Cinco de Noviembre with fellow Bloggers

I have done the Silay Photowalk last year on my own. But this time around, I had to make sure that the walk would be more fun and enjoyable. So this time I brought with me blogging friends from Manila to join me on this walk. Don Fitz Rina and I are all ready to go and explore the hidden gems of Silay! I tited this post as Cinco de Noviembre Photowalk since we did the walk on November 4th, a Day before the Holiday in Negros Occidental.

It was brunch time when we arrived in Silay, but we were not yet ready for lunch, so we decided to just have heavy snacks at El Ideal.

El Ideal has already been a culinary institution in Silay. It has been serving really good Ilonggo foods. Their specialty is the guapple pie and the famed fresh lumpia. Guapple is a variety of guava that becomes reddish when ripe. Too bad, there was no guapple pie stock when we went there.

So I just ended up ordering fresh lumpia and Panara.

Panara is somewhat similar to the Vigan empanada, except that the former is much smaller and has no eggs. Panara’s fillings is usually bean sprouts and ground meat.

From El Ideal, we started to roam around Silay. It was scorching hot. And the four of us didn’t even brought an umbrella.

Don Fitz and I are no longer stranger to Silay. But it was Rina’s first time in the province of Negros Occidental so I really had to make sure that she’s enjoying her vacation.

We checked out the heritage houses one after the other. Taking pictures here and there. We also snapped a few photos of some old houoses that are not even declared are heritage houses. Houses that has caught are attention.

It was November 4th. The day before the al Cinco de Noviembre celebration of Silay. and it seems that everyone’s busy preparing for some special celebration of sorts.

The Balay Negrense in fact had some round tables set up on its lobby as well as on its front yard. We made a quick stop at the Balay Negrense Museum, but decided not to enter.

We just took a break there and recharge energy.

From there we continued walking, exploring every nook and cranny of Siay’s streets. More heritage houses to explore.

Until we finally reached the Manuel Hofileña Ancestral House. It’s actually still being used today as a house of Sir Ramon Hofilena, but at the same time the serves as a museum that showcases priceless artifacts and artworks from various National Artists of the Philippines. I will write a separate piece about the Hofilena house trip soon.

The Hofilena Stop is so worthwhile. It’s so full of surprises. We got so engrossed that we didn’t even realized weve been inside the museum for more than two hours already!

From the Hofilena Mansion, we made a very quick stop at the City Hall take shoot its facade, then head towards the San Diego Pro Cathedral which sits just beside the City Hall.

It was a Sunday afternoon so I was expecting a lot of people to be at the church. there was no Sunday Mass during the time we were there, but a Funeral Mass. So we were not able to shoot the interiors of the church, only its facade.

Then hunger strikes back.

We took photos of the old buildings while walking towards the Maria Golez House, until we finally decided to sit down and have lunch.

Time check: 3PM. uber Late Lunch.

After our lunch, we took a jeep bound for Bacolod North Terminal, from there we took a tricycle that will bring us to the Ruins.

It was already 4PM when we arrived at the Ruins. The sunlight hitting the old mansion is golden. It’s the best time to actually shoot the Ruins.

And since it was a Sunday, there we just a lot of people at the structure, taking advantage of the good weather and the perfect lighting.

We stayed at the ruins until it was sundown. this is actualy my first time to shoot the mansion at night. Too bad, I didn’t have tripod with me when we traveled. So I just have to settle with placing my camera on a table to shoot.

It was a very tiring but fulfilling day. I got to rediscover Silay again with lots of surprises, and at the same time was able to shoot the Ruins at night.

How about you? have you tried walking along the streets of Silay and explored the old houses there? Have you tried visiting the Ruins at night time? Share your stories with us!