The restaurant where I sketched this was out in the middle of nowhere but seemed popular – perhaps because they have a pretty good menu. My wife had crabs cooked in coconut and Bago leaves (or Melinjo leaves, from the Gnemon tree). She said the crabs didn’t have much meat on them but were tasty…I had pesto pasta. Our only problem was that the waiter said our food would take up to 1 hour to be ready, when we sat down! That gave me plenty of time to sketch this.
Sat-19-Apr-2025
There are many heritage houses in Boac, Marinduque – although they are mostly covered with shop signs or so heavily restored and repurposed that they don’t look historical. Here is one that is more visible, which I sketched while we sat on the narrow pavement waiting for the Via Crucis (way of the cross) procession – which featured three people dragging crosses covered in (fake?) blood while being whipped by people dressed as Roman soldiers, people flaying themselves (also covered in blood, real I was told) and troops of Moriones. I also started a sketch while waiting for the Via Dolorosa (sorrowful way) procession (lots of floats of saints), but didn’t really get far enough to make it worth finishing.
Fri-18-Apr-2025
In the afternoon (of the 16th) we drove into the hills first to go Barangay Buenavista where we would start our hike (to arrange it), then onwards to this well known beach. I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t like crowds, videoke, garbage everywhere…and the sand was yellow not white (not that I care)! That mountain in the background is our hike for the next day.
Wed-16-Apr-2025
This day on our holiday we had another nice slow start, beginning with sitting under a talisay tree on the beach sketching and reading. After this sketch I realised I can get sun tanned (I don’t go brown but just lobster red) just from the light reflecting up from the beach!
Wed-16-Apr-2025
In the afternoon of Tuesday 15th (on our Holy Week holiday) we went into town to see the Moriones gather in the plaza. The Moriones festival is held during Holy Week in Marinduque – the Moriones being men and women wearing costumes and masks depicting Roman soldiers, roaming around the town searching for Longinus (a centurion who had one eye, pierced the side of Jesus with a lance and then made a miraculous recovery when the blood and water got in his eye and consequently converted to Christianity). Just as I was starting to sketch this some students asked us to fill in a very long survey about visiting Marinduque, so I rushed this sketch a bit. The statue is, of course, of Rizal.
Tue-15-Apr-2025
This day on our holiday started with a morning of doing nothing much except relaxing by the sea. This is a view of where we stayed (@BalaiLaHi) – just one room with a little kitchenette and shower/WC. There was a shared kitchen for cooking in a separate pergola…but we were the only one’s using it most of the time. Half way through sketching this I spotted a snake hanging in a nearby tree!
Tue-15-Apr-2025
After our island hopping we had lunch in Gasan (when I had “chop suey”, and ham was suggested a couple of times even though we told the waitress that I don’t eat meat!), also spending some time fiddling about to find a new spare tyre (which my wife ordered and was due to be delivered from the mainland after 2 days). We then visited the church in Gasan which is quite high up and has great views over the sea. Although a church on this site was first established in 1609 the current structure is quite new (I found one site saying the church was destroyed several times including most recently in 1986 when it was rebuilt in concrete), but is tastefully done and was decorated (I assume) for the Moriones Festival.
Mon-14-Apr-2025
While heading to the take-off point for island hopping we had a major flat tyre and had to change to the spare…this seems to be a regular occurrence on our island trips! We still made the island hopping round the “three kings” (Tres Reyes) islands though. The biblical three kings are Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, and later on our holiday we were told (by our trekking guide) that the islands were formed from the wrecks of the ships of three kings who were suiters for a princess. This sketch was done on the first island. We didn’t stop at the second island, but stopped at the third for snorkelling (seeing clown and angel fish)…and then had a noisy pump-boat trip back to the mainland, for an hour or so.
Mon-14-Apr-2025
After lunch (yummy miso soup) on our first day in Marinduque we went into Boac for a wander and visited the cathedral. It looks ancient on the outside but is modernised inside. According to the internet the cathedral was built in 1792 and served as a refuge against pirate attacks and during times of conflict like Moro raids in the Spanish colonial period. Several websites say the tower is built of “Adobe Stones” – i.e sun dried mud bricks, but to me it looked more like sandstone. While I sketched this, people came out of mass and looked at what I was doing, making friendly remarks, while my wife wandered about testing out the settings on her camera.
Sun-13-Apr-2025