My Home, the Land of the Cross

I always refer to my home province as the Land of The Cross because of a literally huge Cross on top of one of the Mountains in Bataan. The Cross is owned and maintained by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Municipal Hall of Pilar, Bataan. The Cross is facing towards the east and is a war memorial that reminds us of the men who died during the battle of Bataan.

The Cross is around 11 storey high standing on top of Mount Samat. It has an observatory deck in the horizontal platform of the Cross. Bataan is also called the Land of the Brave because of the history of battles fought on it's ground.

However, this post is about my home. I grew up in my grandfather's farm somewhere on the Land of the Cross. When I was a little boy, me and my cousins helped our grandfather in picking up snails in the rice field. The local people call them Golden Kohol (Golden Snail) because of it's reddish gold color. These Snails are pests in a rice field. They contributes to the destruction of healthy crops. During harvest seasons, we also helped in picking up the palay left by the machine and people who harvested the crops. It's quite fun, and after the harvest period, we have a huge playground to enjoy every weekend.

At the far end of the farm, there's a forest where I spent some of my time. In some elevated parts of the forest, you can already see the Manila Bay. It's a very scenic view, the sea, the farm and the forest. I lived there from my Grade school till my last year in high school. After High School, I went to Manila to go to College.

Let me give you a tour in the Land of the Cross through my optical lens...

My Grandmother's Chair

My Uncle's Rooster posed for a fight

Fuels for cooking

Waiting for chicken little...

Means of Transportation

Ahmos, My grandfather's old friend

Season of green and ripe mangoes...

What's left from the crops...

Jackfruit, in the beginning...