There is a quite popular plaza in our town known as the Bogo Plaza that has captured consistent attention both from the local people and foreign ones. In Christmas season, this plaza lights up like stars in the milky way and sometimes it is more colorful than ever when fiesta celebration approaches the calendar. It is sometimes fabricated with lots of banderitas during feasts with booths lining up like a stretch and designed with Christmas lights and parol whenever ber-months start. But often, this plaza is just a little one when no celebration hits around the town. It is quiet, child-like, and calm just like any other park in your hometowns, and to be truthful enough, nothing beats the beauty of this park in one normal day.
I was trying to take a pause last week and I had to do it outside my home for variety. I visited the iconic Bogo Plaza in my town that I have visited hundreds of times, and saw it dressed in various celebrations. Last week, nothing was celebrated but I wanted to visit it since it was quite long since the last time I saw it. Also, the plaza built a children's playground, and I overheard from some strangers that it is colorful and vibrant like a good tourist spot. So, for those reasons—of wanting to take a pause and visiting the park—I headed to Bogo Plaza without thinking twice.
This plaza is actually wide and that's the thing I hate about it because I have to roam around while my knees are losing their bones. So, to not experience tiredness from walking, I headed directly to the said playground to witness its vibrant features.
No kids were present by the time I arrived at the kid's area because it was still 2 o'clock and the park opens at 3. I saw kids at the entrance waiting patiently for the opening.
This kid's playground amazed me right the moment I saw it. It is actually not that big but for sure, it is for the tiny children. It stands there like a sculpture fined with a sculptor's keen hands and painted by an artist who wants to draw a child's attention.
It is built firmly and that is the first thing I recognized.
I felt like a child once again when I touched the fence which is polished with great colors. The fences are like the ones in Mickey Mouse or other cartoon movies' barnyard or fence I watched when I was just a child. The colors picked by the designer were amazing, so as how they are put next to each other.
I noticed how the play structures are perfectly organized.
If you look from the entrance, the first one on the left side is a teeter-totter colored in red and yellow. The other side's first play structure is the same—they just mirror each other.
Next to it are spring riders with four different shapes such as a duck, a motorcycle, a horse, and a rocket with varying colors each.
I noticed before the teeter-totter are benches and I knew for sure those were for the parents while watching their kids play. They have good benches perfectly designed for the park's theme.
I tried to get another angle of the park and went to the back side. I noticed that the play structures mirror each other but on the left side there is a pair of swings. It was a perfect spot to put the swings because trees are behind it, good for swaying with the breeze as kids ascend. It was by the time I saw the swing that I noticed the floor pattern. It was a mosaic with a sublime combination of colors red and black.
I then observed the details of the castle-like playhouse standing at the center. It was huge and safely established. I realized it is not just a slide but also has a tunnel bridge at the center that requires kids to go to the other side while crawling adventurously. I assume this one is like a two-storey with slides curly-shaped for exciting effect when kids use it. Parents should also watch the kids playing because it is possible some kids would slide and stop inside without informing the next ones, and then they could bump each other hard.
The park is bordered beautifully with old trees with varying scientific names. I don’t know their names but I know there are a variety of them because they look with great differences. I guess these trees are unpaid infrastructures that add value and attraction to the kid's park.
Since it was still quarter before the opening, I took a quick stroll near the park.
This is the fountain of the plaza—the heart of the place and the center of attraction, literally and figuratively. In Christmas, this fountain lights up colorfully and the waters flow with great patterns. The fountain attracts more people than anything in the plaza because of the lights. But this time, it has no water flowing nor lights at night, and this became just a fountain for now with no particular design.
These kids were playing near the kids' park and I took a photo of them only to know they were also waiting for the opening of the park. The landscape is in good shape this season and the greenery of the grasses adds more to it.
I went back to the park again and they were finally open—wide and welcoming.
This little fella couldn’t go in because her parents were still at the shop near the park so she just watched the kids playing.
When I arrived, kids and their parents were enjoying the park. The place that was empty a quarter of an hour ago is now filled with cheerful kids. It looked more vibrant than earlier and it made me realize one thing: that a place’s attraction does not lie only in its physical features but also in the people in it.
I noticed this shoe rack at the entrance and realized visitors should wear socks when entering to maintain the cleanliness of the floor and not fill it with dust. This shoe rack was quite full—no wonder the park is now loud and chaotic.
Kids were sliding with their parents’ assistance. The little ones enjoyed the slide and I realized the slides are in variety for age appropriation. The others are for kids 7–10 years of age while the others are for toddlers still exploring a park.
The spring riders were now being used by the kids as they took turns. Some used the rocket-shaped and others used the horse-shaped and other shapes.
The teeter-totter was also bent up and down by some kids and I could see the fun of their play.
At the back, these kids were using the lonely swings and they would swing in synchrony.
The opposite pole was filled with vibrant kids and they crawled across sides back and forth.
Looks like we have a little genius silently figuring out this XOXO roll. I was just observing him and this boy took it seriously like he was in a competition.
And what happened to this little creature? I guess he must have been tired from playing shortly.
Loud and colorful, this park is a spot for peace and joy. The kids, parents, and the park itself are beauties in the Bogo Plaza during normal season. I learned to love this plaza in this kind of season—just calm and ordinary but memorable. Indeed, this one is for our keepsake.
And yes, I have to tell you before ending this that this park is free admission. Welcoming, isn’t it?
I then took a stroll after watching those kids in the park. Soon, I will share the other parts of my stroll in the famous Bogo Plaza. I hope you'll wait for my next narrations and experience the vibrancy of this attraction.
Thank you, dearest readers, for the time and attention!