NUEVA ECIJA | Sundown at Cabanatuan's Obrero River

Friday, April 06, 2012

It’s been two long years since I last visited my province up north.

Cabanatuan has always been a summer escape when I was a kid; swimming at the brook at the back of my grandma’s house, picking and eating mangoes and star apples, running around the rice fields, biking through the woods and swinging endlessly on the makeshift tire swing beneath the shade of our huge mango trees.
There was this one summer though that was forever etched on my mind. I’m not sure what the occasion was, but our grandma decided we should hike from Buliran to Obrero through the backfields. It took us half the day, passing streams, mini dams, dessert-like patches and a mighty river before reaching our aunt’s house at the other side of town.

Earlier today, I got a chance to visit Obrero again. After some chitchat with my relatives, I asked if the river that we crossed years back was still there. Well, it’s still there according to my cousin and we can even check it out if I want to.
Like our journey years back, we passed through rice fields, small brooks and sandy places before we got there. The only difference was this time it only took us ten minutes.
The river is indeed still there, it seemed calmer now however than when I first crossed it. It might be due to the fact that I hardly weigh anything back then, unlike now hehe. The bottom’s still gravelly and mini gravel islets seemed to have sprouted on its shallower areas.
We spent the afternoon waiting for the sun to color the sky. I wasn’t really betting on it due to heavy cloud cover. I was about to give up when the sun suddenly burst out of the horizon and gave out a surprising orange glow before retiring.

A yellow moon rose from the trees as twilight approached; as if it was telling us that time to go home.

I was initially hesitant on joining our drive back to Cabanatuan, looking for a more adventure-filled trip for the long holidays, now I’m glad I did.

 

     Obrero River
     Barangay Obrero, Cabanatuan City
     GPS Coordinates: 15.524798,120.987834 | Click to view location on Google Maps

Share This Story

Tags: , , , ,

You Might Also Like

13 comments

  1. KarlaApril 7, 2012 at 5:13 AM

    Thank you for letting us peek into your province. :) I love how serene the place looks and it's nice how you still have memories of your childhood. As usual, I really like the pictures. The sequence of pictures seems to tell a story from when you were a child to a teenager. Kulang na lang sa present, hehe. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. JeromeApril 7, 2012 at 7:39 AM

    wow ang ganda, wala sa isip ko na may magandang spot sa Cabanatuan until now. I like the last photo very...The Wolf na movie hehehehe

    ReplyDelete
  3. JimApril 7, 2012 at 9:17 AM

    the 7th and 8th photos are the best! galing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Micamyx|SenyoritaApril 7, 2012 at 1:10 PM

    Taga-Cabanatuan ka pala originally :D Hindi pa ako nakakapunta dyan. Ilocano rin ba ang salita niyo dyan? Want to visit this part of Luzon... mukhang tahimik pero may ibubuga :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. LestatApril 7, 2012 at 2:27 PM

    i like the story, suddenly noel c's "kanlungan" played on my mind. sarap naman. like the last photo too! panalo!

    ReplyDelete
  6. bertNApril 7, 2012 at 7:56 PM

    Mabuti may natitira pang mga gravel sa ilog.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Teacher AnaApril 7, 2012 at 8:53 PM

    Im waiting for the pix of Longganisa :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. MarLiesTravelsApril 7, 2012 at 11:04 PM

    Hope it wasn't too cloudy so we could have seen a better sunset through your photo :) and if was nice to read about your childhood memories c:

    ReplyDelete
  9. escapeApril 8, 2012 at 10:50 AM

    it's fun to reminisce those times and the places where you grew up. i like the part when you did the half day trek. i would also do that and on my return at one time will do it again to relive the memory.

    ReplyDelete
  10. tatayjoniApril 9, 2012 at 12:35 PM

    buhay na buhay yung "moon shot" bihira lang nakakagawa niyan even international

    ReplyDelete
  11. Christian | Lakad PilipinasApril 17, 2012 at 3:24 PM

    Karla
    Haha oo nga, may nagcomment din na kulang daw sa present. Siguro ganun talaga, wala pang ending yung story :)

    Jerome
    Yung mga spots jan jerome di masyadong pang tourism eh, mga simpleng ilog lang ganun hehe

    Jim
    Thanks!

    Micamyx
    Tahimik at mabagal ang buhay Mica, tagalog ang salita dun sa part namin :)

    Lestat
    Awww.. Oo nga ano :)

    BertN
    Sad to say Bert but the river is constantly being mined for gravel

    Teacher Ana
    Nasa FB teacher Ana! hehe

    MarLiesTravels
    Oo nga eh sayang, pero oks na rin, umilaw naman kahit konti :)

    Dong Ho
    And Lola pa namin ang nag aya samin diba haha

    Tatayjoni
    Madali lang yan Joni! Basta abangan mo lang na mababa ang buwan tas i-frame mo na may kasamang ibang elements tas zoom tas shoot! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. WayneVJuly 24, 2014 at 10:59 AM

    Taga Obrero, Cabanatuan City din ako.. Thank you so much for posting pictures of our place :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Christian | Lakad PilipinasJuly 31, 2014 at 2:27 PM

      Kababayan Wayne, it't my pleasure to show Cabanatuan to the rest of the country :)

      Delete

      FOLLOW ME @INSTAGRAM