My first ever local travel is when I was 2 years old, yes that’s how vivid my good memories there. Back in the day, My lola and I commuted to la Purisima, Pili, Camarines Sur. We chose to go there via train. So from our house, we had 2 jeepney drive until we reached PNR (philippine national railroad). Then another 8-hour travel via train to Pili, Camarines Sur. After that, we rode a tricycle to our ancestral home. when I got there, I asked my Lola “saan po yung Bahay ni Lolo Lolo (great-grandfather), then she pointed at a small house beside the main road, it’s a small concrete house with a basketball court on the side, at first I thought that the basketball court was for playing basketball but I saw this grain being laid on the flooring of the court. I ask my Lola “Ano po yung nasa sahig?” My Lola replied “Palay yan nak, Yan ang ginagawang bigas” That’s where my respect for farmers started because when I started to tour around the house, I saw a bountiful vegetable garden, pigs that are bigger than me, carabaos that at 1st are really scary because they are big and has pointy horns but my older cousin encourage me to pet and they are really kind animals, they also have chickens, turkeys, and goats. At the back of the house, I saw a large patch of rice field, I’m already familiar with the scenery because I always watch tv at home and I’m the kind of kid that always ask a lot of question. now, that particular rice field is just 1% percent of what my great grandfather is working on, according to my Lola, her father works on 12 patches of rice field every day. I mean just imagine how much effort he does to work on that every day. Now I’m a kid with asthma, in the city, I usually get sick from play too rough but when I got to our ancestral home, you can tell the difference, the air is so clean that when I inhaled, I thought I was Goku, hahaha 90’s kids. Our 2nd day there we went to cagsawa ruins. At 1st, I thought it was a watchtower until my Lola showed it me a movie of Darna during the eruption, she told me that that particular scene is based on real events. Mayon volcano erupted n 1814 and killed more than a thousand people. The watchtower that it thought was actually a sunken church and many local said that a lot of people got stranded inside the church during that catastrophic event. It was a mix of emotion that had with that place, a lot of the locals are very religious sa has the current state of that historical church is kinda sad. On our last day, we went to daraga church, it’s an old church near the town, according to my lola, that is the church where all of our relatives in Bicol got married that’s why our family is very close to the parish priest. The food in bicol are also delectable, me as a kid, I’m not fond of eating vegetables but my lola’s sister tricked from eating one. They have this ginataang puso ng saging without the gata. Usually, if we hear the ginatang puso ng saging it will be yellow and white-colored because of the gata but the one that they concocted was color red and has a very similar taste and texture with corned beef with a little bit of spicy after taste. I just found out that it was vegetable when we got home. In other words, I really enjoyed the trip, rediscovering our past, enjoying delicacies, and appreciating the simple life that they have in the province is always refreshing. And it warms my heart to know that I have part of them in me that defines me for who I am.