UPLB walking tour with friends

The first time I had a walking tour of UPLB was when I was an incoming freshman. It's good that I've gone on a walk with my lawyer friends because UPLB has changed A LOT and I wasn't able to see the changes until I saw these through their eyes. So, I thank Gary, Nico, Jason, and Joys (the lawyers) and Krishna (the lab rat) for the invitation (and the prodding) to make this campus tour a reality. 

Just outside the College of Economics and Management (CEM) was a striking red piece of art. I don't what it's supposed to represent or why it's there. All I know is that I never noticed this because I rarely went to CEM after I graduated from UPLB.

And the path that used to be made of stones is now concrete. Back when I was a student, I had to make sure that my footing was sure because I could stub my toes here.

These benches under the tree are new additions, I think, because back in my day, students who stayed in their organisation's tambayan sat on wooden benches.

After visiting the CEM landscape, it was time to walk up to the UPLB Main Library. It's a rather imposing building. When I was still studying there, my friends and I would often joke that the library wasn't very welcoming because it was placed on top of a hill. Now, I remember the good times I spent sleeping, eating, and reviewing in between classes on the library's first floor (main collection).

In front of the Main Library is the Pegaraw, a bronze sculpture depicting a carabao with wings. I couldn't remember if I've ever taken a photo of this statue so I snapped away, just like the visitors. At this point, I realised that Nico is a Philippine art and architecture enthusiast because he recognised the names of the artists attributed to the Pegaraw and the Main Library.

The day was starting to heat up so we walked under the shade of trees and crossed the Mulawin Creek via the "never-ending" bridge. We call it "never-ending" because people claim that nocturnal walks on this bridge took forever, especially when the street lamps were not yet installed. Rounding the curve, we stopped for a breather then ascended the stairs to the Japanese garden and the torii gate.

This feature on campus is relatively new. When I was in sophomore year of high school, this place was still heavily forested. For a Biology class project on mushrooms, we hiked up here to do some collecting; a classmate slid and managed to uproot a tree along the way. The rest of us grabbed onto him to break his fall. Now, those the slippery slopes and the tree cover are just memories. 

The view from the top of the stairs, however, was beautiful. We could clearly see Freedom Park and Baker Field from the view deck. The thick foliage did not allow us a clear view of the rest of the campus though.

On our descent, we stopped by the stairs fronting Freedom Park as Nico drank the beauty of the DL Umali Auditorium architecture all in. The sight of the park with its lush green lawn and trees is something I always appreciate, even with the Carillon towering like the Orthanc in the distance. The Fertility Tree used to be the centre of attention a long time ago, especially with the myths and controversies surrounding this particular tree.

UPLB's Student Union Building is a good place to stop by for a quick history lesson about the campus, from its humble beginnings to its achievements in the 1980s. I don't think that the exhibit has been updated yet. What is fascinating to me is that UPLB started with a few nipa huts and a lot of students tilling the fields. After all, UPLB did start as the College of Agriculture. I'm sure that the founders of the university would be amazed at how far the technologies have advanced and at how much of what lay beyond them we have already achieved... or taken for granted.

After our trip down memory lane at the Student Union Building, we crossed the Palma Bridge and started walking towards the Oblation in front of the Humanities Building. On Royal Palm Drive, the CSI Hymn's lyrics came to my mind: "On Mount Makiling's beautiful slopes, amid stately palm trees pointing to the sky..." Yes, I remember my grade school's song so well (probably because we had to sing it almost everyday in school). The road embodied this part of the CSI Hymn really well. 

At last, we were facing Oblation, the symbol of the University of the Philippines. It was made originally by Guillermo E. Tolentino, a Philippine National Artist. It's supposed to symbolise eternal selfless service to one's country. The statue in UPLB is probably a replica; I suppose the original one stands in UP Diliman, where my dad went to college.

When we toured UPLB, we met an Oblation with his face covered in white. Once again, students have used the Oblation as a means to deliver their indignation to a system that allowed injustice to happen. On this occasion, rows of photos in red frames surrounded the base of the Oblation's pedestal. We thought that the people in these photos were victims of unsolved crimes. It was interesting to see how the lawyers mulled over their hypotheses while being baked by the afternoon sun.

It was an interesting walk at UPLB. I don't think I've done this for at least a decade. The last time I walked here without rushing to class or to catch a bus was when I was with my Microbiology classmates on a reunion walking tour.