The Photographer and the Pinboy

Rob Andrew Szajkowski in Action. Must've been an interesting shot. Too bad I'm too lazy to get my bum in there.

Duckpin

Have you played duckpin bowling before?

Sitting up on Air

First time I posted my pic here on Butuan Daily Photo for all to see. It doesn't show on this camera but I brought my small camera with me on this ride. Rob was the one zipping through this zipline with me.


Delta Zipline-- Bonbon, Butuan City.

Dune Buggy and All Terrain Vehicle

Fun and adventure. Important: Make sure you have protective gears, goggles, helmet etc etc. Underage riders shouldn't be driving. Learn from the lesson we had.

Sunday Night at the Park

This photo was taken right after the mass ended at around 7pm. There are people everywhere. Most of the people who heard mass hanged out at the park to enjoy the well-lit, newly-decorated-with christmas-lights plaza.

I didn't catch it in this photo but there were a bunch of those new glimmering toys that one throws a hundred feet up in the air (not sure about the distance) jumping up and down as we pass through the park.

My friend commented at facebook (I link this blog to fb) that I should ask some funding from the local government (tourism) because of my endorsement of Butuan. My reply is the "liking," repeat visits, your valuable comments, occasional click on my ads, not plagiarizing my stuff, acknowledging and return linking to this page, and maybe (cross fingers) future donation on my site are enough for me. :D

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

Children's Rubber Slippers... or Lack of

This past few weeks all I have been thinking (during my extra moments) are slippers! Slippers! Slippers! How much is it? What kinds are durable? Where can I get the cheapest but most durable ones? Are there wholesalers here in Butuan? What about nearby cities? Why can't I search for them online? What colors would children like? The simple kind or with designs?

The reason I am unnaturally preoccupied with this object is because of my new affiliation with a group of people at Share the blessing foundation.

So far the most promising wholesaler that I found is at Langihan market. For just 260 Pesos you can buy one dozen rubber slippers. If you know of a store that has a cheaper price, please let me know.

Check out our new slipper project in the works there right now. :)

2010 FSUU Annual Alumni Homecoming

For the third time I have posted the yearly major event of most Butuanons: The High School Alumni reunion. For a few days in May, the Alumni of two of the major schools Agusan National high school and Urios High school now called FSUU (Father Saturnino Urios University, come home to Butuan to get reunited with former classmates. This means every alumnus from the year 2010 and older get together in one venue to reminisce, be nostalgic with the past and to look forward to what the future may bring.

FSUU celebrated the said event last Saturday while Agusan National High School celebrated theirs last May 9 (I think).


This photo was taken at the FSUU gym at Ambago, Butuan City.

Philippine Election

Amidst the rains, long queues, the first Philippine automated election has finally ended at seven o'clock this evening. Now we wait for the results of this exercise of our democratic right.

There were 10 presidential candidates vying for the top job in the Philippines and I'm hoping that the most qualified, with the most love and dedication for our country will win the election. This goes too with the other candidates running for the other government positions in national and local levels.

Meeting de Avanse

Last night my cousin went to the sports complex and happened to see a huge crowd in the grandstand area. It was apparently the political rally of the incumbent local leaders in Butuan.




From sports complex we passed by Otis mall and there was a group of people and it looked like it was the other party holding a rally too. We asked other passersby and they say that it was.



On Monday, we will be having our local and national election. There are political slogans everywhere. Most of the conversations I'm sure would be injected with a lot of political discussions. All I can say is, God bless the Philippines.

(Sorry I'm bad at this kind of thing.)

Summer... splash

The summer heat makes the swimming pool at Almont inland a hit. Woohooo!

Brownout Again? Ugh!

When you walk around the city you can't help notice these strange, heat emitting, sound pollution producing contraptions. It would seem that in every street there are generators. But no matter how ugly these things are, they are now part of the daily life of Butuanons and maybe the rest of Mindanao. (There are days where we get up to ten hours of brownout!)

If businesses hope to continue to thrive they must invest in these things to survive the so called Mindanao Power crisis.

Reconnecting the Past with the Present- Balanghai Voyage

Earlier this year a crew of daring men and women composed of the Mt. Everest team and Kaya ng Pinoy Inc. set sail around the seas of the Philippine archipelago using the replica of the ancient Butuan boat known as balanghai.

Late this morning the balanghai boat, Diwata the lahi (muse of the race), finally arrived in Butuan after sailing from its starting point in Manila. Butuan is the place where this ancient boats where excavated in the seventies, carbon dated 1630.

For more thorough reading you can follow these links:

Voyage of the Balanghai
Amazing Butuan
Interceder

Stepping over Fire

You might wonder what these people are looking at/doing. This photo was taken last November 2. All Soul's day. Location: City cemetery. These people are stepping over a fire- a belief that this practice would mean that the soul's of the people they're visiting, or are present will not follow them to their homes. Superstitions, interesting aren't they.

Photo of people, as requested by Hilda of Manila.

All Soul's Day

Today is All Soul's day. Yesterday, November 1, and today are important dates in the lives Butuanon and probably all of the Filipinos in the whole Philippine archipelago. These are the days where most of the people go back to the town and cities they came from to light candles, and pray for the souls of departed loved ones. It is also the time for a family gatherings and of picnics at the cemetery. As weird as it sounds, it's really not, in practice.

This photo was taken from our family burial spot in the city cemetery. We don't have trick or treats, but we still enjoy the jack-o-lanterns.

Tae Bo at City Hall

Every saturday, very early in the morning, there is a Tae-bo exercise at Capitol grounds. You can see people from the very young to the not so young kicking and dancing to the beat.

Capitol drive and J Rosales Avenue are two of the places in Butuan where health conscious people flock to (very early in the mornings).

St. Joseph Cathedral

Have a blessed Sunday Everyone!


St. Joseph Cathedral.

Taken with a D40.

BDH Race For Good Health

BDH is Butuan Doctors' Hospital, one of the premier tertiary hospitals in Butuan. They celebrated its foundation day last October 9. As part of the festivities they included a fun run for health that happened last October 4 in the early morn. Which means I wasn't there to catch a firsthand glimpse of the activity.

They had a 3 kilometer and 5 kilometer race. A turnout of approximately 1000 participants. The route was from BDC open grounds(Butuan Doctors' College, my alma mater ;P) to Jose Rizal Plaza going through the main road of JC Aquino Avenue.

There was an awarding ceremony post fun run. There was a top ten finishers for each event with special prizes for the youngest kiddie finisher, senior runners and top 3 lady racers.



Photo credit-- Bob Tan (Official Photographer), courtesy of Katrina "Pebbles" Estacio.

Thanks also for the info and practically writing this one Pebs! You're the best!
hehehe

Skim

Its saturday. Weekend. Slow day at citydailyphoto.com. This is the reason I'm gonna cheat on my post today.

This photo with a man's silhouette on the verge of running while carrying a skimboard (what a long description, no?) was taken at Opol, Cagayan de Oro City. I'm posting this Cagayan de Oro taken photograph here because skimboarding (or the water activity of riding the shallow water near the shore using a board) is also enjoyed here in Butuan. According to my sources, every afternoon at Masao, a group of skimboarders, male and female, go skimboarding there.

The few times I saw people went skimboarding at a Butuan beach, I didn't have a camera yet.

Santacruzan

Santacruzan is a religious procession that is practiced here in Butuan. Unfortunately, I haven't seen this procession personally. There was a conflict of schedule last Friday.



According to one website, Santacruzan "...is (was) a novena procession commemorating St. Helena's mythical finding of the cross. St. Helena was the mother of Constantine the Great.

The Santacruzan is a procession that differs from most other religious processions in that it does not parade images of patron saints. Instead, biblical and historical characters are represented by the local people dressed in appropriate costumes."

In Butuan the candidates of the Mutya Hong Butuan (Butuan Beauty Pageant) are the ones taking up the role of these historical characters. Maria Eleina is the most prestigious role that only the Mutya of Butuan is selected to play.

Photos by Djai Flores.


edited. June 2, 2009.

Baby Football

Last Sunday, before the kasalan photoshoot started (see Monday entry), my friend and I wandered over to the mini soccer field, located near the entrance, to watch and take photos of a football game. I call the place Almont inland's baby football field because its not full size.


Camera used: Fujifilm Finepix S9600. The long zoom is really useful in this case.