I was supposed to make this post on Thursday night, after getting home from college, but I was incredibly tired from that day. I had slept less than four hours, had to cram study for an exam in the morning and then make fixes to my part of the graphic design presentation. The Dean of Arts wasn’t able to make it, so we had an audience of eight people (teacher included), most of which we knew well. We were first to present, Maru and I, so I felt incredibly relieved when we were done and all we had to do is sit there and wait for the other presentations to be done.

After that, I was home, free from college until May. Even then, I’ll only have three classes to worry about (as opposed to the steady amount of six classes I’ve been taking since late 2006). So, lots of free time ahead, even during college days. Better plan for that. While that happens, I’ll just write more about that park and post more photos for your viewing pleasure.

Like I said in the previous post, I chickened out from my plan of going to the cave of Santa Ana and decided to just head eastward, to photograph that side of the park. I also mentioned that this used to be an amusement park and zoo of sorts, and it’s on this side of the place where its previous function becomes more obvious, as you walk by what seemed to be a castle. There are also small gazebos, that once had picnic tables under them. Those were removed when the book fair went international and began taking place here (as opposed to Culture Plaza), in 1998.

Part or of this park right behind the School of Fine Arts, which you may have seen in that last “wandering” post. What apparently was once the parking lot for Quisqueya Park is now right in front of this school, and remains mostly empty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it full. Just the occasional car, here and there. Behind the building, in park territory, one can find where old art supplies (easels, etc) have not been stored, but just piled up in a small open storage space where everyone can see (and possible steal) them. I’m surprised there’s still anything left there.

Another notable reminder of when this place used to be part zoo is the duck pond. Not really a big duck pond. Just a small place near the military hangout where ducks just … sit there and do nothing much. There are also chickens outside of it, and there was even a cat sitting nearby (a bird-friendly one, apparently).

As I approached the southern exit (or entrance, depending on which side of the wall you’re on), I photographed the small playground area that’s right in front of the parking lot of the park office building. It’s a rather small area and, as in most of the place, they’ve planted small trees all around it, so I had to be careful not to step on any of them unless I wanted the military folk to start bugging me, like I did with that beetle up there.

I walked around a circular metal structure thing right in front of the entrance (in the middle of a small roundabout) to photograph some other things. The metal structure was placed there for the book fair. To me, it’s only a reminder of what a bad choice it was to have the fair take place there, of all places in the city, and away from what had been its original home since the 1970s.

When I first went to the fair in its “new home”, there was garbage everywhere, because people didn’t bother discarding it properly. Many of the plants were trampled on and everything that could be painted in a colorful way was, indeed, painted, doing away with a big part of the sort-of-abandoned look of it that I used to like.

Thankfully, the book fair was again moved to Culture Plaza in 2005 and nature and time have done their best to make the park look as it did back when I first visited with my family. People still litter plenty at the Culture Plaza, but that place is far easier to clean up, and just more suitable for such things. Not to mention that there are far more open spaces and not as many trees.

I began to wrap up, threw safely stored the camera in my bookbag and headed for the exit, when I realized I had been to this place plenty of times and, other than for walking around, I probably wouldn’t have a good reason to come back here in a long while, and I was making what seemed to be the definitive photo shoot of the place (as opposed to the previous times, where I made few photos for college assignments).

So, I reached into the bookbag, took out the camera again and turned back …