inglorious wanderer

It's called the Ifugao Woodcarvers' Village. Within the stretch of the Asin Road is a museum of a renowed Fiipino artist: Bencab! I was on my way back to Manila and I made sure the one last stop in Baguio City is the Glorious Holy Shit's origins. I got the Glorious Holy Shit from Baguio City Market more than ten years ago. I was still with the Institute for Labor Studies in Manila and I was home in La Union for the holidays. Baguio is just an hour and a half ride from my mother's house in Ballay and I went up to Baguio for a day trip.  The Glorious Holy Shit's roots, literally speaking, are the same as any tree's. As a woodcarving, my holy shit originates from the skilled hands of Woodcarvers in the Cordillera region. As the Cheryl Mondiguing of the Mondiguing curio shop at Asin Road told me, my holy shit is a sack Buddha. To me, he has always been a monk, celibate and full of wisdom. It is for this reason that I referred  to him as Lao Tzu at first, the...

Checked in for American Airlines Flight 169 for Narita, Tokyo and this glorious holy shit waits at Gate 43 at LAX. Had to make sure I got the right blue passport. Couldn't afford any stupid mistakes. One time, I attempted to go to Tijuana, Mexico and got a blue passport on bag. Decided on crossing the border for another time for no reason and was so relieved when I realized that the blue passport on my purse was RN's. Boarding in 10 minutes and going around the lounge looking for a good shot that authenticates this go pluck yourself post. Most passengers are busy with a device on hand. Mostly cosmopolitan-looking Asians, distinctly Japanese. I don't see anyone talking loudly in the urban Filipino language about their personal lives. Ahh..now off to the land of Kenzaburo Oe, Rieko Aoki, Haruki Murakami and Kenji Miizuno.

To me, the word Viejas in San Diego has always been associated with a casino and gambling. And so is Barona and Pechanga. According to a paper titled "Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, a Brief History" which is based on the antropological studies of Florence Connolly Shipek, PhD, Viejas Mountain was so named when the valley which now constitutes Alpine was called Valle de las Viejas. During the Spanish Mission years between 1769 to 1829, Spanish friars were directed to educate Native Americans to make them working class citizens of the Spanish Empire. The Kumeyaay group who inhabited the area were captured and forced to work for the Spanish invaders.  To avoid capture, the Kumeyaays fled the valley  to escape capture by the Spanish mission forces. Spanish soldiers when searching the valley found only old women living in caves. The men and their  families had escaped leaving behind only older women who couldn't keep up with the hike. "Valle de las Viejas" or ...