Olot Series: Hindu statues

The elephant god, Lord Ganesha. What's it doing at the summer house of Imelda? Aesthetics? Although, Imelda supposedly has an occultist's mind. Why else surround her summer house with Hindu gods and goddesses, the Buddha head, and the Sto. Nino? Lord Ganesh elephant head symbolizes the Atman/soul, and the human body, symbolizes Maya.

Olot Series: Hindu statues

I'm guessing this is the goddess Lakshimi, the female manifestation of the Lord Shiva/Vishnu??. Correct me if I'm wrong.. my Hindu knowledge of gods/goddesses is rusty. This statue is facing Marcos' cottage.

Dunno about the next two statues..

Olot Series: Couple's cottages

The building beyond was Marcos' 'clinic, where he was set-up in a hospital bed with his dialysis machine, the room with the beach view. Actually, the only room with glassed sliding doors in the whole compound. The rest of the buildings have capiz sliding windows and doors.



That building was Imelda's 14-bedroom guesthouse. Her stuff are still in the upstair rooms, locked away by her loyal staff per Imelda's instructions.

Olot Series: Doorway

This is a sealed off eerie doorway that leads to a densely-forested hill behind. When I looked, the sides of the door were open and there was a pathway up to the hill. The doorway is guarded by two Hindu-looking statues.





Close-up

Olot Series

I'll be doing a series of Olot, the once great and extravagant summer vacation house of the Marcoses. Now, it's a dilapidated place leased out by the PCGG to a resort investor. The compound has an 18-hole golf course, a useless olympic size pool, a disrepaired pelota court, a non-usable basketball court and tennis court, some barracks for the Marcoses' security men, a garden church with a wooden altar, some imported Hindu gods/goddesses, an Italian mosaic diorama by a famous Italian artist (forgot the name now) of the Stations of the Cross that are strategically placed around the compound (you've to take a long walk to finish this, I guess Imelda Marcos used a golf cart), Imelda Marcos' 14-bedroom guesthouse, Ferdinand Marcos' bedroom-turned 'clinic' during his dialysis days, Bongbong's 4-bedroom cottage, and 2 wide-open function areas for parties. And the nice beach of course.

Nameless building

One of the out-of-place buildings built by the Romualdezes. Used to be locally called the 'eye-referral' building. Then 'Smart '. But ever since Smart moved to another building downtown, no one knows what to tell the tricycle driver when going there. Up to now, it's still a building with an identity crisis.

Lake Danao

This is on top of a mountain. Once called Imelda Lake during the Marcos' era, it was renamed Lake Danao (Lake 'Lake'). Motorboats are prohibited here. Kayaking is a heart-racing experience even if you're a good swimmer because of the silt floating at the bottom (no visibility) and gravity pull. The bottom has never been measured even by visiting Japanese and German and American geogologists that attempted to measure it. Oh, UFO sightings have been reported here too.

Grill house

The grillhouse at Baybay. The grilled chicken is good, sometimes not so good.. but worth a try if you're in town. The view and seabreeze adds to the relaxing atmosphere.

One of my 1001 places to visit

This place always intrigues me as I pass by it. The exterior is great, they say the food is good (turo-turo style), but I haven't gone inside yet because of the loud karaoke. That's always a major turn-off for me.

Wall painting

Artwork by Ebeb Wenceslao at his pizza cafe (Canto Fresco).

Morning flight

Early morning flight at the Tacloban airport. Sun is already up at 6am.