One of the things I noticed was the newly-constructed bridge connecting both sides of the Loboc river. It initially seems to be a rather ordinary bridge, one of numerous projects by the government's public works and highways department, but if you look closely at the picture, you'll see that the bridge ends just right above where the brightly-colored jeepney is and basically leads nowhere. The building in front of it is San Pedro Church (built in 1608, rebuilt in 1670 after being destroyed by fire and survivor of many floods), which adjoins the Museo de Loboc. Would the church need to be demolished? No one seems to know why the bridge was built in the first place, nor if and when it will be finished. For now, automobiles crossing over the Loboc river still use the existing rickety
bailey bridge, and the new white elephant of a bridge serves no purpose other than giving locals a venue for their evening stroll. Just another example of money wasted and possibly stolen in this country of hours. Ah, but we're used to it anyway (shrugs).
As we were getting into the van to make our way out of town, we realized that we were parked right in front of the Museo de Loboc, so might as well check it out. Judging from outward appearances, I didn't expect much from a museum housed in such a crumbling, unprepocessing stone building whose sole decorations are Christmas lanterns. After paying the Php15 (US$0.40) entrance fee, a guide (the only one, in fact) presented himself to show us around the three-story building. The most interesting exhibits are on the ground floor relating to the town's religious musical traditions and history; not for nothing is Loboc the "music capital of Bohol". They are also rightfully proud of the Loboc Children's Choir, which in 2003 represented the country in an international folksongs festival in Barcelona and promptly bagged the gold medal in the Children/Youth category, and were awarded the Festival Cup for garnering the highest point average (a nerdy 97.5!). So in short, they kicked other countries' behinds big time.
The rest of the museum consisted of a room containing statues of saints used in various religious processions, and a big open area where the choir practices. The guide led us out onto the balcony of the third floor, and pointed to the church bell tower (which for some reason is across the street from the church itself). "Notice that the tower is leaning?", he asked. I squinted really hard and yes, it appeared to, ever so slightly. "It's from all the pile driving when they started constructing this damn bridge", he continued. So there, it appears we have a local counterpart to the leaning tower of Pisa, our homegrown Very Slightly Leaning Tower of Loboc. (Click on the picture to enlarge, and judge for yourself). Also notice the two men who have made the bridge their personal playground.
One of the things I noticed was the newly-constructed bridge connecting both sides of the Loboc river. It initially seems to be a rather ordinary bridge, one of numerous projects by the government's public works and highways department, but if you look closely at the picture, you'll see that the bridge ends just right above where the brightly-colored jeepney is and basically leads nowhere. The building in front of it is San Pedro Church (built in 1608, rebuilt in 1670 after being destroyed by fire and survivor of many floods), which adjoins the Museo de Loboc. Would the church need to be demolished? No one seems to know why the bridge was built in the first place, nor if and when it will be finished. For now, automobiles crossing over the Loboc river still use the existing rickety bailey bridge, and the new white elephant of a bridge serves no purpose other than giving locals a venue for their evening stroll. Just another example of money wasted and possibly stolen in this country of hours. Ah, but we're used to it anyway (shrugs).
As we were getting into the van to make our way out of town, we realized that we were parked right in front of the Museo de Loboc, so might as well check it out. Judging from outward appearances, I didn't expect much from a museum housed in such a crumbling, unprepocessing stone building whose sole decorations are Christmas lanterns. After paying the Php15 (US$0.40) entrance fee, a guide (the only one, in fact) presented himself to show us around the three-story building. The most interesting exhibits are on the ground floor relating to the town's religious musical traditions and history; not for nothing is Loboc the "music capital of Bohol". They are also rightfully proud of the Loboc Children's Choir, which in 2003 represented the country in an international folksongs festival in Barcelona and promptly bagged the gold medal in the Children/Youth category, and were awarded the Festival Cup for garnering the highest point average (a nerdy 97.5!). So in short, they kicked other countries' behinds big time.
The rest of the museum consisted of a room containing statues of saints used in various religious processions, and a big open area where the choir practices. The guide led us out onto the balcony of the third floor, and pointed to the church bell tower (which for some reason is across the street from the church itself). "Notice that the tower is leaning?", he asked. I squinted really hard and yes, it appeared to, ever so slightly. "It's from all the pile driving when they started constructing this damn bridge", he continued. So there, it appears we have a local counterpart to the leaning tower of Pisa, our homegrown Very Slightly Leaning Tower of Loboc. (Click on the picture to enlarge, and judge for yourself). Also notice the two men who have made the bridge their personal playground.
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