About Prayer Valley

Have you ever been to a place where all the wonders of the world are contained? Of course! You'd say the Earth right? What if I told you that I have been to a 3,328 square-meter land that contains all 8 Wonders of the World. Well, I have. The magnificent place is called the Prayer Valley, which is our farm-vacation house. Wait, wait, let me clear it out first. Let me explain, it does contain all 8 wonders but in a very different approach.

Now where do we start? Hmm, what about the Pyramids of Giza for a start, ok? Great! You see, like many other farms, our farm is not really a plantation kind of a farm. It's more like a place where you find peace and rest, things that you may not find and may not be able to do back in the city. And because of this, we have a lot of big pyramids from time to time. They're not huge as you may think, but they do grow as tall as my little sister and as fat as our big brown bean bag. These pyramids are actually termite homes. They look like the chocolate hills in Bohol when it's rainy and like the sandy pyramids in the dry season.

What Next? What about me describing to you the magnificent Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Ok. Our farm is filled with many flowers especially near the house. You see, my nanay (mother) loves flowers but she couldn't seem to find the time to take care of any. She's too busy taking care of 4 pesky kids, 2 hard-headed dogs and a giant chocolate-consuming husband. So when she finally had a farm, she began planting flowers like there's no tomorrow. Near our house is a little bahay kubo, where our cute lola manang (the guardian) lives. This bahay kubo (nipa hut) is surrounded by pandak chickens, 3 halos-buto't-balat (almost skin and bones) dogs, and flowers. And surrounding the flowers are barbed wires, winding around the flowers that surround the house (the sampayan). Now, hanging from these barbed wires are wet clothing and paso, little pots with flowers planted on. And some of the flowers that are planted inside the many paso look like green water flowing from the little pot. It's really pretty. This now is the magnificent Hanging Gardens of Bahay Kubo.

Being Christians, we don't have santo niño or any other kind of statue gods. But we do have a somewhat Statue of Zeus, although it's not really a statue. You see, in the Filipino culture the person nearest to god of the home is the tatay, he is the head of the family and he is responsible for almost everything (except the nanay work and the chores). But he is the person who feeds us and is responsible for every need of the home. So, inside the house of the farm, we have this big painting of tatay posted at the 2nd floor veranda. It really looked ridiculous at first, but what can we do, he is the tatay, although he himself thought it was funny. Don't get me wrong, although he is the head of the family, and we have a ridiculous portrait of him, doesn't mean he is our god. He's just the angel of God sent to us to lead us, but it is still God whom we worship.

Hmm, say, what about the Temple of Artemis? I heard in a movie once, that a man's home is his palace. So I guess I'll describe to you our palace, although it's no big palace. Our house is painted white and brown, like a cow, joke! The windows are brown, and the stairs are brown, and the other parts are white. We have a lot of paintings hanging on the wall. A lot of them are some of my ugly paintings when I was younger. I really feel embarrassed but my mom wants them there so much that I can't do anything about it. Outside the house are flowers and buko trees, a soil rotunda, and soon a badminton court. The house has 3 floors. The 1st contains the sala (living room), the dining room, the guest room, the banyo (bathroom), the kitchen (which is separated from the others), and the veranda that goes around the house. The 2nd floor consists of the indoor veranda, my kuya's (big brother) and diko's (2nd brother) kwarto (bedroom), my and my sister's room, the master's bedroom, the veranda outside the master's bedroom, and the room above the kitchen (which is also separated form the others). The 3rd floor is the huge attic, which contains nothing else but windows and the roof.

Next is the Colossus of Rhodes. Although not many people come to see it, we did when my dad first had it built. It is none other than our water tank. My father is very frugal, and he doesn't want anything being wasted, even the rain. That's why he had the water tank built. This tank caught the rain and this water is the water that we use inside the house when we take our bath or when we wash the dishes. And below this tank are two comfort rooms for the visitors.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria in our farm isn't an it but actually a her and a him, and isn't surrounded by water, and is definitely not trying to lead any boat to safety. But they do lead cars to safety, and you can call them when you need anything. They are our guardians lola manang and kuya santi. Anytime you need company, or you need something moved, or you need to climb a buko tree, or looking for edible fruits, you can call for them and they'll be more than happy to serve you. They've been helping us with the farm for more than I could remember, and they've been very faithful to us. We love them very much and I think they love us too. Our farm would look like a jungle with a deserted trashy nipa hut in the middle if it wasn't for them. They guard 24/7, and they lead us in the right direction whenever we need them to, and they never fail to know when we're coming.

The 7th wonder is the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. We don't really have a huge tomb, but there is this hill near the nipa hut. A huge mango tree propagated on its side, and it used to have a bamboo table and bench on top. Ever since I was very young, I loved taking care of "abandoned" baby animals, without my knowing that instead of saving them from death I was actually the reason they were dying earlier than they were supposed to. Anyway, I tried to take care of this baby chick. And I bet you know what happened. Yup, I ended up making a burial ceremony instead. I placed the chick inside a box, and buried him or her on top of that hill. That's why it is now officially another wonder contained in a farm.

The last wonder is the Rice Terraces of Banaue. We don't really have mountains formed into terraces planted with rice. Remember, our farm is only at the foot of the mountain in Lipa, Batangas. And we don't have rice plantations. Beside the gate to the farm are terraces of orchids, blooming with different sizes, shapes, and colors of flowers. Like all mothers, my nanay has the orchid-addiction syndrome. She just simply adores orchids. That's why she turned the unruly forest of weeds and unknown other species of plants into orchid terraces. And that's the 8th wonder of the Prayer Valley.

And now you know the last wonder of the world, though still unknown. Our farm is the 9th wonder of the world. Small place but filled with many treasures.

Camp Policies

• Campsite fee: P100 per person per day – use of the campsite (includes electricity, water, building, toilets, court, salary of 2 employees)

• Pick fruits experience: 10% goes to pickers; 90% to Prayer Valley

• Capacity: good up to maximum 20+ participants / campers

– 10 Boys sleep in Attic Room and / or Tents outside

– Rooms in building: for girls’ use only

– Mainfloor bedroom and toilet and bathroom inside house: for pastor use only

– Toilets outside house: for the use of campers

• Use of tour guide and cook: separate payment

– Mountain trekking / climbing

– Waterfalls

– Resort swimming pool

– Resort zoo

• Use of LPG, ref and kitchen tools: separate payment

• The campsite is called “Prayer Valley”; so please keep the place clean and holy

For more information, call:

Anji Resurreccion / Kethyl Bajaro / Rhea Zacarias

Floodgates Foundation

Landline: 939-9182

Email: floodgatesfoundation@yahoo.com