Once we arrived at Villa Escudero, we all enjoyed a nice, leisurely paced day taking in Filipino culture. I'd have to say that Villa Escudero is sort of like Colonial Williamsburg with a bit of the Hearst Castle thrown in. The Escudero family owns and runs the Villa, and the museum is basically a showcase for all their various collections - everything from collectable spoons to taxidermy to historical clothes and uniforms to religious artifacts. Truly eclectic.
We did dine by the waterfall with our feet in the water. It was yet another Filipino food buffet, and even though it was well-prepared, I just didn't have that much of an appetite for yet another round of "traditional dishes". -Thankfully, there was no
balut on the table.
After lunch, we all took a break until the "cultural presentation". There was a leisure hall where one could play darts, billiards, pool or participate in some "videoke". Needless to say, my father could not resist picking up the microphone again, and he managed to keep himself occupied for the hour we had to wait. I just walked around for a bit taking pictures and checking out the rest of the grounds: the swimming pool, the "cultural statuary", the dock area right above the falls.
The "Cultural Presentation" was pretty good, and, surprisingly not tacky. Well, not that tacky. The announcer spoke in a combination of game show host, car salesman and National Geographic narrator. They basically went through the history of the Philippines through its music and dances. When we lived in Seattle, I played
bandurion - a crazily-stringed mandolin - in "Bayanihan", which functions as a sort of a Filipino cultural ambassador. So, a lot of the songs and dances that were presented today were somewhat familiar to me, and I was surprised at how many of the tunes I recognized. I was especially glad to see the dances where the men and women balance candles or glasses of water/wine on their head and other parts of their body; and the
tinikling always excites me. The dancers dance in, around and between a set of bamboo poles that are knocked and banged together by two additional performers. Toes can and have been lost doing the
tinikling! However, even though I know it's a part of Filipino culture, I wasn't exactly sure how to take the "rendition" of cock-fighting that used two real live cocks, roosters.
...And then came the long ride home.
