This used to be my playground

Photo courtesy of Ms. Elizabeth Adlaon-Dolotina

When a childhood friend shoot this picture of our land, I feel lonely while reminiscing of home. Home is where my heart is. Forever. Where is home? It's in Batuan, Bohol.

I did not have a good life when I was in Batuan.

With my mother, I woke up early mornings to go to our neighbor's farm to harvest their corn, rice or sorghum in exchange for twenty percent of what we have gathered. I slept late nights because we were tasked to tend our gardens or ricefields, making sure there was enough water so we can eat better. 

I have worked in farms, there was no child abuse law in my time. Kids, like adults, HAVE TO WORK with the family so we all can eat.

I've walked long distance to fetch water. I walked with sole-less slippers to school. In my time, we walk. I've walked from Dagohoy, Bohol to Batuan. That's about 24 kilometers of walking.

I've stayed with my foster grandparents in the forests of Cantigdas with only monkeys as playmates and fireflies as guiding lights when I went home.

But I have never regretted I had this kind of young life. My life experience taught me to be myself. To look back to where I have grown my roots. To be me.

We will never forget home.

Seeking. Always seeking.

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls. - Anais Nin

At Cebu's highest mountain- Osmeña Peak in Mantalongon, Dalaguete

For most of us, travel can be an ordeal, an exhausting activity only a few could afford. But for me, travel is one of the most exciting event worth noting when it happens in your life. Travel does not have to involve flying out from your place. We have of course, ideal places to dream of visiting. Batanes? Sulu? Paris? Rotterdam? It is good to dream. It's free.

Singapore's urban skyline is a good background for good friends who love each other's company

What's travel for me? Travel is not confined only in going abroad. Or going out of your province. Travel could happen right in your backyard. When you have forgotten what's the look of your garden when you used to go outside and whisper crazy things to your plants, try revisiting them again and be lost in their world. See that snail walking out, er, crawling out so slow? It was there just like before.

Try reading a book. Books are an exhilarating way to know other people, cultures and worlds. Remember Lilliputian? You don't? You did not read books! 

Or view a beautiful sunset. That's truly amazing. Or explore the carenderia at the corner street. You don't know they were serving some nutritious vegan food long ago. Or, better still, forget you have a lovelife and be yourself again.

Being with ancestors at Dahilayan Forest Park in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon

Travel is a transformation. Sometimes, within the confines of your inner self.

Let's go!