The Tam-awan Experience

End of 2nd semester, 2007-2008, led to an invitation extended to me by the MALIT class of Mrs. Thelma Kim who, incidentally, were also my students in Library Information Systems Analysis. They had a site visit in relation to their special collections topic and they chose Tam-awan Village which is known as an artists' haven for people in the Cordilleras.
We were set to go after their exam at 5:30 pm. I had no class anymore that day so at 4:50 pm I went to the SLU main library to return my books and at the same time pick up Emily Gumangan so we could go to Gonzaga together. At Gonzaga, everyone was there including Krizza, the chief librarian from UB, who also wanted to see Tam-awan Village. I said to myself, "Ayos, may kasama akong sabit." When Ma'am Thelma has rounded up everybody it was already 5:30 pm so we proceeded to Tam-awan.
We arrived at Tam-awan Village at around 6 pm. We were told that there was an entrance fee but when we proceeded to the entrance there was no one there collecting so we went in and concluded that maybe at night, entrance is already free. We went up and saw a very ethnic landscape. While waiting for our guide, took group pictures in front of the souvenir shop. Our guide, I forgot his name, took us first to the solar painting gallery. The paintings were amazing, mostly, if not all, were made by Jordan Mangusan. The solar paintings were done, according to the guide, with "painting" pictures by burning the wooden surface with the rays of the sun through a magnifying glass. So much like what we have done when we were kids, burning paper with a magnifying glass and the sun's rays. I remember in high school, when Jojo Lubrica and Joel Medina gave each one of us barks of the pine tree with our names burnt the same way. The paintings were very expensive. I think the cheapest one I saw was being sold at 60,000 pesos. Well, they have to be, considering how difficult it is to make one and the paintings are really great.
Next, we were brought to another gallery, this time inside a hut, which according to the guide, is a Cordilleran hut made as near as possible to that of the authentic ones such that no metal nails were used to construct it. The wood used are really solid pine and everything is of indigent materials. Inside are paintings of different media, oil, pastel, sand, etc. All were done by Cordillera artists. They are really good. What caught my attention is a painting of an Igorot girl that I thought at first was a photograph. The guide said its a painting.
We went up to the view deck on top of the hill and on the way we were shown the native houses. We didn't see much though because it was already dark. I enjoyed the trek especially when we were at the bridge.
We went down and had our portraits drawn. The famous Jordan Mangusan was one of the artists who drew our portraits. I forgot the name of the one who drew me but he was good. They were all good.
The part I enjoyed the best is the experience of reconnecting with my own culture which is preserved in Tam-awan Village.