Travelogue: Destination Samar

March 31 (Note: I wrote this on the date stated but since no internet connection is available, I have to post them on later dates)

I was packing my things for a brief pictorial assignment in an unknown island in Samar when it dawned to me that there are two good things which this trip will possibly bring on me. First, I will be away when my creditors will be knocking on my door. Second, I will be having a brief respite from the constricting world of unemployment.

But sadly I was still hoping or wishing to be exact that my lover would be with me on this trip. Honestly, Samar is never a good place to visit knowing from my abhorrence of anything dirty. My lover would be a perfect distraction from them dirty. A lover, generally speaking, could make impossible things work. But mind you, the lover dumped me a month ago so that the dream of a perfect picture becomes pffft. So the perfect setting is gone and not happening at all.

That is the reason why I am alone on this journey, so to speak.

Nothing else to do, I hang about in this some corner of this boat I took from Cebu to Ormoc and wrote things that came out of my mind. What else to do? I wish I could be as promiscuous so I could take advantage of the younger people around me. But I haven’t done that for so long. Long before I kept the promise for my lover that I won’t be messing around. That promise I have kept until this day, more than a month after the dumping event. Friends told me to go ahead and have some fun because I was only fooled by my ex. But I have reasons not to. Maybe my maturity to see things differently helped me. Or am I just getting old and older everyday?

But honestly I am so happy when my ex texted me- Oy manong ingat ka sa daan ha. (Hey old man, be careful on your way.) That was so sweet. Now I guess it is now time to have some sleep.

April 1

My second day of travel and my first day here in Samar already feels distressing and looks like a big joke. The heat is just so intense I think my head would crack open. But Catbalogan is still wet from the rains they said poured like torrents last night. I hate it when it is wet in Catbalogan. The place becomes more like sewer, an open sewer at its best. The boat trip to Zumarraga, my final destination, is still at 11 in the morning and I could not wait to leave this place.

Finally, after so many hitches like Catbalogan never wanted to be left, the pumpboat run off for the island of Zumarraga, a good hour away from the dirty civilization that is Catbalogan.

The air suddenly shifted and the foul odor gone. Ahhh island life.

Today is a fool’s day.

April 2

I woke up early today because I will be going back to Catbalogan to get some stuff and some provisions. The boat trip to that city is not quite bad. I took some early morning pics aboard the pumpboat. It is good.

The heat in Catbalogan is intense as usual. I should have a head-cracking day in my stay here. Damn! Worst, it suddenly rained as if the heat is not enough. I took shelter in a nice snack store and eat halo-halo.

The way back is quite a serious stuff. The rains have stopped but the air seems too strong. You know Samar is equivalent, almost always, to storms. Although the motorboat I am in is big for the common standards, the waves still made an impression on my stomach. Every time a big wave comes to our way, my stomach churned like it’s going to do some curling and stuff.

To lure my mind away from an eminent disaster, I flirted with a new friend over my phone. It was much better than seeing the white caps over the horizon.

I arrived early noon with no disaster happening.

I resume my photo shoots till afternoon and sleep after despite the heat.

The problem with remote islands is that the time seems so slow. I don’t know why. Cold beers make my stay here almost bearable.

Night slowly settles in.

With nothing much to do but laze on the beach drinking cold beer and stare at the moon like a lover. I switched to emo mode again. I could not get the ex off my mind.

And the rain starts to pour I have to scramble towards the safety of the cottage. So dramatic.

 

April 3

Another downpour happened while I was sleeping so I have to drag myself out of bed so I could, the least, be in the rain. But just as I walk out, the rain stopped and instead a beautiful rainbow appeared in the horizon. I took pictures of it.

I am sleepy again.

I wake up feeling refreshed and did some photo shoots again. Someone is celebrating a brithday in the house where I am staying so drinking all through the night is expected.

I did not know what time will I be sleeping later.

Catbalogan's street kids

  

If you have nothing good to say- blog it!

From afar, Catbalogan is just one of the cities of the Philippines. Ordinary, laid back, nothing more. But when you are at the center of all of Catbalogan, the experience is entirely frustrating if not yucky.

The city (by all standards it is not!) is a place where everyone, from children down to standbys in the corner, from the padyak drivers to students and professionals, is a big wastebasket case. And I mean a real waste basket. If it is not clear enough to you- the place is a garbage lot. A big one. 

People (read- everyone!) just throw their waste just about everywhere! Streets. Open sewer. The sea.

I don't know if it is a cultural thing but they do and blatantly do it! Sometimes I consider Warays to be the dirty citizens of the world. But there is Tacloban too, and by affiliation, they are Warays, too. I bet they would protest! But Calbayog (also Warays) is just like that, throwing garbage everywhere, six or seven years ago, my last visit to the place.

I could have shoot several proofs on this matter but it would make myself unclean and I don't want to remember that.

One time, in one of the visits to Catbalogan, that city (which is not a city by all standards, I repeat) a whole mountain of garbages (sic, to make my point clear) could be found everywhere. The problem? The city government and the provincial government could not agree on whose responsibility it was to collect the garbage. Isn't that weird?

And Warays on that side of the world seemed to be at home with dirt and everything dirty! Ewww!

Domestic Squabbles Again

When you have been traveling and working for 10 hours a day, all you want is a quiet, nice and clean room to rest. But everytime I go home this is not the case.

I have been harsh and hoarse from nagging about cleanliness to no avail. Now when someone reads this- I will be the bad person I've become.

(And indeed! An anonymous comment made my prediction come true. Please read the comments posted here.)