"Associative Looseness"

The trip to Corregidor was long overdue. Ever since I can remember I've always planned to go there and experience the adventure the island offers. The nostalgia of going through the dark barracks and the old-feeling of the big guns and canons scattered all over the island.

The ruins that looked so very post-card-ish were actually only picture perfect. It was not as breath taking as I expected. Well, in part I was expecting brick ruins and huge columns with moss-covered walls -- but I was taken aback. What was there was an exquisite arrangement of rubbles, and very clean, indeed. Huge blocks of cement and large iron bars sticking out was the only thing there. It wasn't as nostalgic as I expected.

The Tramvia ride was a revealing experience. The smell of the freshly-cut grass brings memories of my childhood as I sit underneath the mango tree and create doodles in my notebook and write never ending stories of epic proportions. It was so cool and refreshing...

The big guns were freshly painted with green and were positioned in a funny way (see picture) upright, very upright haha!

That was me in the yellow shirt in my favorite pose, like a signorina surveying her lands hehe

This is the mile long barracks. It has three floors and the whole stretch is 1/3 of a mile so it was called "Mile Long Barracks" because you multiply the floors in three and you get one mile. Capiche?

My friend wanted to climb it but I stopped her knowing the fragility of the structure and since it looked like its going to collapse anytime. Better to stay away and be safe rather than risk getting injured. We are 1 and a half hour away from a good hospital... not worth the pain.

I have this thing with lighthouses. I haven't been inside one and I've always wanted to experience going in there but fate was toying with me. I was excited to see the Spanish Lighthouse in Corregidor and was even ecstatic when in Susan Carlo Medina's Travel Time, they were able to climb up and survey the whole island. Which means we can also do the same thing. However, our tour guide just made a quick stop and didn't let us off the Tramvia. This shot here was taken as we are driving away from the site. It's still magnificent though.

To sum it up, the Php 1,800 that I paid for the trip was actually worth it. We had the ferry ride, transfers and the tour plus a buffet lunch and a ferry back to Manila. It was a notable experience one must take to familiarize herself with history. Kudos to the tour guides who knew everything there is to know about the wars and even the trivial statistics like how many American soldiers were killed versus how many Japanese soldiers were killed. It was actually surprising to find out that Corregidor, although geographically near Bataan, is declared a territory of Dasmarinas, Cavite.