Foot and Fire

While planning for our Siquijor trip, I was looking forward to an array of gayuma and other amulets in bottles, small pillow charms, necklace and other pieces for pasalubang but I wrongly anticipated the charm of this island dubbed as the Island of Fire. They do not sell them indiscriminately and one has to purposely go to the mountains and see the faith healers if one really wants to "design" or "cook" a love potion or gayuma, killer portion or hiwit and other more medicines, protection and charms of sort. I am no expert on this, so forgive the amateurish introduction. What I got: It is the smiles of the folks, a thread that sew the common blanket of Filipino trait of warmth and welcoming. Here are some photos of interesting bits I photographed as we roam around Siquijor. POSTCARD FROM SAN JUAN, SIQUIJOR: By the waterway where spring water flow,  residents bathe and do their laundry in this common area. POSTCARD FROM SIQUIJOR: The woman is all smiles...

St Augustine Parish Church... From Vigan City comes the next place to see, the Bantay, Ilocos Sur's St Augustine's Church and it's surprisingly quite distant Bell Tower as compared to the usual tandem which they dubbed as the Sinking Bell Tower. *** The Church's entrance. *** *** The shrine of our lady of charity. *** Our lady of charity. *** *** Looks like a castle in the air but this is a bell tower... *** Getting on top of the tower is rewarding as the Ilocos breeze is refreshingly felt in contrast to the heat outside. This must be dubbed as sinking considering the structure is inside is just supported by planks and and the way up is by the installed wooden stairs... I can see the prominent cracks. In years time, the visitors may not be allowed to go up given this condition of the tower. *** There are many steps to take before going inside the bell tower.  *** Well, missing the Ilocos breeze s...