MARIKINA PHOTOWALK: appreciating the city amidst the weekend downpour

It was an unusual rainy Saturday but our spirits were not dampened. This is what I mean by seeing the world in another perspective. Seeing Marikina through the rain made us appreciate the city in a different light. Four bloggers, with soiled shoes, cameras and big smiles on their face braving the rain to discover the beautiful city of Marikina.

http://www.adaphobic.com/

http://www.nomadicexperiences.com/

http://pusangkalye.net/

http://jonverdavid.wordpress.com/

It all started with a photo I saw in Pinoy Exchange which made me curious. After a few minutes of researching, I found out that it is located in Marikina. I immediately chatted Ada of http://adaphobic.com/ who maintains permanent residence there. She said she know about it and proposed that we go see it one time. Since it was Friday and I had no appointments the next day except in the late afternoon to accompany my wife, I thought of passing by the area and see it myself. The over-excited me got in the way again. Since Ada and Marky has agreed to see each other that Saturday, Ada thought the three of us could go. Then the idea of a photowalk accross Marikina came. 


This is the place which sparked it all...........

intriguing building facade at IVC

The Industrial Valley Complex (IVC) near the river banks of Marikina. Home to intriguing facade of buildings or say walls created during the term of Bayani Fernando to conceal the relocated squatters in the area. While it is highly appreciated by many, myself included, it sparked debates among others who thought of it as discriminatory or superficial. For some, it is a sign of the governments effort to conceal the real problems of poverty in the country especially in the Metro. I find it amusing. I appreciate its beauty.

The itinerary Ada made for the four of us---- 

MARIKINA WALKING TOUR AND PHOTOWALK

9:00 am – meet up in Santolan Station (LRT Line 2 – the purple line)
9:30 am – Landscape photography. Walk to IVC front Marikina, where the nice infrastructure is located.
10:30 am – Explore the Marikina River Park.
11: 00 am – Walk again to ride a jeepney going to lunch at Pan De Amerikana, Marikina.
11:40 am – Food and restaurant photography at Pan De Amerikana.
1:00 pm – Urban photography. Clock Tower of Marikina.
1:30 to 3:00 pm – Photowalk, street, and panoramic photography on the way to famous landmark of Marikina: Freedom Park, Teatro Marikina, Our Lady of Adandoned Church, Kapitan Moy, Shoe Museum.
3:30 pm – Food and restaurant photography. Café Lidia.
4:30 pm – Group hug. Group photo. Pack up. End of the day.

There. After the long walk in IVC area, we took the tricycle back to Marikina Riverbanks Mall where we took the Jeepney to San Roque to try the famous Pan Amerikana Restaurant is. The place started out as a panaderya or bakery making a name for its classic pandesal. 

They still have the bakery until now but it eventually evolved into a place for dining as well. The food is surprisingly cheap for this kind of cozy ambiance. The place is not airconditioned but the presence of trees and lotsa plants incorporated in the space makes it cool as well as soothing to the eyes. We tried their signature menu ""everlasting"" and I really enjoyed it.    

By the way, Pan Amerikana is the first and only chess themed restaurant in the Philippines. The four of us enjoyed toying with the giant chess pieces and taking photos in that spot. More on a separate post soon.

After lunch, we took the jeepney again to another location. We stopped at the city center, walked passed the clock tower, the Freedom park, Teatro Marikina (where Ada trained theater in during her HS days) and eventually to the church of Our lady of the Abandoned. 

Behind the church is an area I was surprised to see in this part of the Metro. Some old col;onial ( I suppose) houses still line up the streets. I never thought I would see a place like this in Marikina. This is another face of the city I never heard of before.

Here is where you can find Kapitan Moy, a colonial house turned into a party venue. It's proximity to the church makes it famous for wedding receptions and other functions. I heard that it caters to high end costumers. Think of the party venues inside Intramuros and you get a feel of what I mean.

After the much awaited group pic, we decided to take a break from all the walking and taking pictures and go for some mouth watering snack at Cafe Lidia along Calderon street in Kalumpang Marikina.n This place is famous for it's pizza and pasta as well as pastries. Since we were still kinda full for the heavy luch we had at Pan de Amerikana, we decided to order coffee, their signature buffalo wings which everybody really loved ( we keep saying nice nice nice in between bites.lol) , blueberry cheesecake which Ada said is the best cheesecake she tasted so far and 

So who says the rain should stop you from going out? As I said, it was not enough to dampen the spirits of 4 bloggers who has the passion for photography. For me, it was also my chance to bond with my Team Western Pangasinan friends Marky and Ada. I am also glad to meet another addition to the bloggers in my list this year. To Cris or Jonver as his friends call him http://jonverdavid.wordpress.com/ who I got to know in the group Photobloggers Philippines, it was a pleasure to finally get to know you in person. More photowalks to come!!!!!!


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