A Trip Down Samar Country

I adore new places, ergo, I love to travel, with a catch...it has to be someplace which can be reached by plane or if not, by land not exceeding a travel time of one hour and a half (just the distance from work to the hubby's place). Blame it on the nausea that grips me when I'm on a moving vehicle for more than two hours. Yet despite puke bags and Bonamine becoming must-haves on my travelling bag, I managed to go to places that had me sitting on a van for hours on end all for the love of travel...and work. It was for the latter that I crossed the San Juanico bridge for the nth time to deliver a lecture about aged citizens and their rights down in Borongan City, capital of the Estehanons province.

I travelled alone and without any distractions which is why when the bus I was riding crossed the San Juanico bridge, I was able to fully appreciate the beauty of this magnificent steel structure. It remains to be one of the Imeldific's finest contribution to the islands of Leyte and Samar, something that has been greatly overshadowed by her world famous shoe collection. Said to be the longest in the Philippines, the bridge was constructed in 1969 during the Marcos regime and was finished in 1973. It connected the islands of Leyte and Samar cutting travel time to both significantly and built a gateway to Waray country for inter-island travel. I clicked away at the beautiful sights with my Nokia N70, my digital camera having been sidelined when my daughter decided to "cook" it for her teddy bear adding her Papa's cologne for spice and destroying the LCD in the process (aren't three year olds just cute?).

This bridge has seen stunts (an actor is said to have jumped from one of its steels posts), been home to urban legends (children were rumored to have been sacrificed to assuage the spirits of the seas angry from the intrusion) and has even become a favorite shooting spot for wedding albums. Together with the islets that dot the seascape, the San Juanico is indeed one picturesque view, one that makes me proud to be Waray.

By the way, saw some great pictures of this famous Waray landmark on a fellow blogger's site. You may visit it for more clearer shots of the famed bridge.

My Nokia can only do so much.