Halo-halo at Tina's saved Catbalogan, Samar

I believe clean places in Catbalogan are hard to find. Honest. You can only name a few establishments where you are assured that the food handlers believed the adage "Cleanliness is next to Godliness."

Reason for this haphazard and frank opinion was that when I first went there sometime in 1997, the place was very dirty. Piled garbage remained ignored right at the premises of their Capitol building like they were cancers of the streets. Open sewers flooded the streets. The market place is so wet until now so that going there was like an open invitation to all sorts of sickness. People were ill-disciplined they spit and throw their wastes just about everywhere. Public toilets and restrooms were not worth a peep. 

I believe that the very basic place to see if food is safe in that place is just by looking at their toilets. Just imagine what are they doing with their food if the toilet of that certain establishment is like a garbage bin. 

Two years ago I wrote a disgusting blog about Catbalogan: If you have nothing good to say- blog it! It is really hard to make an honest opinion of a place where some of its residents have become your close friends. But still-

After 14 years of coming to that place, sometimes thrice a year, some establishments have actually improved, thanks heavens. There is now a Jollibee. There are others who have remained clean like Tony's Kitchen, Haropoi, Lugar ni Edgar and Charito's. I saw a coffee shop that looked clean somewhere in Ubanon but never had the chance to go in because the street where it is located was flooded. 

Another improvement is you can now also stay in a clean hotel like Rolet's or a pension house like Rose Scent. Six years ago I checked-in in a pension house but ran away from there because cockroaches greeted me at the door of my room.

The various tables and chairs at Tina's Garden added color to the place

But one of the most consistent place to eat is at Tina's Garden. The place does not brag about sophistication and all but remained simple and reasonably priced. It is located just around the corner from Rolet's Hotel. I wonder why the official website of Catbalogan did not even mentioned the place.

Their version of halo-halo

Tina's most favored products are the cool concoctions, one of which is very famous and the house specialty- halo-halo. Their version is very simple and does not have enough ingredients to compete with Chowking's. But it is one of the best halo-halo I have tasted. Much better than the highly priced but lackluster halo-halo of Cafe Lawis in Dauis Church in Bohol.

Even their sandwiches which I have not tasted at all were plainly wrapped in plastic for the customers to see, unlike Jollibee or Dunkin' Donuts. What I always love to eat there is their deliciously done rice puto and banana fritters and the occasional pudding.

Yummy puto

That is why even if I dislike the environment of Catbalogan as a whole, I still come back to places like Tina's. They are the reason I still believe that people from that place will replicate what these clean establishments are doing so that tourists will come back to that already isolated part of Samar.

I just hope the places I mentioned here would not succumb to the mentality of Catbalogan as a whole.

Related links:

Best halo-halo in Dumaguete? 

Meanwhile, somewhere in that small island of Zumarraga in Samar, a small store also sells halo-halo. It is not the best but still thirst-quenching in its simplicity.

Is simplicity the clue to great halo-halos?

Mana Choling's version of halo-halo

Lumalandi sa Catbalogan

I am in Catbalogan right now and the place has not changed at all. Old, undisciplined, noisy and very dirty.

And while waiting for the boat to take us to an island, I chanced myself to an internet cafe. Cafe with curtained cubicles. I was wondering why this is still allowed here when in Cebu these type of cafes are banned.

And then someone from my neighboring cubicle started to flirt. I don't know if it is flirting but she sounded like one. And then some. She was talking about the 6,000 pesos the one in the other end might be sending, or already sent.

You know hon, the fish here is expensive. The 1,000 is for my mother's labs, the 2,000 for medicine. And we buy vegetables and fish and rice. Not enough hon. I just walk coming here and buy ice water even if I am hungry.

Sheesh!

I could not help but peer into that cubicle. You would not believe that girl was talking crap. My.

And then some girls, barely 18 comes in to the other cubicle. Same lines again. I don't have money hon. No work. The money in the bank I save is gone na.

Oh my. What happened to Catbalogan? Is that why there is a Western Union downstairs?

Am I out of this world?

Meanwhile the gays are having a parade down in the streets of Catbalogan for the World Aids Day. Mga malalanding bakla.

Watching the Race

We were watching a boat race in the middle of the afternoon and I saw this child sitting on a small boat, not minding the heat. Such a glamorous pose. This was taken during the town fiesta of Zumarraga, Samar.

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.

The Boy from Zumarraga

I took this pic on an early morning boat-ride to Catbalogan, Samar. Zumarraga is an island in Samar, an hour by pumpboat, the only means to go there,  from Catbalogan.

Here Comes the Sun

Early morning somewhere in Samar

The Golden Place

Still in Samar

Aira

Kevin: The Cute Guy from Catbalogan