If you find the flurry of Tacloban fiesta-related activites a tad confusing, it's ok, you're not alone. :) With both the City and the Provincial Governments having their own programs (and agenda) for the celebration this year, it's not easy to keep tabs on what's happening on a given day.

Thus to give one a sense of what's going on, calle Zaragosa has come up with a consolidated calendar of all activites (hopefully) of the Tacloban Fiesta '08 celebration. They contain the programs of both the Tacloban Sangyaw Festival 2008 and the Leyte Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival of Festivals 2008.

So check out this consolidated schedule and tick off the ones you don't want to miss. ;)

Bookmark: http://leytegulf.callezaragosa.com/TacFiesta08-Sked.html

It is but normal for one to be struck speechless and amazed when one sees for the first time the Tinuy-an Falls - definitely the grandest and most majestic waterfalls I've ever seen. It's not an overstatement, cetainly not an attempt to throw in hype to its monicker, which is the "Little Niagara Falls of the Philippines."

Simply stunning and magnificent.

View more photos here.

Driving 56km south of Tacloban City for about an hour’s time, one reaches the quiet and rural barangay of Villa Imelda and the famous Lake Bito.

There used to be crocodiles in the lake.

Read/view more photos...

It used to be the farthest, most remote, end-of-the-road town of the southern part of the island of Leyte. Billboards along the highway face south towards Hinunangan, Southern Leyte where the main traffic used to come from for decades.

But with the construction of the Abuyog-Silago road, things suddenly turned around 180 degrees. What used to be a 7 to 9 hour trip from Tacloban City has been cut down to 2 hours! And billboards being put up along the highway now face towards north to welcome motorists from Tacloban.

Read/view more...

I'd like to think most of us have our own private Shangri-las — vacation memories that carry us through our daily grind in life.

Well, we found our newest one at San Pedro Island in Hinunangan, So. Leyte.

The island now holds a piece of my soul.

Read/view more at:

http://gerryruiz.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/far-from-the-madding-crowd/

When we went to Beijing, China last week for a brief visit, my wife and I were ready to be captivated. What we got was more than we expected - we were enamored effortlessly! Read more >>>

When we covered the Calicoan Surfing Crown '07 last October, I had several apprehensions - among them, whether my camera zoom lens would be able to get up close to the surfers, the risks involved in shooting while facing the mighty Pacific Ocean winds, and how fast I'd be able to post-process the photos taken.

The three-day affair generated more than 5,000 photos which easily managed to eat up more than 15GB of my laptop's storage space. Post-processing involved selecting/discarding photos and narrowing down the selection to 160 photos for the final web gallery.

It was mind-boggling and nauseating, to say the least.

View the full web gallery (160 photos)
Read more at my gerryruiz photoblog entry

 

Upon my arrival in Tacloban from Baguio and Metro-Manila, I was off again to Biliran. View my latest photos here.

I have always loved going up to Baguio - the place holds strong memories for me, from my first visit way back when I was still in high school to recent trips with my family. But it had been years since my last visit, hence this trip was kind of truly exciting for me. Read more...

Philippine scenes by gerryruiz

Travel and tours agency catering to inbound clients planning to visit the Eastern Visayas region (Leyte and Samar) as well as domestic tourists.

My initial photo site before all the other blogs/social internet networks... :)

Features photos of major destinations in Tacloban City