The Ruins

Just outside of Bacolod City there is the mansion of Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson who built this magnificent building in honour of his deceased wife Maria Braga. Only an A-grade mixture of concrete was used touched up by a an egg white cement mix for that marble appearance, tiles were imported in Spain and the initials MM are found along all the columns representing Mariano and Maria. The floors were alternating red and yellow hard wood thoughout the entire main floor and bedrooms both upstairs and downstairs throughout this huge building.

During WWII the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) burnt the mansion down to destroy it so that the Japanese forces wouldn't be able to occupy the building and use it as their own headquarters. Even though the house was burnt the structure still stands telling of it's beauty. It was incredible the amount of detail still found in every corner of the home which really speaks of the quality and time that would have gone into it's creation.

Around the house are these beautiful gardens and fountains that are really well maintained and just behind the 4-tiered fountain is this huge simborio or smokestack. The chimney was used in for the mill where they would make their sugar by extracting juices from the sugarcane and put into a heated vat and cooled to crystallize. Now it raises up to the sky with this vegetation thriving at the top:

It was so peaceful to walk around, the kids loved playing on all the grass and rocks and there was a nice little restaurant set up inside The Ruins which looked like it had a nice menu selection for a date night in the future.