Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Iloilo diary
I really, really was planning to do updates regularly throughout my trip, but for the last week or so, I stayed in remote places where there was no Internet connection. Then I went to Boracay, where there was Internet, but given the choice between going online to blog (and catching up on work and checking my email) and drinking beer on the beach, well, it wasn't much of a choice really. It wasn't until today, back in the office, that I was able to go online for an extended period of time.But I do have lots of stories scribbled away, so I figured I'd just write up a really long post about my trip, Pancit Canton style. Speaking of which, is it weird that I get a bit thrilled when I stumble upon blog posts that mention the old site. Also, a couple of weeks ago, I saw this weird entry in my site's logs:
Patay tayo diyan.
Anyway, here's what happened over the past weeks:
January 9 to 10 - Iloilo City
After Bacolod, I went back to Iloilo to my tita's place. Didn't do much during my first day back, except to watch TV. I got a kick out of watching the guy who anchors the local Iloilo evening news. I think they just hired the person who looked most like Mike Enriquez.
I also went to a couple of La Paz batchoy joints. Ted's Oldtimer La Paz Batchoy was the big player, with the chain having an outlet at every mall and public place in Iloilo. I went to their old shop just outside the La Paz public market:
Then I tried Ted's new competitor, Deco's Original La Paz Batchoy, at its outlet in Gaisano in La Paz. Like Ted's, the restaurant has been around for a while, but a businessman (who happens to be a cousin of a cousin of mine) bought the restaurant and has also turned it into a chain. Their outlets are really nice and offer free wi-fi. The batchoy is awesome too, and you can get unlimited refills of the broth:
On the evening of the 10th, I met up with my Tito Roland who took me around Iloilo's nightspots. Now, here are a couple of things you need to know about Tito Roland:
- He gets around the city in a motorcycle.
- 2. He likes his Red Horse beer, and he matches each bottle of my San Mig Light with a Red Horse 500ml; and mind you, I can put it away, too-- I think I had nine bottles that evening.
The night started out promisingly enough. I even began to entertain the thought of buying a motorcycle, because it's just so much easier to get around. By the end of the evening though, I was already quite certain that I was going to die a horrific death in the backstreets of Jaro.
Anyway, we ended up okay, and we were able to go to a couple of, er, interesting places, even though we didn't stay long in any one place. The most, er, interesting place we went to was this club in the second floor of the building that had rooms for rent in the ground floor. I don't even remember the name of the place, we really didn't stay long -- maybe Kwan could tell you. It was like a really, really poor man's version of Genie/Goodlife.
January 11 to 13 - Carles, Iloilo
At first, I thought the town of Carles was in the middle of absolute fucking nowhere. I was wrong; looking at the map, it was the edge of absolute fucking nowhere.
The plan was to go island-hopping once we got there. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad that we couldn't risk going on the pump boat, so we were stuck hanging out in the resort with nothing to do.
It just so happened that on the evening of the 19th, there was a dance (baylehan) at the baranggay's basketball court. I was hanging out with the resort owner, William, and he was trying to get me to go to the event. It was, apparently, a very very big deal for the people there, and William even had a table reserved for him, so he really wanted me to go. Our conversation went like this:
William: "Sama ka na, masaya yun!"
Me: "Naku, wala akong hilig sa ganyan eh, tsaka medyo nilalagnat pa ako."
William: "Meron tayong isang case ng beer dun..."
Me: "Tara na, lakad na tayo, baka gabihin pa tayo eh!"
William: "...kaya lang, Eagle lang ang iinumin natin dun."
Me: "Bah... walang kaso ah!"
If you've never been to one of these things, well, it's quite a sight. It's the sort of shindig that only happens every so often, so the whole baranggay was there, with people whose ages ranged from 4 to 80. When we walked in, cha-cha music was playing and there was a middle-aged couple who were enjoying themselves a *little* too much. I mean, it wasn't freaking, exactly, but only because there wasn't any grinding happening.
The music was as eclectic as the crowd, which included the town's vice mayor and the municipal administrator. Apart from cha-cha music, here are some of the songs that played during the evening:
- Brother Louie Louie Louie
- This Ain't a Love Song (Bon Jovi)
- Smack That (Akon)
- Always Somewhere (Scorpions)
- Venus (Sexbomb Girls)
- Please Forgive Me (Brian Adams)
- Beautiful Girls (Sean Kingston)
- Winds of Change (Scorpions)
- Zombie (The Cranberries)
- Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Guns N Roses)
- So Unbelievable (Craig David)
- Without Me (Eminem)
- Binibirocha (Andrew E.)
- Ikaw Pa Rin (Ted Ito)
- Boy Bibo (Vhong Navarro)
- Macarena
- Hotel California
It was also the first time I'd tried Gold Eagle Beer, and I didn't think it was that bad. It certainly tasted like it was watered down, but that meant you can drink it lukewarm without puking. For a moment there, I was even a little jealous of William. Living quietly at the edge of absolute fucking nowhere, drinking cheap beer till the sun came up, it's a hell of a life.
January 13 - Side trip to Estancia, Iloilo
Two towns away from Carles was Estancia, which was the seafood capital of the province. The town's public market was right next to the sea, and it had a charming quality to it. I went in to buy some dried fish and squid for pasalubong, and had this exchange with the vendor:
Me: "Ne, pila di sa danggit?"
Her: "380 per kilo."
Me: "Diri sa lukos?"
Her: "480. Preska na ya."
Me: (thinking) "Taena, paano magiging fresh yan, eh dried pusit yan."
Anyway, I ended up buying a whole bunch of dried fish and squid, as well as a week's worth of rights to use the line 'Daing for my love'.
January 14 to 16 - Passi and San Enrique, Iloilo
I made a quick pit stop at a tito's place for dinner after getting back from Estancia (more beer!), before going back to Passi the next morning. Another tito of mine owned a grocery in Passi, where I'd hang out in the bedroom upstairs and watch cable, and in the evening we'd go back to our family's old house in San Enrique.
About the only interesting thing that happened during this time was I had a case of the hives, which I figured I'd gotten from higad while drinking at my tito's farmhouse in Iloilo. A couple of days and lots of anti-histamine later, however, the allergy still hadn't gotten better. They decided to bring me next door to an albularyo, who concluded that I must have disturbed a nuno sa punso. He whispered his magic into a piece of ginger, which he gave me to keep tucked under my shirt. After our session, I drank another tablet of anti-histamine. That same afternoon, my allergy was gone.
January 17 to 20 - Boracay
There really wasn't anything interesting that happened in Boracay, which was perfectly fine by me.
(Tomorrow: pictures from Ati-Atihan)
Labels: food, hehehe, iloilo, longvacation
Friday, January 04, 2008
Mango twin
My buddy Jonas runs a restaurant called The Mango Tree in Mandurriao. While Jonas is still in Manila, his twin brother (and restaurant co-owner) Jason was there, so last night I was able to swing by for a couple of beers and an impromptu game of poker, where Jason cleaned me out.I'd known Jason since we were in high school, and I saw him occasionally through the years. But it's been a while since I last saw him, so I found it really disconcerting to find that they've basically turned into the same person.
See, they were (er, are) identical twins, but back in college, they were just similar. Jonas had the more active lifestyle, so he was always really skinny and had dark complexion, while Jason was fairer and had a fuller frame. They talked differently and they had different mannerisms, which I'd always attributed to the fact that they went to different schools and hung around different people.
In fact, I remember one incident when Jason went to visit our restaurant and introduced himself to my tita as my friend. My tita already knew Jonas at the time, so the next time she saw Jonas, she couldn't help but ask, "Bakit yung kakambal mo, guwapo?"
Now? Well, Jason has even gained more weight, but apart from that, he looks exactly like Jonas, from the hair to the complexion. More than that, they now have the same affectations in their speech and their manners, that is was really quite disconcerting talking to him.
But it was all great. For people who know Jonas and have never met Jason, it's kind of hard to believe, but Jason is much, much more extroverted than his brother. Nag-gin-istoryahan anay lang kami. I even got around to telling the story behind Jonas' favorite toast from our recent Christmas Party:
"To the one who got away!"
I'll probably go back the Mango Tree, after my side trip to Bacolod. Then I'll post pictures of the yummy food and the nice place.
Labels: iloilo, longvacation
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Iloilo, day 2
I met up with Luz, who works in Iloilo for an animal hospital in Jaro, on New Year's Eve. We caught up after having not seen each other for several months. Either we not much happened all those months, or we're just really fast storytellers, because when we met up for coffee the next day, we didn't have anything to talk about anymore; instead, I just caught up on work while she checked her email.
Labels: hehehe, iloilo, longvacation
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Arrival
I was with Nanay during my first airplane ride, for my first visit to Iloilo. She flew back home often to visit her sisters and her mother. I had always been Nanay's favorite, being the first grandchild, and I got to tag along. It was an evening flight, but it was still quite a thrill for me to be on an airplane for the first time.A few years later, the summer after I first went to school, I got to fly back again to Iloilo with Nanay and a cousin of mine. I don't remember much about the trip itself, but I remember being very excited about it. I guess Nanay and my cousin and most of the other people on the plane shared my excitement, because when the captain announced that we were about to land in Iloilo, a spontaneous applause broke out. Around me, there were people asking everyone where everyone else were from. Everywhere, there were happy voices conversing in lovely Hiligaynon tongue, belonging to people who sounded really happy to be home.
...
After landing, we would usually head straight to La Paz, where Nanay's sister Auntie Edna lived with her husband Uncle Dondon and their children. When we arrived, Uncle Dondon would usually be hanging out by the porch of their house having a beer with his cousins, who were also his neighbors, while Auntie Edna made sure that there was a modest feast waiting for us for dinner.
During my first visit there, Nanay was showing me off to everyone, with my full bibo self on display. My three-year-old self was having a grand time, between all the attention and the tasty tocino we were having. Then, Auntie Edna, trying to encourage me to eat further, told me, in her awkward Tagalog, "Kain ka nang kain ha, walang hiya."
I started bawling; why did Auntie Edna call me walanghiya? I had no idea what I had done wrong. It wasn't until later that I was pacified enough that everyone explained to me that what Auntie Edna meant to say, Huwag akong mahihiya.
Later, the incident would become part of family lore. Every time I'd come to Iloilo to visit, I'd be reminded of the walanghiya incident, and all I'd have for them is my sheepish grin.
Even later, I'd find out about Auntie Edna and Uncle Dondon's story. They were quite the star-crossed pair, with tales of love and infidelity and death-threats worthy of a telenovela. Somehow, through it all, they still remained together.
A few years ago, Auntie Edna passed away due to complications with her diabetes. Uncle Dondon died a few months later. I'm sure there was a medical condition that would explain his death, but most people in our family never bothered with the explanation. It was apparent to all of us that when he died, it was because of a broken heart.
...
After our short pit stop in La Paz, we would usually hire a van to go to oma (which is, I think, the Hiligaynon word for countryside). It was in San Enrique, a small town just outside what is now the city of Passi. Nanay's mother, Lola Pilig, lived there with another of Nanay's sisters, Auntie Lina, and a bunch of other relatives.
While her other sisters all left home for Iloilo City and later, Manila, to try their luck, to study, and to fall in love, Auntie Lina stayed behind to take care of her mother and to take care of the farm. She never married. She spent all her time tilling the fields, or feeding the hogs, or caring for Lola Pilig, or making sure everything went well. Her poison of choice was the Tanduay lapad that all her other farmhands drank. A farmer through and through, she was never quite comfortable wearing shoes or even slippers, so she spent most of the time barefoot.
That last nugget bore quite an impression on the precocious little kid that was me. One afternoon that summer, in front of everyone, I told her that when I grew up, I was going to buy Auntie Lina slippers so she'd have something to wear. Touched, Auntie Lina gave ne a hug and kissed me. This incident would again end up being part of family lore, one of those stories told on every family occasion when we were in Iloilo, and Auntie Lina would tell it even after she had started to finally wear slippers.
One of my last trips to Iloilo was a sad occasion. I was in high school, and it was Auntie Lina's funeral. She had passed away a few months after Lola Pilig died.
Nanay was already at oma when we arrived. A few moments later, Nanay and I were talking, and I told her that I never ended up buying Auntie Lina the slippers I had promised. Nanay began to cry again. I started to wish that she didn't, but more than that, I started to wish that I had bought Auntie Lina those slippers.
...
Nanay died a few years ago. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with her, in the days when she was young enough on me when I was little, and when I was in college, when I used to spend my weekends visiting her in the weeks before she passed away.
I realized that I haven't been back since she died, or even since her health started failing her and she couldn't travel anymore. I guess, without her, there hadn't been much reason for me, and for everyone in our family who lived in Manila for that matter, to go back.
...
Last night I was on a flight to Iloilo, my first trip back in almost nine years. The plane was much nicer, and there were a lot of people, a lot more than those in the old domestic flights that we used to take. The flight itself was a non-event, and at the end of the trip, when the captain announced that we were about to land, there was no laughter or applause or any form of excitement in the air. I guess plane rides and trips back to Iloilo aren't such big deals anymore.
Labels: iloilo, longvacation, personal
