Our Lady's Garden

Outside Dumaguete, on the edge of Sibulan (headed toward San Jose) there is a wonderful overlook with a view of Cebu Island and the inlet separating it from Negros Island. Our Lady's Garden is a combination garden and shrine to the Blessed Mother.

The dozen photos posted here are just a small sample of the the magnificent view found there.

The Garden is located on the National Hwy. directly across from Jo's by the Sea restaurant. Those wishing to visit Our Lady's Garden can park their vehicle at the restaurant and pay a modest charge (at Jo's) to enter. 

 

 

Making the Most of Google Maps

A little over four years ago, I began posting photos and writing reviews onto Google Maps, becoming what Google calls a "Local Guide". Quite a lot of the links and photos have made their way to another of my blogs,sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken.

Most of the photos and reviews have been of places around and about Dumaguete and Negros Oriental.

As I write this, I have reviewed more than 300 locations in the area and have uploaded more than 2,500 photos. Those photos have received more than 14 million views.

Before the outbreak of the covid pandemic and the resulting quarantine(s) I had begun to post some of those reviews onto this blog. Now that I'm able to get out and about more, I plan on adding additional photos and reviews here. This will more than likely included places outside Dumaguete - Sibulan being one example.

The Prodigal Son Returns

Sad to say, I haven't been blogging lately. Staying home during the recent quarantine(s) should have been the ideal time. What else was there to do?

As it turned out, reading and watching Netflix were more vital than blogging.

I've decided now to get back to it and update my three blogs - robertsimms.blogspot.com-sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken.blogspot.com-dumaguetewebsite.blogspot.com .

This post will be simultaneously published on all three blogs as a sort of welcoming back, as it were.

There had been snafus; sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken.blogspot.com had been banned from Facebook for going against "community standards". Anyone familiar with that blog knows I am not guilty of that. I won't mention names, but I believe someone I had a disagreement with (and unfriended on Facebook) may have sent a complaint to Facebook out of petty spite.

This bit of foolishness was gotten around by starting the new blog, robertsimms.blogspot.com. The person I suspect is unaware of this new blog and will never see links to it on Facebook.

The only minor problem I had was that the new blog could not immediately display adsense ads....a problem which should be cleared up soon.

I checked this morning, and the older blog is still banned from Facebook. So be it. I'll continue to add posts to my other two blogs and put links to those two on Facebook.

Tricycle Drivers and Backriders

Like so many other places, Dumaguete has had difficulties during these days of the covid19 pandemic. As I write this, the entire province of Negros Oriental (where Dumaguete is the provincial capital) is currently under General Community Quarantine (GCQ). Many people are out of work as certain businesses are not allowed to open at full capacity.

Cafes and eateries are only allowed to serve customers with take-out or delivery. No dine-in under GCQ.

Two things involving transportation have upset the majority of people in the city. One is the "no backrider" policy. Under normal circumstances, it is quite common to see two people on a motorcycle - the driver, of course and a passenger sitting behind the driver. In some areas, this might be done for commercial purposes (known as "habal habal") but in most cases here, the backrider is often a family member of the driver on his/her way to work, or simply they're riding together because the family has only one motorcycle.

Now, the powers that be in Manila have banned the practice of backriding as a so-called public safety measure against the spread of covid19. Until recently, the Dumaguete authorities have turned a blind eye toward the practice by not enforcing the ban. A recent visit to Dumaguete by an official from outside the province has forced the provincial government to carry out the ban. Most of the people in Dumaguete object to the ban and can see the absurdity of not allowing couples that share a bed from sharing a motorcycle.

Without backriding, many are forced now to make use of the public tricycles. However, the same rule that bans backriding does not allow tricycles to carry more than one passenger at a time. Tricycle drivers basically live a hand to mouth existence here, and need to carry more than one passenger at a time in order to make any money at all.

Today, a city wide strike was called by tricycle drivers to protest the rule.

While driving to Dumaguete, I indeed saw fewer tricycles than normal. There were very few backriders as well.

Unfortunately, some drivers had no other choice than to break the strike and drive today. I also saw a few backriders while I sat outside the bank. There are some cases where the people simply have no other options.