July 28, 2018
Edmund wanted me to see Alicia, the secret garden and events place owned and developed by his classmate Dr. Chester Jardiolin located inside their family estate in Pavia, Iloilo City.
Dr. Chester was a neurosurgeon at the Department of Neuroscience in Makati Medical Center but moved back to Iloilo with his family. He must have missed his birthplace. He built his own hospital in Iloilo.
Chester’s older brother Rodney was based in Los Angeles but he recently retired and moved back to Iloilo City.
Immediately after moving back to Iloilo, Doc Chester developed a portion of what used to be farm land into a beautiful garden with ponds, lagoon and pavilion.
He named the place in honor of his mother Alicia.
Plazoleta or pazuela means small square.
Chester’s house is also in the compound.
His creativity was evident as soon as we entered the patio.
The covered area can accommodate up to a thousand people.
Edmund and I were amazed that Chester remembers the name of all the trees, plants and flowers. He personally bought and planted every plant in this garden. He even knows the characteristic of each plant.
Chester is multi-talented. He also designed, built and decorated this bungalow for his elder brother’s retirement. Edmund told me that Chester was the youngest in their family. He has several brothers much older than him. Edmund said nuong araw, no one would dare fight with Chester or else his big brothers would come and defend him, eh patay ka, bugbog!
Xinia / Zinnia
He told me the name of this flower, see I can’t remember it and yet Chester remembers every flower in this garden. He is a top neurosurgeon, he knows how brains work. He cannot be forgetful like me. My childhood dream was to become a doctor. I thought I would be a very good doctor because I meant well and would care for my patients with all kindness and compassion. But being a good doctor doesn’t begin and end there. I must have a terrific memory or else I wouldn’t function well as a doctor. I would be forgetting the right medicines for specific illnesses. I might end up killing people due to my forgetfulness instead of curing them. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why fate would have it that I didn’t become a doctor.
Alicia’s Garden
Cabugao Sur, Pavia, Iloilo
Tel No. (033) 329 7217.
My uncle’s wife is from Pavia they moved to Caloocan in the 70s.
nice