I read the first entry in my journal for this year and I wrote:
I also know that working hard and working smart are two different things.
I want to work smart and live well. Living well entails making the most of what is given to me. So instead of a vacation over the Holy Week, my cousin and I explored our own city. I live in Butuan so I might as well explore what Butuan has to offer.
If you happen to get a tourism pamphlet when you arrive in the Butuan airport, one of the tourist spots listed there is the Banza Church Ruins. My grandmother is from that area yet I can only count in one hand the number of times I have been to that part of the city.
I already saw this area when we went on a boat ride to Magallanes.
I got curious. My aunts were not interested. They have been living in this city for too long. This mini-adventure does not seem to excite them anymore so I found a kindred spirit in my younger cousin. On Holy Wednesday, we went on a little adventure. We walked to the terminal for tricycles going to Banza. We were lucky that the Banza residents who were in the same tricycle with us were helpful. I already started to lose trust in the driver for he wanted to take advantage of our clueless state. One passenger, a young woman, was helpful enough to tell her neighbor who was also in the same tricycle with us to give us directions. He lives near the site.
It only takes a 10-minute leisurely walk from the main road to reach this place.
It is not a world-class tourist destination of sorts. It is just an open area with a marker and a reconstruction of a ruined church. The actual ruin is wrapped inside that Balete tree.
Goats grazed the open field.
It may not be a grand tourist spot but I love the place. It is peaceful and calming. Agusan River, the third longest river in the Philippines according to Wikipedia and the longest river in Mindanao according to Encyclopedia Britannica, showed its gentle side.
The afternoon sun basks in its glory.
Indeed, the best things in life are free.
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This is Day 17 of the 30-day blogging challenge.
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