this is how i spent easter

I stood rigidly for about an hour in front of the still closed Swan Refreshment waiting patiently for the Cebu bound Ceres bus. It was already 5:30 when it finally arrived and I elbowed my way up the stairs in order to avail of what little number of seats left. The bus top was filled with furniture and so was the back end. It was by a stroke of luck that I spied Jesus (our neighbor) seated on the row next to the door. He was on his way to sell his wares at La Castellana. kanlaon as seen from biak-na-bato, la castellana

Hearing nothing from Reyna the whole weekend, I have resolved to trace the route home I took a week before. Ceres fare was P20 steeper than the buses that service just within the province. Just as I was mulling over whether to take a vhire or a bus to Guihulngan, I received a text message from my “tour guide cum lunch sponsor” so I took an hour ride to San Carlos. There, I had my second cup of coffee before going to the wharf to secure my seat for the 1:30 PM ferry trip (I availed of the student’s discount paying only Php 170.00).

a retired iron dinosaur

Then, off we went to the People’s Park, unprotected from the midday sun. Taking the shaded stone picnic seat by the side of a dead creek (with water black from the refuse of the now closed San Carlos Sugar Central), we talked about a lot of stuff, mainly my angst :)

replica of the san carlos city old city hall

Looking at the seaside teeming with picnickers and swimmers, I felt nostalgic for a spell. I remember the good old days when tatay would bring us to the beach on Easter Sunday (which usually fall on Glory’s, his or my birthday).

Travel was unexpectedly light, and it was a welcome change.

earning his keep

the house was a rat and mouse playground during bjork's 3-month exile.

all the while i thought that bjork's predatory stance was just for show. for a spell, he was sitting on his hind legs watching intently something underneath the broom closet. the next thing, he has a mouse's extremities (head and tail) dangling from his mouth which he deposited by mom's feet. he has always been playful with his prey but this one was dead in seconds. his experience must have awakened the hunter instinct of his ancestors.

and now that he's back, this happened

unlucky rodent...game over

the shots were taken just minutes before i was due to leave for cebu

maybe bjork was trying to say "i am good for something"

or maybe just expressing his of gratitude for our taking him back

what more can this phone endure?

that's the slit bottom of the couch...necessitated to recover the phone

up close...the dusty phone

welcome home bjork

reduced to begging

making up for skipped breakfast and lunch

maybe asking: "have i just made a pig of myself?"

be careful of what you wish for...

...cause it might just come true.

i wished for an adventure and i got one.

it's been ages when i took the dumanjug-guihulngan route in going back to la carlota and certainly a lot has changed. i trusted what i've come across the internet so much and this is where it led me to.
in my dire need to save on taxi money, i waited for the e-sixty-sixers and took the service (which used to be stefan's). there were like eleven of us, cheyenne had to sit on my lap. but once the mactan denizen's were dropped off, the last four of us had a comfortable ride which went as far as consolacion. it was already 2:05 when i alit at the south bus terminal.

there was only one bus available scheduled for moalboal which will pass through barili and it was scheduled to leave the terminal at 3:00 a.m. I wonder where have all the mini buses went. the place was almost deserted except for the men in blue and white who inspected incoming vehicles and passengers. it was a welcome change if anything. travelling alone didn't seem that scary anymore. i just hoped there were more options (vhire, others).

the bus left promptly at 3:00 a.m. we had a quick toilet stop by shamrock pension house along barili highway, reaching tangil port in less than 2 hours.

healthy mangroves lining the dumanjug coast

but i should have taken an earlier land trip from the city as the 4:30 trip has already left by the time we early birds arrived. well, who would have known that of the two ferries operated by Rodriguez shipping one is undergoing some electrical repairs (the old woman in whose stand i had my first cup of coffee volunteered the information, she added that she couldn't even remember when the other ships have retired from shuttling cebu-negros travelers. the m/v aiko, she mentioned). Or that of the 3 shipping lines published on the site that i so trusted with this itinerary, only one is in operation. that makes only one ship shuttling across the channel for that day. to our great dismay, the next trip was to be at 9:30.

m/v leonor 3 undergoing electrical repair

the woman, who in the next 10 hours of the journey i have come to know so well, related of knowing another way. i egged her to take that route instead to no avail. apparently she also had that hambongan life or death experience on an outrigged motorboat. so we waited patiently for roughly five hours..whiling the time with stories of our lives...well, hers mainly.
she paid for breakfast and the least i could do in the given situation was to lend my ear a hundred percent which was just i did.

her story was a "maalaala mo kaya" material, i had to marvel at her inner strength in keeping a straight face. she's a single mother of four and used to be married to a scout ranger from leyte. theirs was a union which has its roots from a persistent courting of a seasoned military man to a rebellious and vulnerable daughter of a strict senior officer. they made history actually as being the first couple married in 1984, when the scout rangers were first deployed in negros.

she's more than a pleasant company. no sooner that i have forgotten how this trip is going to cost me timewise. the shipping operation cannot be faulted though. it arrived at 8:40 and left promptly at 9:30.
the wharf is still under repair and i hope that the 6 pesos tax and terminal fee collected at the gate will be spent to expedite the completion of a working washroom like the one they have in liloan port (which even has liquid soap and tissue paper provision).

the view of guihulngan from the sea was breathtaking. though missing the verdant magroves which is common sight along dumanjug coast, the resorts that litter the shore looked well kept. aboard the "trisikad" to catch the bus at the terminal, we took a short but scenic view of the idyllic township passing through the boulevard (well, i don't think there is another way). the place was clean and quiet and is an ideal getaway place. the people speak cebuano but some words escaped me. it's the intonation. it resembles the sing-song variety that hiligaynon is famous for.

guihulngan boulevard...from the wharf to the bus terminal

guihulngan landmark

lightning strikes three times, the old saying says. guess what? when we got to the terminal at 11 am, the bus has already left. we (yes, i was still with ate juvy) waited for 30 min and luckily a van stopped by. boy, if you have only seen how 18 passengers were crammed inside the van, excluding the driver and "konduktor" (yes, dears, there was a "konduktor" on board and he stood on the side the whole time and everytime he opens the van door, he was close to kissing the lady passenger sitting right behind the front seat). i was so sleepy by the time, i dosed off during the one-hour trip, waking up only when the passengers started getting off which signaled that we were in canlaon city already.

a peek into thr vhire's interior. "konduktor"in blue

guess again? yes, the 12:30 trip to bacolod via la carlota just left and the next trip was scheduled for 1:15. i took the time to freshen up in the loo for Php 1.00. while waiting, we marveled at this guy who showed off his skills with the soccer ball which earned him a whooping Php 10k from wilie revillame. the wait would have been bearable had it not for the cigarette smoke that was short of choking me. thankfully the bus arrived and left in time.

and i thought the adventure is over but itseemed that fate wanted it to be my most memorable trip to date. shorly after leaving the city, we all bathe in dust as we passed by the still eternally under repair road (i forgot what district that was but it was barely 15 min away from the bus terminal). and when we reached haguimit, it was raining cats and dogs. i was literally muddy. i got wet while wrestling with the locks to get the window down.

in familiar territory finally...after almost 2 hours

to say that i was tired was an understatement. but if you ask if i'd take the same route again, i'd say yes...as the experience far outweighed the discomforts that i'm sure not to enjoy anymore before long.

expense summary:
cebu city south bus terminal to tangil, dumanjug - 71.00
dumanjug to guihulngan, upper deck -130.00
guihulngan to canlaon, vhire - 50.00
canlaon to la carlota, ceres - 74.00

weekender...

dinner for tres marias

penne pasta up close

right through the heart...

Fumbling his confidence

And wond’ring why the world has passed him by

Hoping that he’s meant for more than arguments

And failed attempts to fly, fly

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

Somewhere we live inside

Somewhere we live inside

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

Somewhere we live inside

Dreaming about providence

And whether mice or men have second tries

Maybe we’ve been livin with our eyes half open

Maybe we’re bent and broken, broken

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

Somewhere we live inside

Somewhere we live inside

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

Somewhere we live inside

We want more than this world’s got to offer

We want more than this world’s got to offer

We want more than the wars of our fathers

And everything inside screams for second life

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

We were meant to live for so much more

Have we lost ourselves?

We were meant to live for so much moreHave we lost ourselves?

We were meant to live

We were meant to live

lost...

5 years in cebu and counting...still, i get lost in the metro.
lessons learned:
-the only direct way going to capitol from sm is taking a taxi cab.
-else, take 3Q to ayala, and transfer to 14D from there.
-if you know how to read, you'll survive
-ask for direction before going to someplace new
my first destination was jo's inato to meet my avon manager. i was told it was along citibank near doctor's hospital. since mobile networks were congested, i didn't get any reply to my sms asking for direction and had to figure it out somehow by myself. and so i took 3Q to ayala, and from there, 14D. i don't know why i just passed by citibank and chose to alight after CDH. but i did, and even entered a wrong alley. it was already 8 so i asked a lady pedestrian for directions. apparently nang thelma had enough of waiting and has decided to leave the eatery. lucky for me to have spotted them (her and nong rex) while rounding the citibank corner. they both looked tired so i promptly closed the transaction so they could retire to their pension house.
confident that i can locate casa rosario (where makay and nat were billeted for the night), i started towards mango avenue with light gait. i got the instructions clearly. casa rosario is just across st theresa's college. i had to take the road three time to make sure i did not miss any sign but i couldn't be mistaken. all i saw were watering holes. so i started to "communicate" (lesson from the department meeting). after my nth inquiry, i was finally led to my destination.
casa rosario was just across STC alright, but nobody mentioned that it was on the other side of mango avenue :(
makay just got back from tabo-an when i arrived at the doorstep. while she freshened up, i watched the final half on the game between Manchester United and Lyons wherein Cristiano Ronaldo made a goal on the 41st min securing a post for his team on the uefa champions league quarter finals.
both being tired, we walked a bit from the pension house and we found ourselves in the newly opened jacobo's. we sampled their paella and pasta negra. i'm curious about the latter especially the custard colored sauce. either the portions were good for two people or we're just too stressed to eat with gusto and felt full. craving for coffee, the front desk man suggested "brown cup" next door. we stayed there and talked until closing time. there was so much to talk about.
back in the room, we came just in time to watch david cook and michael johns do their thing on american idol. next thing i know, the person next to me was already dead to the world. so i turned off the television and try to get some sleep. an hour of tossing and turing and i gave up. i'm not sure if it was the mint mocha java grande or the fact that i'm new to the place that caused the sleeplessness. i ended up watching sharapova smashing balls against henin on star sports and answering the wake up call at 3 a.m.

monthly red...

...and so, it wasn't fatigue that caused the extreme discomofort that i felt last night that necessitated my reluctant exodus from the tv room and consequently missing the conclusion of 'naked weapon'. my backside ached so, i was nauseaous i opted to hit the sack early.
when i woke up this morning, i found out that it was just my monthly shedding of the uterine lining...

chocolates...

who doesn't love those luscious creations? even when the dentist told me not to imbibe something sweet prior to the treatment, i just have to sample one or two. ever had something from godiva's platinum collection? i had two. last two on the left. one had an almond core, i can't remember which one though.

lessons from the+covenant

apart from caleb's knee-buckling smile, to-die-for figure and melting stare, realizations finally sank in. power is not only enticing, but the use of it is addictive. it's ironic to have found myself now in the very place that Caleb was in. but unlike him, i was not in the position to curb reid's (who is most likely to use it to impress a girl) , pogue's (just for fun) or chase's (the worst kind: use of supernatural power in order to have more; essentially insatiable) appetite for using power. i am just a muggle and subject to spells which i have no or little knowledge of. while this meant premature ageing to the boys of ipswich, i don't know what will become of the non-fictional practitioners though.

RCT

today was my first appointment. I was anxious...but far from being nervous...brave girl that i am. having read no literature about the procedure prior to the trip, i was excited about what was going to happen
our first meeting took exactly an hour to finish. the cleaning part of it did take a long time. midway through i had to hold my chin to keep it from shaking.
i tried to measure my pain tolerance but decided against it once i started to feel the file through my teeth. i must have consumed three ampules of anaesthetic and i lost count of the times the needle hit my gums.