Clan of the Cave Bear

The novel Clan of the Cave Bear is a unique saga written by Jean Auel that was set during the Ice Age at edge of the glacial ice in pre-historic Europe. If the setting is not enough, Jean made the plot of this novel to be also as unique as its setting.

The Clan of the Cave Bear follows the life story of Ayla who is of a different race than his adopted tribe. Ayla belongs to the race which is the predecessor of the Homo Sapiens while the tribe that adopted her is of the Homo Neanderthal race. Ayla was adopted by the clan after an earthquake that killed her parents. She was adopted by Iza, who was the clan’s medicine woman, and was taken in the clan through the help of Creb, who is the clan’s greatest shaman. Iza and Creb are siblings and they served as Ayla’s new parents.

The difference between Ayla and the clan is so much that clan members distrusted her at first. She was even considered ugly because her face is different from that of the women in the tribe. Through the help of Iza and Creb, Ayla begun to learn and love the tribe that adopted her. The clan, who believes in spirits, eventually accepted her because they believe that she is protected by great spirits.
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The Clan of the Cave Bear is great novel because of its uniqueness and the storytelling is not boring. Ayla’s character is interesting and there plentiful of conflicts that the readers can follow. The reader’s mind will also be filled with the imageries of the ancient flora and fauna and the tradition of the Clan, who worships cave bears. The other characters also give full color to the life of the clan.

Clan of the Cave Bear is an interesting novel. It is great from the beginning until its dramatic end.

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Go to Before the Eastern Sunset and read about my new blog post, A Grace of Friendship.
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How to Find Your Polling Precinct Online

Only few days are left before the Philippines’ big day for the year 2010. The 2010 Elections will be the most intense election that will occur in this country because it is the event where political titans will clash. The Filipino people will cast their votes with their thought on a better future and the solution to the grave problem that plague the nation.

The coming election is also the first automated elections and the COMELEC brags that the 2010 elections will be the fastest and most efficient election in the nation’s history. Because of automation, numerous polling precincts were combined and made into a cluster. Thus, the old precinct that the voter had grown familiar in the past elections may not be the precinct that he/she will go to in May 10.

COMELEC made a way for people who are always online to find their precinct for the 2010 Elections. Finding the precinct is done through COMELEC’s precinct finder.

Upon reaching COMELEC’s precinct finder path, you will see this form:

To find your precinct, all you have to do is to input the necessary information in their respective fields. Be sure that you placed the correct information before clicking the “Find Now” button. Voila! Your precinct number will come out in the screen.

If your precinct did not come out or that an error occurred, it is possible that COMELEC made so encoding errors especially your name have Jr, I, II, or Ma. (abbreviated form of Maria). A solution for this is you type your name with Jr. in different variations. You could place “Jr” after your first name. Or place it after the surname. You could also remove the period after “Jr” or replace with comma. It is just trial and error until the precinct finder releases your polling precinct on-screen.

If you still have problems, then I suggest that you go visit you municipal or city COMELEC office and find your precinct in their master list.

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Visit Before the Eastern Sunset and read about Wham! Burger

How to Go Around Intramuros

Intramuros is the most historical places in manila, the capital city of the Philippines. The walled city serves as the settlement of the Spaniards during their colonization of the country. The city boasts of a fort (Fort Santiago), churches, old Spanish houses, and antique guns that were mounted during the times when the Spaniards are the master of Manila. One can also find inside the museum that showcases the places where Jose Rizal was interred before he was executed.

Intramuros is one of the top tourist spots in Manila and many people go there to relieve the history the history of Manila and the whole Philippines. The walled city is quite big and is tiresome to travel by foot. Would be visitors of the walled city need not to worry since there are many ways to tour Intramuros.

Go On by Foot

This is the cheapest mode of travel inside Intramuros and the most tiresome. However, there many people who prefer to walk when they are traveling. If you are that kind of tourist, then that is not a problem since Intramuros are pedestrian friendly. When touring Intramuros by foot, it is advisable that you carry a map of the walled city so as to plan the best path that you could take for the tour. It is also advisable to bring an umbrella to avoid being scorched by the midday sun.

Ride a Pedicab
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Pedicab is a bicycle that has a covered sidecar. This is an ingenious way of moving inside Intramuros. Also, the pedicab drivers in Intramuros know the ins and outs of Intramuros like the palm of their hands. For tourists, these pedicab drivers already have their route that they follow to tour their clients. Most of them have pamphlets about the tourist spots inside the walled city.

Pedicabs are hired for 100 pesos hour. You can go to interesting places for two hours while riding the pedicab.

Hire a Kalesa
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Kalesa is the Tagalog word for a horse-drawn carriage. You can ride a kalesa to tour you around Intramuros. However, this is more expensive than hiring a pedicab. Riding a kalesa will give you a feeling that you are traveling Intramuros in the same way that the Spaniards had traveled in it during their days in the Philippines.

Go for a Tour Program

There are many tourist and travel agencies that offer touring services inside Intramuros. This is the most expensive of all mode of traveling inside the wall city. However, the benefits are that the tourist will get a professional tourist guides that know the history of every places in Intramuros. You will ride on horse drawn carriages that are better than the kalesas plying around the walled city.


When going for a trip inside Intramuros, consider the options I have just given out and choose what is the best with regards to your budget and your time. The main goal is to enjoy visiting the place and choosing the best mode of traveling inside the walled city will help in achieving that.


Visit my article about Intramuros in Before the Eastern Sunset. Also, in that blog, I have a new blog post which is about my visit to the Minor Basilica of the Santo Nino in Cebu City.

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Photo of pedicab came from Kat's World 3.