Tina Decal

It is not surprising when asking people what they know about Quezon Province and they answer just Pahiyas. But what’s amazing is that those who took the road with Kulinarya Tagala would tell stories they learned from Tina Decal about the legend of Sampaloc lake, Miracles of the Sto. Cristo de Burgos, timeless love stories from Sariaya’s grand old houses, the ritual of the Lambanog, and many more.

Thanks to Tina’s Kulinarya Tagala, the road going to her home province is more than just espasol and buko pie.

Traveler on Foot: Kulinarya Tagala is a success story. What inspired you come up with this culinary tour project?

Tina Decal:  My children!  I quit my job as a resort manager in Quezon Province late 1999.  I need to be home in their growing years but needs to earn to help my husband bring my children to a good school, so I have to make a way to earn while being at home most of the time.  It was also after my stint with the resort that I realized local and foreign tourist love my province of Quezon only summertime because of our beaches and the famous Pahiyas Festival.  The entrepreneur in me came out and was inspired to design a food trip that will bring visitors to Quezon.  Who can resist a food trip?  Everybody loves and enjoy food. 

Quezon is left behind in the tourism industry because of the stigma of a leftist group.  However, I took it as a challenge and battled the “negative image” with a platable bait, FOOD!  But through food,  it is a showcase of  the unique culture, tradition and history of province.  It’s like putting Quezon “in a pot”.

Traveler on Foot: What problems did you encounter when you start doing the tour? What challenges do you encounter now?

Tina Decal: A lot!  Even my kababayans were not too receptive of my idea. And the culinary tour needs local counterparts, especially dining areas like restaurants and even homes which will authentically show our dining culture. Some won’t even like to demonstrate because they feel guests might “only steal their recipes and secrets”.  Plus, the attitude of most Filipinos that if it is your idea, then do it!  When you get successful, then that’s the time we join you!

Remember, it takes time to snowball.  I started doing my researches and working with prospective suppliers early 2000.  This means from that time till late 2004, there was no run yet, no takers, no income for me!

You and I believe KULINARYA TAGALA is already a success story, the challenge is how to keep it going, add more excitement by researching for more good food and dining places that will give my guests the enthusiasm to always join me in my tours and recommend it to more people.

Traveler on Foot:  You’ve led different kinds of people from student groups to corporate executives to appreciate the food and cultural heritage of Quezon and Laguna. Can you describe what is giving a tour like? Do you still get the jitters each time you face a new set of audience in your tours?

Tina Decal: Giving a tour for me means that I am SERVING MY COUNTRY IN MY OWN LITTLE WAY and GIVING BACK TO A PROVINCE where I came from!

I still do, of course because I only meet them on the tour day, but I help myself lessen the jitters by checking a little on my guests’ background.  That means, are they Filipinos based in the Philippines, are they Balikbayans or are they foreigners and if so, from what country?

Traveler on Foot:  What do you enjoy most about leading tours?

Tina Decal: I meet people from all walks of life and have helped me develop the kind of person I am now.  Confident, sensitive and caring for others, PROUD OF MY COUNTRY and MY BEING FILIPINO!

Traveler on Foot:  What is the most memorable feedback did you get from your audience?

Tina Decal: After running my very first San Isidro Festival Tour (Pahiyas-Mayohan-Agawan) in 2006 which took me working for almost 24 hours with 2 Tour Bus load and a Coaster,  I woke up  the following morning with a text message that goes,” MS. DECAL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR MAKING  PROUD AS FILIPINOS”!  This message came from a School director who took the tour with two of his American guests.

Traveler on Foot:  What is most annoying for your while doing tours?

Tina Decal: My most annoying experience!!!!! AN EXPAT-PROFESSOR from a prestigious culinary school who lambasted our Filipino culture while I was so proud talking about it!  Calling a gallery of Filipino antiques “just garbage and a warehouse”!  It was a collection of 30 years, the gallery owners almost filed a case to declare her a “persona non-grata in their area”.  But cool heads prevailed, she’s still lucky.  But nevertheless, I sent the school a letter about my sentiments, I didn’t take it sitting down.

Traveler on Foot:  A contributor to the success of Kulinarya Talaga is that is remained focus on rebranding and promoting the heritage of Quezon and Laguna. Aside from the places featured in the Kulinarya Tagala, name three of your favorite destinations in the country and why would you recommend them?

Tina Decal: BANAWE because it shows the ingenuity of the ethnic Filipino in building the huge terraces. Fantastic engineering ingenuity which I hope we can sustain for more generations to see. PALAWAN because its nature at its best! MANILA, of course despite of everything negative about it, it’s vibrant and full of life!

Traveler on Foot:  If you’re not Tina Decal the tour facilitator for Kulinarya Tagala, you are Tina Decal the…

Tina Decal: Nothing more but, A WIFE AND A MOTHER, I love my family.  They are my inspiration!

Traveler on Foot:  The prestige brought by Kulinarya Tagala to your province, the positive reviews, TV appearances, and the on-going demands for your tour services, can you now say that this is what you want? What else do you want to achieve in life?

Tina Decal: I am happy where I am and what I am today.  My only wish is that when I get too old for this I have passed the torch to someone deserving and who will nurture what I started.  But while waiting for that “old age”, I will continue and try reaching out to other parts of Quezon province.

Traveler on Foot:  Not too many regions in country have culinary and heritage tours. What is your message to those individuals who want to start something similar to Kulinarya Tagala in their own town or city?

Tina Decal: First, KNOW YOUR CITY OR PROVINCE AND LOVE IT FOR WHAT IT IS! It is hard to sell something you do not know and you do not love!

I want to inspire them to go ahead, you will never go wrong in a food trip!  Everybody loves to eat, but most of all spice your food with culture, tradition and history!  It adds more flavor to the trip, the rediscovery of culture is what makes it really worth taking.  PATIENCE, DEDICATION and PASSION is what you need.  If you have these, no obstacle will be hard to overcome.

Traveler on Foot: What message do you have to those who have joined your tours?

Tina Decal: Thanks for food tripping with me!  All of them had contributed to the success of Kulinarya Tagala.  KEEP RECOMMENDING so that many will enjoy the same experience they had with KULINARYA TAGALA! 

Thanks a lot Glen!  I enjoyed answering your questions!  I do appreciate the gesture.  I failed to mention that along the way I met people who are blessings in my life and you are one of those. KULINARYA TAGALA is here because GOD IS ALWAYS GOOD!

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To learn more about Kulinarya Tagala, you can reach Tina Decal at 0927.563.09.89 or send her an email: mariacristinadecal@ymail.com

Classic Filipino Kitchenware

We often find vintage kitchenware made of metal, wood, stone, and pottery stacked on dusty shelves, mixed with other objects in antiques shops and thrift stores around the country. They have gathered dust either because a lot of people find no use for worn out things or that they are very expensive.

But for those who are into recreating the lives of their ancestors into their homes, primitive kitchenware has become irresistible pieces.

On our trip to local antique shops in Vigan, the rusty coal-powered flat-irons were common finds. At time when electricity is not yet available in rural towns, live coal was piled inside the flat-iron to heat it.  Collectors look for the one that has a chicken or bird figure attached to the lock. The lock was required to prevent the live coals from flying out.

Rare kinds are those deep pan-edged made of the heaviest brass or copper. It has open fretwork, called the corona and had a stout wooden handle. Moving this kind of flat-iron across the garment was a careful art, for none of the embers must be allowed to fly out and burn the cloth.

Some of the metalware that came into the Philippine household were from China. A few came from Spain like the brass chocolatera and iron-cast pans. These metal utensils often outlived their original owners and were passed on to the next generation. When the succeeding generations find out that they are sought by collectors, they end up in antique shops.

Charming pieces were usually made of wood. The wooden tubs, hand-carved from a single piece of wood evokes the time when the womenfolk washed clothes in brooks, riverbanks, and at open waterworks like the communal poso.

More commonly found in Filipino household that also end up in thrift stores was the almirez or mortar and pestle team used for crushing garlic and peppercorn and for bringing out the juice from shrimp heads. Like other kitchenware, the almirez was painstakingly chiseled and shaped from stone by hand.

Most commonly identified as a classic Filipino kitchenware is the palayok. From the potter’s wheel, the earthen pot was fired in a kiln to make it a constant household pot on fire. According to tradition, the first thing that must be brought into a new house was a palayok and the first task accomplished was to cook rice in the palayok.    

Another earthenware sought by collectors are the kamot jars. This Ching dynasty tradeware circulating in antique shops were said to have been used in ancient barter trade. It was then used as kitchen vessel for fermenting liquids and condiments. Its name came from the scratch-like parallel indentation on the pot’s shoulder.      

Also sought after by collectors were the earthen water containers called tapayan. The tapayan was placed on the banggera like a small cistern for cooking, drinking, and washing dishes. It is said that water stayed cool in the tapayan.

The secret which kept the water in the tapayan fresh was the practice then of scrubbing the jar with buri leaves and rinsing it repeatedly with clean water, it is only then it becomes ready to be filled in with drinking water from the brook or a well. A shell of a kabibi was dropped into the tapayan to dispell any murk in minutes.

All of the traditional kitchenware mentioned above is no longer in use. They have been swept aside by new technology and later ended up in antique shops only to be taken home by someone who wants to be surrounded by an aura of quiet charm that is found in classic Filipino kitchenware.

Traveler on Foot Year 4

It is always a privilege to listen and learn from people we meet in our travels. They opened their homes, invited us in special occasions, and took time to generously share their thoughts with us. For all the things you shared, we are truly grateful.

-          To artist Nemi Miranda Jr. and writer Jose Rodolfo Mercado for graciously welcoming us at the Nemiranda Art House in Angono last July.

-          To Ambeth Ocampo for revealing to us in an interview things that only a few people know about this country’s most popular and accessible historian.

-          To artist Celso Pepito for giving me the honor of delivering the opening remarks during his one-man exhibit at SM Megamall Art Center last August.

-          To foremost Filipino art patron Dr. Joven Cuanang for welcoming us in his weekend in Antipolo during the Ciento Cincuenta exhibit.

-          To Dez Bautista for accommodating us at the Malolos Caryatid House during our unscheduled visit in Bulacan.

Our travels will not be memorable without pictures. Special thanks to Jamie Barredo and Mike Paruginog for allowing us to borrow their camera for an extended period.

Like the previous years, 2011 is an amazing year for the Traveler on Foot. To our Followers and those who take time visiting our blog, and leaving encouraging and kind words that inspire us to continue sharing our travels, thank you very much.

-Glenn | 14 January 2012 

Quiapo Tour

A sea of men and women in maroon clothes, struggling and inching their way to get near and touch the ancient image of the El Señor Nazareno de Quiapo is a spectacular scene every January 9 at Plaza Miranda. The image of veneration is the blacken image of the suffering Christ carrying the cross.

This centuries-old image of the Black Nazarene was brought to Manila from Mexico by Augustinian Recollects in 1606. According to tradition, the image was originally fair skinned but was darkened when a fire in the galleon blackened the image. When it arrived in Manila, it was initially enshrined in a church in Bagumbayan and then later transferred to San Nicolas Church in Intramuros. In the late 18^th century, the image was transferred to the church in Quiapo. The procession held every January 9 commemorates the transfer of the image from Intramuros to Quiapo.

On regular days, Quiapo is not as crowded with devotees as compared with the January 9 event but the bumper to bumper traffic and the vendors aggressively peddling folk remedies, amulets, and pirated merchandises are the usual scenes. Despite the chaos and dilapidated structures, Quiapo remains as an important historical and cultural center for those who take time in experiencing Quiapo’s vibrant local color and discovering its glorious past.

A tour around Plaza Miranda is a good place start. This renovated plaza with Roman pillars and aqueduct-like structures, used to be the site of political rallies, including the infamous 1971 Liberal Party Rally. Grenades were thrown at the stage and the spectators, causing injury and death to a lot of people attending the event. An obelisk marks Plaza Miranda as the place for freedom of speech.

Also in this same area are the fortune-tellers, fearlessly and confidently giving their forecast to their steady stream of patrons. Whether through numerology, palm reading, and Tarot cards, both skeptics and believers come to Quiapo’s Fortune-telling Corner to have their fortunes foretold, past lives read, recover lost objects, and bring together estranged couples.

At the Carriedo street-side of the Quiapo Church colored candles are sold in candle-lighting kiosk. The color of each candle used in the Candle Lighting Ritual is believed to have an effect in someone’s life.

Red candles when burned invoke a prayer for the good luck or suerte while green promises prosperity and success in business. Melting a pink candle has positive effects in one’s love life while blue promotes career advancement and more travels. Orange is for good health. White is for peace of mind while black is used to “knock on someone’s conscience.” Red votive candles molded into human form were said to be used for voodoo.

Moving further towards Evangelista Street are vendors selling herbs and folks remedies that come in mysterious looking brews in glass bottles. Most of the items sold here are claimed by the vendors as cure-all for different types of illnesses.

Among the items for sale in this area, are the assorted Anting-anting made from wood, cloth, sundry object sealed in glass bottles and bronze medallions. These bronze medallions embossed with religious symbols and Latin text are believed to give its bearer supernatural powers.

Although the practice of using anting-anting and fortune-telling are frowned upon by the Catholic church, they continue to thrive around Quiapo Church. This church was designed by National Artist for Architecture Juan Nakpil in 1928. It was expanded in 1984 to accommodate the growing number of devotees of the Black Nazarene.

Architect Juan Nakpil lived in a house across Quiapo Church. It was the house of Don Ariston Bautista and wife Petrona Nakpil. The 1914 Art Nouveau Bahay Nakpil-Bautista along Barbosa Street has been transformed by their heirs into a museum dedicated to the Revolution of 1896 and to its famous resident, Gregoria Oriang de Jesus, the Lakambini of the Katipunan and widow of Andres Bonifacio.

 Nakpil-Bautista is just one of the old rich families in Quiapo. On the adjacent street, R. Hidalgo Street, are remnants of what was once a Quiapo of the elite. These were once grand villas of the Paternos, Zamoras, Ocampos, Hidalgos, and Enriquezes. The old families of Quiapo along R. Hildago have move out and left their grand mansions grumbling.

Standing majestically at the end of R. Hidalgo is the All-Steel San Sebastian Church. The prefabricated steel parts of this church were manufactured in Belgium and were delivered in Manila using six ships. It took two years to reassemble the church. Trompe l’oeil painting was used to decorate the church’s interior and the crossed vaults on the ceiling, along with walls and column were painted to resemble marble and jasper.

Another Quiapo landmark is the Ocampo Garden House. This pagoda-like structure dominating the skyline of a residential district in Quiapo was constructed in 1935, a time when the huge area surrounding it was part of a vast estate of Don Jose Mariano Ocampo. The pagoda was built to adorn his garden and at same time to house his realty firm. However, with its completion in 1939, World War II broke out and the structure was used as an air raid shelter for the surrounding community.

A few of the stone statues in can still be found scattered in this residential community, including a Japanese-looking Our Lady of Mount Carmel standing on a globe.

To end the Quiapo tour, pass by the Golden Mosque on the way to Ilalim ng Tulay. The Mosque del Globo del Oro with its dome, painted in gold is the largest mosque in Manila. This Quiapo landmark was built in 1976, under the direction of then first lady Imelda Marcos. It is said that the mosque was built to impress visiting Libyan President Muammar Khadafy. However, for some reason, Khadafy’s state visit to Manila was cancelled.

Ils-de-tuls or Ilalim ng Tulay is a popular Quiapo destination to get hold of assorted Filipino handicrafts. Honey-combed under steel and concrete Quezon bridge are stores filled from floor to ceiling with local crafts made from indigenous materials. These handicrafts were sourced from various tribal and cultural communities throughout the country.

As a summary of our Quiapo Tour, here is the itinerary:

1. Start at Plaza Miranda to see Fortune-tellers, Candle lighting ritual, Anting-anting, and Quiapo Church.
2. Go to the underpass to get to R.Hildago Street to visit  Bahay Nakpil-Bautista, Ocampo Pagoda, and San Sebastian Church.
3. Return to R.Hidalgo to visit the Manila Golden Mosque then proceed to Carlos Palanca Street to end the tour at Ilalim ng Tulay.

-Feast of Black Nazarene | 9 January 2012

Museum of the Filipino People

The Laguna Copperplate is considered as the oldest written document in the Philippines. This artifact pushes back the country’s recorded history about 600 years earlier than the recorded arrival of the Spaniards in 1521.

This archeological treasure is just one of the thousands of  artifacts exhibited at the Museum of the Filipino People. 

The Museum of the Filipino People is housed in the old Commerce Building. While the old Legislative Building houses the National Art Gallery, this museum holds the anthropological and archeological collection of the National Museum. 

Built in 1939, the Commerce Building was designed by Filipino architect Antonio Toledo. It was severely damaged during World War II but has been rebuilt exactly the way it was after the war. The Athenian architecture is easily recognized when looking at the building from the south entrance. 

The Marble Hall beyond the south entrance, with its stained-glass and coffered ceiling and the grand staircases with its exquisite grillwork are some of the stunning architectural details to behold. 

Sitting on one corner of the landscaped courtyard is an authentic Ifugao house from Mayaoyao. This one-room house on stilts was dismantled piece by piece and was carefully reassembled in the courtyard. 

A ladder invites visitors to climb up the hut to see the dim interior. This house is complete with household tools like wooden utensils and different kinds of baskets, including a takba, a kind of woven backpack used by Ifugao hunters. It has a protective cover of tiered fiber that keeps both the hunter’s shoulder and the basket’s contents dry during a sudden rainfall. 

The Ifugao hut is a preview of the anthropological and archeological artifacts that await visitors at the third floor galleries. At the Pinagmulan Gallery, information on the origin of the Philippine islands and the Filipino people are presented in large dioramas. 

These dioramas represent fossil-rich Cagayan Valley in Northern Luzon and the Tabon and the Duyong Caves in Palawan. Displayed in one corner of the gallery is the skull cap of the earliest known human inhabitant in the Philippines discovered in Tabon Cave. Gamma ray dating indicated the Tabon skull cap to be 16,500 years old.   

Next door is the Archeological Treasures Gallery. This dimly-lit and almost claustrophobic gallery has been transformed to look like a burial cave where the secondary burial jars on display were excavated.

Secondary burial jars reveal the practice of early Filipino of exhuming the bones of the dead and storing them in earthenware. These burial jars were placed inside caves such as in Ayub Cave in Maitum Saranggani Province. 

The Maitum burial jars were dated to the 5BC to 370 AD. These anthromorphic potteries have lids that were carved as human heads with distinct facial features. Each of the jars are said to be a representative of the deceased, making each jar unique.

Some of the jars are plain while others have arms and breast applied on the body of the earthenware. 

The centerpiece of this gallery is the Manuggul Jar, an impressive burial jar with two human figures on a boat carved on its lid. It was excavated from a Neolitic burial site in Manuggul Cave of Lipuun, Palawan. Burial jars such as this pre-colonial artwork proves the belief of the early Filipinos in the afterlife. 

The next exhibit hall is the Kinahinantnan Gallery. The labyrinth-like hall is divided into sections. Each section reveals the diverse cultural treasures beginning with Laguna Copperplate. This thin, blackened piece of metal, inscribed with strange script was found by a man dredging for sand in the mouth of Lumban River. He sold it to an antique dealer, who in turn sold it to the National Museum of the Philippine.   

The Dutch ethnographer Antoon Postma discovered that the text engraved on the artifact was Kavi, a language similar to Sanskrit, Old Tagalog, Old Javanese, and Old Malay mixed together.  The text on the copperplate was deciphered as an early legal document issued to clear a person by the name of Namwaran and his clan of a debt he had incurred.  

On same area is the Calatagan Pot with still undermined inscriptions around its shoulders. Found in the 1960s in Calatagan, Batangas, this earthenware was found together with 15^th century Thai and Chinese ceramics. 

The museum’s collection in this exhibit hall is so massive that first time visitors can miss the artifacts from the various cultural communities such as the ulo di kang, an Ifugao headdress made from the beak of a hornbill collected by famous anthropologist Otley Beyer in 1914.

Also easy to miss are the Bakuta, a waterproof Mandaya basket from Davao Oriental, a Mandaya winged dagger, and the satwaran of the Maranaos. 

Interesting display are the Funerary art of the Sama, the Moroines mask from Marinduque, the Sarimanok, the Borak, the grand Kumintang with its gongs. The tour can be overwhelming. But there is more to explore on the second floor. 

The second floor galleries have an impressive collection of artifacts recovered through underwater archeology.

While majority of the artifact displayed here were from the ill-fated 16^th century Spanish galleon San Diego, the exhibit begins with a display of earthenware and tradeware from Southeast Asia leading to the Spanish colonial section with its santos, altar furnishings, and ecclesiastical silver.

In this exhibit hall, the museum showcases the most incredible selection of Chinese junk artifacts recovered from the Palawan seas.

Displayed in glass and wooden boxes are jars from Siam, Cambodia, and Vietnam, plates and jarlets from China.

More porcelain and earthenware are displayed in the other rooms including a basket-shaped oil lamp and the two hundred stoneware jars used for storing water and preserving food such as beef in brine and salted fish.

These artifacts were retrieved from the San Diego, which sank near Fortune Island in Batangas in a sea battle against a Dutch flotilla commandered by Admiral Oliver van Noort.

But the more interesting artifacts are the ammunitions, navigational instruments and other artifacts retrieved from the wreck, including a gold seal believed to be owned by Antonio de Morga. These artifacts tell the story about the ill-fated San Diego.

According to historical records, the galleon was built in Cebu as the San Antonio -a merchant galleon. It was converted it into a flagship by Antonio de Morga. When it was spotted by the Dutch flagship Mauritius, it was overloaded with people and cargo. The two ships engaged in a battle. The San Diego sank, most likely because it was hurriedly prepared for battle and also due to de Morga’s incompetence.

Swords, metal helmets, and the 14 bronze cannons were recovered from the wreck. Each lead ball weigh 2 to 16 pounds. They are important artifacts since they were considered state-of-the-art artillery available in the Philippines then.  

Also retrieved from the wreck are astrolabes, or astronomical rings used by navigators and astrologers for locating the position of stars, determining the time of day, and measuring the depths of the ocean.

Most astrolabes from nautical museums around the world are usually replicas. Ours, at the Museum of the Filipino People is an original.