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Published: April 27th 2013
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It was a tiring week. . . a working week. . . a fruitful week . . . a HAPPY WEEK.
My friend and I left Manila to facilitate a three day seminar cum workshop for teachers in Siocon, Zamboanga Del Norte sponsored by the TVI Phils Inc.
There were more or less 40 participants in our seminar and those three days were filled with fun, laughter and exciting activities.Every activity, every lecture and discussion were dynamic and participatory. Almost all of the teachers were thankful after the seminar. Then right after the closing program, my friend J.M.O. toured us to their mining site. There, I learned that there are two types of mining. The one that is more popular, is called the underground mining. The other one is what they call as the OPEN PIT MINING. In this type, the miners are not digging minerals underground. Instead, they are doing it in the open and the land that they have covered were taken into another place. When they are finished, they return this part of land back again and they do some soil treatments in order to make it possible to plant trees again. We visited the zinc
plantation where I found concentrated zinc. We also went to the highest part of the mining site and had a bird's eye view of the whole area. Then we went to the sulfate dam where water is being treated to clean it from waste and poisonous substance. Our tour guide also showed us their nursery where they grow plants and research on the probability of planting those again on the land that was already mined. Right after that short mine tour, my friend and I went to our room to get our things and travel from Siocon to Ipil for a bus ride going back to Zamboanga. It was an hour of rough road drive as there were no cemented road yet from Siocon to Ipil. Around six pm, we had our dinner at the famous JOLIBEE. Then, we went to the bus terminal and waited for a airconditioned bus. Good thing, we did not wait long and a bus came after a few minutes. We were almost full and started the journey. It lasted for four hours and we found a hotel - Marshall HOTEL at the Pueblo in the city.
Friday morning, we
had a breakfast at Chowking and headed towards the Lantaca Hotel to register for a trip to Sta. Cruz Island - it was featured in Rate K for its pink sand because of the red corals. The entrance fee is just Php 75.00 but the boat ride costs
Php 1,000.00. Lucky for us, a family wanted to join us in the boat and we gladly accepted them. It was a fifteen minute boat ride and since I was seated at the back, my ears hurt because of the loud sound of the motor boat. When we get there, I was really amazed, for it was true... IT REALLY IS A PINK BEACH... it was like Boracay - fine white sand with red sand mixed together giving it a wonderful blend. We were guided by a local there - Sir Karim, a Muslim, and we went to the cemetery in the island. We learned that the Badjaos used to bury their dead there but it was already prohibited. We also saw the mangrove which the islanders are taking care of. We also met a tour guide cum life saver cum security officer there - Sir Rodel. He explained to us
that the island was declared us marine protected area already. We had a great time discussing about environmental concerns regarding the island and he provided us with a lot of first hand information regarding the matter. Before we went back to the city proper, we bought some bracelets for souvenir.
We headed to the Fort and to the National Museum of Zamboanga. Sadly, it was under renovation and so we were not able to see anything. e ride in a tricycle and went directly to the market to buy pasalubong. After that, we had a sumptuous seafood lunch in ALAVAR. There, my friend J.M.O. check-in for an overnight stay. We went back to the Marshall Hotel to get our things and went back to ALAVAR. Good thing, we were able to stay there and take a bath before going to the airport because our flight as at six pm, the last flight of CEBU Pacific Air. We got to the airport in time and waited till our plane arrived.
We were back in Manila at around nine pm.
It was a tiring week. . . but it was indeed
a HAPPY HAPPY WEEK.
It was a week of sharing... bonding... experiencing Zamboanga - THE LATIN CITY OF THE PHILIPPINES.
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