For a little over 20 years, my family has been living in an area that sits just next to Metro Manila, but is geo-politically part of the next region – one that most of my city-dwelling circle of friends would tend to regard as “very far”, “provincial”. But that is not entirely the case, for just upon crossing the main road outside our subdivision, one is in Metro Manila already. We pretty much also have a fair share of urbanisation.
Most of my life has been spent in the direction of the right side of the main road – where we used to live, where I studied, where I worked, where I would be dropped off for when traveling domestically and internationally (because the closest airport, of course, is in Metro Manila). The right side of the main road is where everything my familiarity of the world has been sourced from; I only know very little of what lies on the left side. And I realized just recently how embarrassing (slightly… or maybe Not slightly) that sounds.
It took being a Local Guide for Google Maps to open that window of curiosity to explore further (by land, at least) and check out what’s on the other direction. Thanks to Maps, I had a sense of excitement to stop being such a stranger to my own region and discover what could be lurking there… what adventures await.
True enough, I came face to face with interesting street murals by a National Artist, goats eating grass at a public children’s playground, cows lined up in farm fields (I never recognized before how close we are to a scenery such as this), a wind farm, and, as part of my to-go list, a considerable number of mountains to hike. Lovely.
Thanks, Google Maps!