Last night was our last night (huh?) in Guimaras (there you go!). I’m definitely gonna miss the island. And the people. Ilonggos are really very sweet people. In our two-and-a-half-day stay there, the local people were very generous and truly accommodating. Over dinner of sinigang na tanigue and adobong pusit, we talked about the beaches, the fishes, the sea urchins, the sea cucumber that Raimond mercilessly “abused (haha!), the gooey white stuff that DJ splattered all over Donna’s head (uh, “There’s Something About... Donna”?...) the starfish, and the sweet Guimaras mangoes. I was actually surprised that I enjoyed the adobong pusit, notorious as I am for abhorring anything adobo. It turns out, when it comes to calamari, it didn’t matter to me any which way it’s cooked and served. I’d still gobble it up. And the “stench” wasn’t that bad, at least not as bad as the “stench” of adobong manok or adobong pork. Fe’s NFF (new found “friend”) and her PVP (potential victim of pedophilia… haha!), Arjay, joined us for dinner, and Fe was very “game” with our endless teasing. If there’s anyone I would always love to hang out with on vacay, it would be Fe. The girl’s just so, uh, I dunno, cowgirl!This morning, with our bags packed and ready to go, we boarded the next ferry to Iloilo. We stayed for an hour in the city for a taste of the authentic La Paz batchoy (my first). I couldn’t tell what was so special about it. To me, it was just noodles (very salty!) with innards. I eat a lot of weird stuff, but I can’t stand liver. Anyway, the others seemed to enjoy their bowl of batchoy, so I guess it must have been good. I didn’t get to finish mine. I found it too salty for comfort.
The almost-four-hour drive to Caticlan was part-fun (halfway through) and part-torture (the last hour-and-a-half!). We, all fifteen of us, minus the driver, with all our luggage, were squeezed together inside the van we rented, and the driver had delusions he was Schumacher or Alonso. I dozed off many times during the drive and the crazy, maniacal guy behind the wheel coursed around sharp corners as if he was in the F1 race track, so I bumped my head on the glass window many times, not to mention the frozen knees which bore the weight of two heavy backpacks! All I could think of was how, when we get to Bora, we’d forget the horrendous drive from Iloilo to Aklan. On a positive note, we did get to Caticlan in less than four hours, no thanks to Mr. Driver’s need for speed. We were told that in the hands of a sane driver, the trip would take over five hours. So I guess we should thank him for shaving off almost two hours from the usual travel time. I’m a glass-half-filled kinda guy.
The Caticlan port was crazy! I mean the people there were crazy! There were so many getting on and off ferries, but I guess it’s understandable, I mean, this being the Holy Week and all. And it was oppressively hot and humid outside. So with a heavy backpack and a small bag in tow, I and my friends walked about 100 meters, from where our van was hopelessly stranded, to the port gate. I’m guessing it was prolly at least 38-degrees outside, and the only protection I had were a baseball cap, my shades and a thin film of sun block (yeah, yeah, the SPF 50 with skin whiteners) which I rubbed on before we boarded the ferry to Iloilo this morning. I think I must’ve downed almost a liter of water during that short walk. Good thing I decided to bring a backpack. I can only imagine how difficult it must’ve been for Fe and Donna who were lugging around large duffels and suitcases, although Donna, Y2K-ready as she is, managed to dupe poor Jay into carrying her bag for her!
The whole “one entry-exit point” in Bora, I think, is absolutely brilliant. In the many years we’ve spent summer in the island, the constant docking of pump boats near the shore throughout the entire length of the beach from Stations 1 to 2 was an eyesore. It’s a good thing
they finally did something right for the island. And the DOT people offering free transport from the dock to the resorts were very helpful. It was also nice that, for people like us who didn’t make advance reservations, they helped us look for a nice play to stay in. So while the rest of us had a late lunch in some nice resto (mixing people-watching with gustatory satiation… oh, and we’ve only been here for less than an hour and we already ran into this Polo guy – forgot his surname – whose large billboard of F & H I regularly see along the northbound portion of SLEX, and another gloriously tanned, and “eye-poppingly almost naked” Era (?) Madrigal), the others went hotel-hunting with the DOT guy. In about half-an-hour, we were moving into this nice, affordable place between Stations 2 and 3, very close to the beach and the night life, with a restaurant in front. Jackpot! It’s gonna be a fun night tonight, I can feel it! We’ve got everything planned… There’s a Big Fish event in Station 2, sponsored by Smart, and another Globe event in Cocomangas in Station 1. Not to mention our usual reggae night at Creek’s Bar. Imma catch a few z’s, prophylactic sleep as I call it, so I’d be pumped up and ready to partee tonight! :)
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