Yes, there
is a Noah’s Ark in Amaya View in Indahag Hills, Cagayan de Oro. However, that is
not the Biblical ark of the Bible. It is a replica of the famed ark designed
and constructed to be one of the attractions of Amaya View. The concrete
replica of the “ark” is built in the highest area of the hill with an elevation
of 1,122 feet above sea level. Just by being in the vicinity of the “ark” is already
a pleasure by itself because one can see the breathtaking view of nature- the
sky, the mountains and hills, the trees and far beyond are some of the urban
areas of the city.
At the “ark” are different replicas of animals such as tigers, elephants, giraffes, apes and deer. One can enter the ark for free. At the bottom of it are the aviary and mini zoo where different species of wild and domestic animals are kept and fed. A visitor has to pay 100 pesos to enter and view these areas. inside are birds such as wild ducks, macaws, peacocks, bantam chickens and others. The mini zoo has also kept quadruped animals for viewing to the public such as wild goats, pony, donkey, deer, tiger, llama, alpaca, crocodile and other animals.
Noah’s Ark is a place for entertainment of visitors of different ages including children.
The
Spaniards during the colonial era built military fortifications in some strategic
places of the Philippines to protect established communities from raids and
incursions especially from pirates and Moros. In Mindanao forts were also built.
Some of them were demolished and others did not survive the ravages of time. But
there are still others that exist today.
Due to lack
of manpower, Spanish, Peruvian and Mexican builders had to import additional workforce
from Cavite, Bohol and Panay for the construction of the fortification. The mix
of different people from various places in the Philippines with diverse
dialects under the control of the Spaniards may explain the development of Chabacano,
a Spanish pidgin dialect spoken in Zamboanga because people had to communicate
with each other in an understandable language, in that particular situation the
Spanish.
The fort
was attacked by the Dutch in 1646. It was abandoned by the Spaniards in 1662 to
reinforce the Spanish administration in Manila which was under the threat of
the Chinese pirate Koxinga who earlier defeated the Dutch. The attack however
did not happen.
After it
was destroyed by the pirates and raiders, Jesuit missionaries rebuilt the fort in
1699. Upon order of Spanish Governor General Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante Y
Rueda Spanish engineer Juan Sicarra rebuilt the fort in 1718. The fort was then
renamed Real Fuerte de Nuestra Señora del
Pilar de Zaragoza.
The years
that followed saw attacks on the fort and a violent incident. In 1718 Dalasi,
king of Bulig with about 3,000 Moro pirates stormed the fort but were repulsed
by the defenders. In 1798, the British cannoned the Fort and in 1872 it was a
scene of mutiny of 70 prisoners.
In 1734, a
Marian relief was built on the eastern wall of the fort. It was named Nuestra
Señora del pilar de Zaragoza (Our Lady of the Pillar of Zaragoza).
The Virgin Mary of the Pillar became the patroness of Zamboanga. The outdoor Marian
Shrine become a place of devotion and worship to some faithful who believe that
the Lady of the Pillar is miraculous. Tradition has it that Virgin Mary made
several apparitions. It is said that she first appeared to a soldier near the
gate of the Fort on December 6, 1734. During an earthquake on September 21,
1897 in the Zamboanga Peninsula, it was said that some visionaries saw the Virgin
Mary floating in the air in Basilan Strait and raised her right hand to stop
the onrushing waves thus preventing the onslaught of Tsunami in Zamboanga.
On May 1899
during the Spanish-American War, the Spaniards surrendered the fort to the
Filipino revolutionaries led by General Vicente Alvarez. On November 19, 1899
the fort was captured by the Americans. During World War II, the fort was
occupied by the Japanese. American and Filipino troops recaptured it in 1945.
The Americans officially turned over the fort to the Philippine government on July
4, 1946.
On August
1, 1973 Fort Pilar was declared as a national cultural treasure. Today the fort
is placed under the administration of Regional Museum of the National Museum
which makes the fort its regional headquarters.
Today, the
fort is a major tourist attraction of the city. The original walls are still
intact, and is protected by a metal fence around them. On the eastern side of
the fort’s wall is the relief of the Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza and below it is an altar. The shrine is enclosed and protected with
metal fence.
Historical marker
courtyard and museums
At the entrance
of the fort is a historical marker. Visitors can go inside the fort passing
through the security personnel of the National Museum for free. In the center inside
the fort is a courtyard. And adjacent to the walls are buildings which house the
museum containing different artifacts and materials of the marine life of
Zamboanga, Basilan and Sulu. Visitors can view the display in the museum for
free. They are required though to take off their shoes to view the displays and
they are not allowed to take picture with a DSLR camera. They can only take
pictures with a smart phone, and that they will not use flash or take video
with their phone.
Visitors
can climb to the rampart of the Fort through the ramp that connects it. On top
is a walkway where they can see the scene below including the sea and the Santa
Cruz Islands. At corner of the walls are bastions with security guards manning
a guard house. Also on the bastions is parapet with merlons and crenels. In the
days of old these structures might have given a defender a vantage position from
the attackers who were on the ground below.
Grapes
usually grow in temperate and sub-tropical climates so that vineyards draw
people's attention in tropical Philippines because they are uncommon. Some areas
in the country have successfully grown the fruit. There are vineyards in La
Union in Luzon, and Arevalo, Ilo-ilo and Cebu in the Visayas.
Amaya View
in Indahag Hills, Cagayan de Oro City has added another attraction, called “The
Vineyard”, to the amenities they offer to the visitors. The high elevation of
the place, the highest of which is 1,122 feet above sea level, is maybe conducive
to the growing of grapes. Elevated place like Indahag Hills usually has cooler
temperature compared to that of the lowland urban center of the city.
In the
vineyard, visitors should follow protocols such as no pinching and picking of
grapes, no cutting of any part of the plant, no climbing of the trellis and no
stepping on the plant base.
Adult visitors
have to pay 150 pesos , and children 4-12 years old 100 pesos and those 3 years
and below free of charge for an entry into the vineyard. This is on top of the
300 pesos entrance fee for an all-access pass of the Amaya View.
The
vineyard in Amaya View is the first ever in Cagayan de Oro. During my visit to
“The Vineyard”, grapevines of the Amaya Red and Premium varieties are already
producing bountiful fruits. Some of them are still green while others have
already turned purple or black which is an indication that they are ready for
harvest.
Although
“The Vineyard” has proven that grape plants can thrive in this part of the
Philippines, its economic prospect will determine its sustainability. Imported
grapes from China have saturated the Philippine market so that even sidewalk vendors
at Cogon Public Market sell grapes. The
once expensive fruit which are used to be eaten only during the Christmas
Holidays are now available to most people at an affordable price in almost any
month of the year because of the Chinese import.
Most of
Spain’s former colonies speak Spanish. The Philippines is an exception because
although it adopted Filipino or Tagalog as its official language, Filipinos
speak different languages or dialects according to the ethnic group they belong
to. Spain’s long occupation of the Philippines has brought about an enduring
influence over the Filipino’s culture, religion and languages. Cebuano, the
second most widely spoken language in Philippines next to Filipino or Tagalog, has
been enriched with the infusion of Spanish loan words. Most of them have found
their niche into the native tongue so that they become part of the regular
vocabularies of modern native speakers.
Below is
list of words that are “naturalized’ into the Cebuano or Tagalog languages with
their Spanish and English equivalent. I did not include words that are
obviously Spanish in origin because there are multitude of them, and this will
make my list a very lengthy one. A language such as Spanish may have some changes
in spelling or addition or reduction in letters when adopted to another
language, but its original meaning will remain the same.There are some words though that may lose their
original meaning with the passage of time.
*”Habal” in Cebuano means to copulate which is different from Spanish
Jabali which means boar. In the past it was the practice of locals to lend
their “jabali” or boar to those with sow in order for the animals to breed. The
act of mating was called “habal”, thus, “jabali” completely lose its original
Spanish meaning. The term “habal” is not used to refer to sexual acts between people.
Its use is limited to animals especially pigs.
*”Tsupa” in
the Philippines is an indecent word used to refer to oral sex between two
males. It is never used in serious or formal conversations.
