edge of the Strait of Guimaras. In three-quarters of an hour, we moved from Silay to nearby Victorias City.

At Betsy's orders, the driver drops us off at the door of a St. Joseph the Worker Chapel which we find empty. “I've come to realize that they aren't exactly devout Christians, much less blessed. Better that way. Get ready, you're going to have a big surprise.”

Victoria City's Controversial Angry Jesus

We entered the church's modern nave. Immediately, we only realized that the altar would be the most colorful and exuberant we had ever seen. We calibrate the view and approach.

Angry Jesus Church, Victoria City, Bacolod, Philippines

Altar of Angry Jesus Church, Vitoria City, Bacolod.

Before our eyes, scarlet hands hold with open arms a Christ with fulminating blue eyes and a heart tormented by thorns and fire. Angry, as we didn't know was possible, that messiah seemed to judge us ahead of time.

We confront him for a moment, until Betsy gives in to her anxiety again and clarifies for us how much there was to clarify.

“If you want it to be honest, I'm not even sure how this was possible in Negros and the Philippines in general, where the Church is so conservative. The truth is that it is here and I have enormous admiration for this work.”

The painting in question, created by the Filipino-American abstract artist Alfonso A. Ossorio did justice to the sacro-modern and anti-earthquake architecture of the Czech architect Antonín Raymond. Both were ordered by the largest sugar company in the Philippines, Victorias Milling Company.

The company's relative religious autonomy from the Church gave rise to artistic whim, but, as Betsy confirms, “the strictest Catholic faction in Manila was not amused and tried worlds and funds to have the painting removed. To date in vain.”

In the Sugar Philippines, open-mindedness and the sweetness of character have been above all for centuries.

Bacolod, Philippines

A Festival to Laugh at Tragedy

Around 1980, the value of sugar, an important source of wealth on the Philippine island of Negros, plummeted and the ferry “Don Juan” that served it sank and took the lives of more than 176 passengers, most of them from Negrès. The local community decided to react to the depression generated by these dramas. That's how MassKara arose, a party committed to recovering the smiles of the population.
Talisay City, Philippines

Monument to a Luso-Philippine Love

At the end of the 11th century, Mariano Lacson, a Filipino farmer, and Maria Braga, a Portuguese woman from Macau, fell in love and got married. During the pregnancy of what would be her 2th child, Maria succumbed to a fall. Destroyed, Mariano built a mansion in his honor. In the midst of World War II, the mansion was set on fire, but the elegant ruins that endured perpetuate their tragic relationship.
Batad, Philippines

The Terraces that Sustain the Philippines

Over 2000 years ago, inspired by their rice god, the Ifugao people tore apart the slopes of Luzon. The cereal that the indigenous people grow there still nourishes a significant part of the country.
Bohol, Philippines

Other-wordly Philippines

The Philippine archipelago spans 300.000 km² of the Pacific Ocean. Part of the Visayas sub-archipelago, Bohol is home to small alien-looking primates and the extraterrestrial hills of the Chocolate Hills.
Coron, Busuanga, Philippines

The Secret but Sunken Japanese Armada

In World War II, a Japanese fleet failed to hide off Busuanga and was sunk by US planes. Today, its underwater wreckage attract thousands of divers.
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
Marinduque, Philippines

The Philippine Passion of Christ

No nation around is Catholic but many Filipinos are not intimidated. In Holy Week, they surrender to the belief inherited from the Spanish colonists. Self-flagellation becomes a bloody test of faith
Marinduque, Philippines

When the Romans Invade the Philippines

Even the Eastern Empire didn't get that far. In Holy Week, thousands of centurions seize Marinduque. There, the last days of Longinus, a legionary converted to Christianity, are re-enacted.
Vigan, Philippines

Vigan: the Most Hispanic of Asias

The Spanish settlers left but their mansions are intact and the Kalesas circulate. When Oliver Stone was looking for Mexican sets for "Born on the 4th of July" he found them in this ciudad fernandina
Philippines

The Philippine Road Lords

With the end of World War II, the Filipinos transformed thousands of abandoned American jeeps and created the national transportation system. Today, the exuberant jeepneys are for the curves.
Hungduan, Philippines

Country Style Philippines

The GI's left with the end of World War II, but the music from the interior of the USA that they heard still enlivens the Cordillera de Luzon. It's by tricycle and at your own pace that we visit the Hungduan rice terraces.
El Nido, Philippines

El Nido, Palawan: The Last Philippine Frontier

One of the most fascinating seascapes in the world, the vastness of the rugged islets of Bacuit hides gaudy coral reefs, small beaches and idyllic lagoons. To discover it, just one fart.
Camiguin, Philippines

An Island of Fire Surrended to Water

With more than twenty cones above 100 meters, the abrupt and lush, Camiguin has the highest concentration of volcanoes of any other of the 7641 islands in the Philippines or on the planet. But, in recent times, not even the fact that one of these volcanoes is active has disturbed the peace of its rural, fishing and, to the delight of outsiders, heavily bathed life.
Mactan, Cebu, Philippines

Magellan's Quagmire

Almost 19 months of pioneering and troubled navigation around the world had elapsed when the Portuguese explorer made the mistake of his life. In the Philippines, the executioner Datu Lapu Lapu preserves the honors of a hero. In Mactan, his tanned statue with a tribal superhero look overlaps the mangrove swamp of tragedy.
Boracay, Philippines

The Philippine Beach of All Dreams

It was revealed by Western backpackers and the film crew of “Thus Heroes are Born”. Hundreds of resorts and thousands of eastern vacationers followed, whiter than the chalky sand.
savuti, botswana, elephant-eating lions
Safari
Savuti, Botswana

Savuti's Elephant-Eating Lions

A patch of the Kalahari Desert dries up or is irrigated depending on the region's tectonic whims. In Savuti, lions have become used to depending on themselves and prey on the largest animals in the savannah.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
Architecture & Design
napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s – Old-Fashioned Car Tour

In a city rebuilt in Art Deco and with an atmosphere of the "crazy years" and beyond, the adequate means of transportation are the elegant classic automobiles of that era. In Napier, they are everywhere.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Adventure
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
Big Freedia and bouncer, Fried Chicken Festival, New Orleans
Ceremonies and Festivities
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Big Freedia: in Bounce Mode

New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz and jazz sounds and resonates in its streets. As expected, in such a creative city, new styles and irreverent acts emerge. Visiting the Big Easy, we ventured out to discover Bounce hip hop.
Selfie, Hida from Ancient and Medieval Japan
Cities
Takayama, Japan

From the Ancient Japan to the Medieval Hida

In three of its streets, Takayama retains traditional wooden architecture and concentrates old shops and sake producers. Around it, it approaches 100.000 inhabitants and surrenders to modernity.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Meal
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
Culture
Jok​ülsárlón Lagoon, Iceland

The Chant and the Ice

Created by water from the Arctic Ocean and the melting of Europe's largest glacier, Jokülsárlón forms a frigid and imposing domain. Icelanders revere her and pay her surprising tributes.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Sport
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Princess Yasawa Cruise, Maldives
Traveling
Maldives

Cruise the Maldives, among Islands and Atolls

Brought from Fiji to sail in the Maldives, Princess Yasawa has adapted well to new seas. As a rule, a day or two of itinerary is enough for the genuineness and delight of life on board to surface.
Totems, Botko Village, Malekula, Vanuatu
Ethnic
Malekula, Vanuatu

Meat and Bone Cannibalism

Until the early XNUMXth century, man-eaters still feasted on the Vanuatu archipelago. In the village of Botko we find out why European settlers were so afraid of the island of Malekula.
portfolio, Got2Globe, Travel photography, images, best photographs, travel photos, world, Earth
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Portfolio Got2globe

The Best in the World – Got2Globe Portfolio

Candia, Tooth of Buddha, Ceylon, lake
History
Kandy, Sri Lanka

The Dental Root of Sinhalese Buddhism

Located in the mountainous heart of Sri Lanka, at the end of the XNUMXth century, Kandy became the capital of the last kingdom of old Ceylon and resisted successive colonial conquest attempts. The city also preserved and exhibited a sacred tooth of the Buddha and, thus, became Ceylon's Buddhist center.
Ilhéu do Farol, Porto Santo, Ilhéu de Cima, Porto Santo, facing Ponta do Passo.
Islands
Ilhéu de Cima, Porto Santo, Portugal

The First Light of Who Navigates From Above

It is part of the group of six islets around the island of Porto Santo, but it is far from being just one more. Even though it is the eastern threshold of the Madeira archipelago, it is the island closest to Portosantenses. At night, it also makes the fanal that confirms the right course for ships coming from Europe.
Geothermal, Iceland Heat, Ice Land, Geothermal, Blue Lagoon
Winter White
Iceland

The Geothermal Coziness of the Ice Island

Most visitors value Iceland's volcanic scenery for its beauty. Icelanders also draw from them heat and energy crucial to the life they lead to the Arctic gates.
Kukenam reward
Literature
Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

At the top of Mount Roraima, there are extraterrestrial scenarios that have resisted millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never got to step on it.
La Digue, Seychelles, Anse d'Argent
Nature
La Digue, Seychelles

Monumental Tropical Granite

Beaches hidden by lush jungle, made of coral sand washed by a turquoise-emerald sea are anything but rare in the Indian Ocean. La Digue recreated itself. Around its coastline, massive boulders sprout that erosion has carved as an eccentric and solid tribute of time to the Nature.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso, Brazil, Véu de Noiva waterfall
Natural Parks
Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso, Brazil

In the Burning Heart of South America

It was only in 1909 that the South American geodesic center was established by Cândido Rondon, a Brazilian marshal. Today, it is located in the city of Cuiabá. It has the stunning but overly combustible scenery of Chapada dos Guimarães nearby.
Pilgrims at the top, Mount Sinai, Egypt
UNESCO World Heritage
Mount Sinai, Egypt

Strength in the Legs, Faith in God

Moses received the Ten Commandments on the summit of Mount Sinai and revealed them to the people of Israel. Today, hundreds of pilgrims climb, every night, the 4000 steps of that painful but mystical ascent.
female and cub, grizzly footsteps, katmai national park, alaska
Characters
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell spent summers on end with the bears of Katmai. Traveling through Alaska, we followed some of its trails, but unlike the species' crazy protector, we never went too far.
Unusual bathing
Beaches

south of Belize

The Strange Life in the Black Caribbean Sun

On the way to Guatemala, we see how the proscribed existence of the Garifuna people, descendants of African slaves and Arawak Indians, contrasts with that of several much more airy bathing areas.

Peasant woman, Majuli, Assam, India
Religion
Majuli Island, India

An Island in Countdown

Majuli is the largest river island in India and would still be one of the largest on Earth were it not for the erosion of the river Bramaputra that has been making it diminish for centuries. If, as feared, it is submerged within twenty years, more than an island, a truly mystical cultural and landscape stronghold of the Subcontinent will disappear.
Train Kuranda train, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
On Rails
Cairns-Kuranda, Australia

Train to the Middle of the Jungle

Built out of Cairns to save miners isolated in the rainforest from starvation by flooding, the Kuranda Railway eventually became the livelihood of hundreds of alternative Aussies.
In elevator kimono, Osaka, Japan
Society
Osaka, Japan

In the Company of Mayu

Japanese nightlife is a multi-faceted, multi-billion business. In Osaka, an enigmatic couchsurfing hostess welcomes us, somewhere between the geisha and the luxury escort.
Coin return
Daily life
Dawki, India

Dawki, Dawki, Bangladesh on sight

We descended from the high and mountainous lands of Meghalaya to the flats to the south and below. There, the translucent and green stream of the Dawki forms the border between India and Bangladesh. In a damp heat that we haven't felt for a long time, the river also attracts hundreds of Indians and Bangladeshis in a picturesque escape.
Hippopotamus in Anôr Lagoon, Orango Island, Bijagós, Guinea Bissau
Wildlife
Kéré Island to Orango, Bijagos, Guinea Bissau

In Search of the Lacustrine-Marine and Sacred Bijagós Hippos

They are the most lethal mammals in Africa and, in the Bijagós archipelago, preserved and venerated. Due to our particular admiration, we joined an expedition in their quest. Departing from the island of Kéré and ending up inland from Orango.
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.