Journey home

Oct. 29, Friday

At ten on that bright and clear morning, I perched my butt behind the man driving the motorcycle and we went riding up and down the road surrounding Lake Sebu. There was the lake shimmering under the sun, in this beautiful pocket of South Cotabato; and there was I smiling at the thought of me and my hot pink backpack riding a motorcycle on these empty roads (albeit behind a man :P). I was being taken to Surallah, half an hour away – I was going “wheee!!!” in my head at the same time that I was facing the delicate problem of how to stop myself from sliding down the seat and bumping into the driver’s butt each time we went downhill! A predicament. My shoulder bag nestled in front of me came to my rescue, saving me from embarrassment and allowing me to chat companionably with the guy about this and that.

He said: “Yes. That’s a corn field.” “There are actually three lakes in this area.” “Yes, they have tilapia in that one too.” “Oh the waterfalls are that way on the road to the right.” Hehe, interview portion, in other words.

Half an hour and a hundred bucks later I was on the non aircon bus in Surallah, happy to be back in the land of GPRS signal. My email inbox listed: your free astrology.com horoscope for the day, astrocenter.com, and today’s tarotscope. Plus I could see that my high school batchmates were at it again – sending one-line personal messages to the entire egroup.

Forty minutes later, the bus wheezed into the station at Marbel, Koronadal. I smiled my way into the non-stop aircon bus for Davao, skipped to the donut place for some supplies and a pee, got into the bus, and scowled at the tinted windows that stopped me from looking at the world outside.

Another forty minutes later, almost into General Santos City, the bus ejected us into another bus already en route from Gensan to Davao. Goodie, goodie, great, I was all for arriving earlier in Davao. Bus number three had clear windows, and I made myself right at home in my two seats – whipping the curtains out of the way, tucking my feet under my legs on the seat, ogling the view of winding roads and mountains, reading pages from my book, snoozing. Two and a half hours later, I got off at SM City Davao (hehe, they were having a sale!).

After the toilet stop and ignoring hunger pangs, I hied off to Aldevinco in a cab. I desired more of those hugely colorful sarongs for a skirt and for a bedspread, and perhaps to give away to “remind you of me.” :-P

Half an hour later, my mature self let go and I made my way to the airport. Flight was delayed for two hours! The last PAL flight from Davao is always delayed but I don’t mind being late anytime as long as I can get to Manila in one piece and without traumas. As I have gained in years, so has my uneasiness with planes. I had my meal, changed into less travel-worn clothes, slung a new pashmina round my neck (it gets cold in that airplane I tell you!) and got on board.

No my trip didn’t end there! I got out of the airport at a quarter before ten in the evening! I decided to take the bus because I couldn’t be bothered to wait a long time for a cab at the departures hall and the coupon cabs just cost too much! Imagine this, I paid P23 bus fare, would have paid almost P250 for a metered taxi, and about P800 for a coupon cab! Amazing. For as long as my hurtling bus didn’t take on holduppers. Hehe.

At 11:30 pm, after 13 ½ hours travel time, military checkpoints in Mindanao, and having tasted three tilapia dishes – fried, escabeche-ed and grilled fresh from Lake Sebu – in three days, I was finally home.

I put down my bag, took a quick shower, and went out to meet a friend I haven’t seen for many months.

Hehehe!