Adventurers are Wanderers

Well, as some have known, I joined Wrangler’s search for True Wanderers (#TrueWanderer #WanderWithPassion), and the entry which I submitted is reposted as follows:

“Makko (pronounced mak-kow) is derived from my ancestor’s name, Mammako. My name doesn’t mean anything really, but after spending my early years in Sagada; schooling in Baguio City; visiting grandparents in Bokod, Benguet; and undergoing post-graduate studies at the base of Mt. Makiling in Los Banos, Laguna; Makko began to mean traveling, nature, photography, cloud and crowd watching, ventriloquist singing, or just walking and hanging around. And now, Makko suggests a pair of tough jeans, a sturdy pack, and an adventure around the Philippines with a motorbike!

I love motorcycles, but never had the chance to own one. I dream of visiting ALL 1,490 municipalities in the Philippines, and I’ve been to 200+ so far. It feels right when I spread news of environmental protection and conservation for Philippine cultures and ecosystems; so I blog, participate, and initiate such activities as much as I can. So my dream checklist is: to visit all the 1,490 municipalities in my lifetime with a motorbike, share my knowledge about the environment, and know stories about my country and its people as they live their lives in this tropical paradise. And as wise men say, hard work, passion and perseverance is required if I want my dreams to come true!

Well, after years of saving and saving, there’s a check on the motorbike because I have recently bought a second hand one. There’s a bigger chance therefore to visit the remaining municipalities I have not visited yet. What remains is one critical check–my post-graduate degree in environmental science to guide me in sharing practical guidelines about nature conservation, and in living an adventure with a green agenda! But the journey for that diploma is already on the horizon, and it means a lot for fueling my passion in helping the Philippines develop in a sustainable and happy way.

So to end this brief meeting of ours, all I can say is love, love and love!! And yes, of course, I’d like you to join me in this journey to explore and wander, to live and be alive in this country we call home, and to be a part of this only planet known to harbor life. Because honestly, this is not just my journey. It is yours too!”

So if you find what I dream about to be worthwhile, please vote for it (until April 17!) in the following link: https://wrangler-ap.com/ph/truewanderer/entry/331-Makko. Who knows, we’ll be sharing the same adventures soon! 😉

 

 

The Barangays of Sagada

Well, there are 19 barangays in Sagada, and to pronounce them the way native folks do, it’s Pidlisan, not Fidelisan. It’s Tanowong or Tano-ong, not Tanulong. It’s Piche (inverted “e,” like the “ugh” sound, although there is also a Pide near the central town), not Pideh, Payd,.or Pitchi. Oki doki?

Barangays of Sagada (PCS: WGS 84 UTM Zone 51N) Created March 2015

 

Leonardo of Vinci’s Last Day (at The Mind Museum)

makko’s adventures in: The Mind Museum, BGC, Taguig (30 November 2013)

It’s November 30, and this year 2013 is the 150th birth anniversary of the late Andres Bonifacio y de Castro, the Filipino revolutionary who, according to Jee Geronimo (Rappler), espoused that “freedom is not a mere declaration of independence but a result of complete rest coming from goodness within.” Thus, may we know well and reflect upon the life and works the man, whom many know simply as the Father of the Katipunan. Mabuhay Andres “maypag-asa” Bonifacio!

November 30, 2013 is also the last day of the interactive exhibit of the life and works of another great man at The Mind Museum in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Philippines: Leonardo of Vinci. Known to be a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer; I did not allow any excuses not to visit a gallery of his ingenious works. What was also greatly interesting about the said exhibit was the “interactive exhibit” clause (advertised by the museum), which means you could touch or tinker with the displayed replicas. Exciting!

Getting to The Mind Museum required traveling from Los Baños, Laguna. We stopped at the Ayala MRT station in EDSA, and walked towards the intersection of EDSA, Ayala Avenue going to the Makati Central Business District and McKinley Road going to Bonifacio Global City. Our main landmark was the Shell gas station, wherein it also serves as a terminal area for a number of jeepney routes plying the vicinity. At that same Shell station, we purchased ride tickets for the coach/bus marked “BGC” which would pass along the museum. The fare cost P12.00 and the security guard directed us to ride the bus marked “West.” By asking the bus driver for further directions, he directed us towards a traffic light, and then walked around 100 meters toward a grey, three-story something high building.

A lot of interesting and diverse stuff were on display. Concepts for ball bearings for a smoother machine operation, contraptions for flight, weapons of destruction, paintings, theater props, automobiles, musical-related machines, and stuff here and there were on display.  Although not all of Leonardo’s work have been replicated, you would be still be amazed by the number of sketches and machines described and reproduced during the exhibit. Gears and the transfer of motion direction, interested me the most, because they were good to look at. The technology seemed really advanced, or more appropriately, extraordinary, in spite of the crude materials used for reconstructing it. Other otherworldly things on display include interlocking and easy-to-construct bridges, including a replica which you could recreate, a wooden war tank, scuba diving gears, among many other machines that you could also watch in documentaries uploaded in YouTube.

Interlocking bridge and replica

Self-propelled glider

 

Urban habitat and architecture planning

 

Ball bearings

 

Meant to rotate and produce lift

 

Sottomarino, Leonardo’s concept of a submarine

 

Hope the kids enjoyed the exhibit, like how the adults did.

To reiterate the points of this post; 1) November 30 is Bonifacio’s birthday; 2) Leonardo da Vinci was a real polymath; and 3) You can now go to The Mind Museum to see other exciting stuff about the various sciences.  I hope another Da Vinci interactive exhibit would happen again here in the Philippines. 😀

 

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