The Ruins, Talisay City

I didn't know I live so close to a heritage site until a friend told me about the Ruins in Talisay City. It is a 903 square meter skeletal structure of what used to be a mansion standing proud amidst the sugar plantations.

From experiencenegros.com :

The Ruins showcases what is left of the Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson Ancestral Home in Talisay City, Negros Occidental. During its heyday, the mansion was the largest residential structure ever built. It boasted of its garden of lilies in and around the four-tiered fountain on the mansion’s front lawn and the finest furnitures, chinawares and decorative items that its owners brought from their travels across Europe and Asia.

The mansion dates back to the 1900s when it was built by the sugar baron, Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson for his first wife, Maria Braga, a Portuguese from Macau whom he met in his vacations in Hongkong. The mansion’s structure is of Italianate architecture enhanced by a belvedere complete with renaissance-type ballustrading typical of the homes of English ship captains. One of Don Mariano’s sons supervised the construction of the mansion making certain that the A-grade mixture of concrete and its pouring mixture was precisely followed. Thus perhaps, the marble-smooth finished walls’ sturdy response to the damage caused by fire when the mansion was torched during World War II by the USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East), then guerilla fighters in the Philippines, to prevent the Japanese Forces from utilizing it as their headquarters. The fire lasted for three days annihilating the mansion’s woodwork and bringing down its roof but the concrete structure was able to survive and persist.

Getting there is not really a problem these days. One can either take the access road beside the Honda Cars showroom in Talisay City or you can navigate your way through the residential streets of Octagon Village in Brgy. Bata.

The owners, Yves and Raymund Javellana, opened the place to the public last January offering a great venue for weddings, debuts and gatherings. There is a mini cafe which serves light snacks and drinks (for now, though they promise to bring more exciting stuff in their menu) for guests to enjoy while taking in the beauty of the place.

To know more about the Ruins (i.e. directional instructions, services offered) feel free to call 0917-8326003.

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FVW 303

I will remember this license plate for as long as I can and the driver of the Molo Baluarte jeep whose face I saw from its side mirror. I won't forget what you did. Not when I almost fell to my knees when your jeep pushed me while you were backing. Of course I didn't see it happen, I was facing the opposite direction awaiting my turn to cross the street! It didn't hurt, really, but I felt my innards churn from the impact. I felt numb for a sec. And when our eyes met, there wasn't remorse nor guilt in your eyes. You just moved out as if nothing happened.

I would have ran after you or call the attention of the traffic enforcer 10 meters away but I was too stupefied to do any of that. I just stood there see you go. Damn!

Sige lang, as my folks put it, wala na subong gaba, merese na lang!

I will let fate deal with you and your minions. You'll get a dose of your own medicine! You'll see!

photocredit: gem

Pics Under Construction

Reformatted laptop.

Oooops! I thought and the hubby thought that the other backed-up ALL the picture files. O-oh! wrong answer!

No squabbles there, just two adults consenting to move past the mistake and focus on the solution to the problem - recuva that's all you'll ever need!

No posts for now, have to organize what's left of my picture files.

In the meantine I leave you with one of my precious finds from our trip to Sipalay last August.

Some beach!