What’s UP, Los Baños?

Whenever I think of Laguna de Bay, I think of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Or for that matter, some of the places in Calamba and Los Baños that have been mentioned in these novels. What I remember most from the Noli is the picnic in the lake with Ibarra, Maria Clara and their fiends, the fight between Elias and the crocodile as well as how Ibarra helped Elias kill the crocodile. In the Fili, the first chapter presents a boat called Tabo (and how it symbolizes the Philippines then, and perhaps till today) as it goes up from Pasig. Simoun was on the boat, the passengers were discussing an event several years beforehand, of an outlaw that drowned on the lake, and suddenly Simoun turned white pretending to be sick (I know I’m not doing justice to the Noli and the Fili with my summary). There is Dampalit Falls, Susong Dalaga (this is not female snails but “suso ng dalaga) as well as Talim Island. What brought about my reminiscence of the Noli and the Fili? I was in PCARRD last week and got a view of Laguna de Bay. It’s quite amusing really, how we know that Los Baños is just beside Laguna de Bay but we never seem to see it from campus. Either you have to go up Makiling or go to Bayan to see it. Incidentally, you might want to brush up on the Noli and the Fili again. You could buy a hardcopy or you can volunteer at Project Gutenberg’s Distributed Proofreaders . All public domain books such as the Noli and the Fili are converted to ebooks and distributed freely. Both books are in the proofreading stages. And if a lot of us volunteer, then they can be placed in Project Gutenberg faster and distributed to the world. I have volunteered already and it would be great to see more Filipino books in ebook format.

A view of Laguna de Bay

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