Santiago City, Isabela

April 29, 2006

6:58PM
Santiago City, Isabela
DAY ONE

And after a grueling 8 hour road trip from Manila that started around 11pm yesterday, 3 hours later than the scheduled expected time of departure, I find myself in Carig Plaza Hotel in Santiago City, Isabela, the host province for the 5th Mid-year Convention of the Philippine Association of Medical Specialists which Papa belongs to.

Our car was quite dirty by the time we got here; we were following this insanely speedy (but more like reckless) bus driver and unlike Manila, Cebu and Lucena City where the sun is relentlessly scorching, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Nueva Viscaya, which we passed through on our way to Isabela, were blessed with much rain; hence, we travelers were cursed with muddy roads that made our efforts to make our car spiffy clean all for naught.

The first thing Papa, Mama, Baneng and I did when we got here was of course, to eat breakfast, and in all fairness to the hotel staff, the food was enough to satisfy our starving tummies and ravenous appetites. With regards to the accommodations, our room was no Presidential suite but all the basic needs like air-conditioning, extra mattresses, beddings and the all important TV are here and considering we are in a town where tricycles are the preferred mode of public transportation, situated in a province where most of the land are used for agriculture than tourism; then this place is as good as it gets.

While Papa listened to the morning talk about GERD (gastro-something reflux disease), the rest of the family spent the morning here in the room getting much needed shut-eye. By 12, we had lunch and then later, we fixed the plans for our Banaue and Sagada trip on Monday, May 1.

On a side note, May 1 is Labor Day and I just want to vent out my frustration because the nearest Starbucks was 7 hours away and for the second time (the first time was last Easter Sunday), I won’t be able to use the Treat-your-friend-to-a-Starbucks-drink coupon I got from my Starbucks planner. Garr…

We were supposed to go on a city tour after lunch at 1pm but as expected, my sister and I got bored to death waiting for the tour that started 2 hours later. Incidentally, by the time my sister and I were dying from boredom and heat, Hunnie and the C5 gang finally found a beach to spend the rest of the 1st day of the annual Canto Cinco outing… And how I so wish I was there.

Iinggitin ko na lang sila siguro ng mga litrato ng sarili ko na napapalibutan ng libu-libong kilometro ng Hagdan-hagdang Palayan pagbalik ko ng Maynila. Mwahaha! Pero iingitin din nila ako ng mga litrato nila… Tsk.

The city tour was not quite the city tour I expected. We spent more that 30 minutes on the road to get to our first stop, Magat Dam, and although the scenery was quite breathtaking, we only spent less than 10 minutes there and a lot of our time was wasted driving on rough roads. Also, the rest of the stops were dropped out of the itinerary since we had to attend an anticipated mass in the Shrine of our Lady of Lasalette an hour later.

The Shrine is definitely a place I would like to visit again someday (along with Kamay ni Hesus Shrine in Lucban, the Loboc Church in Loboc, Bohol and the Museum of the Basilica of Sto. Niño in Cebu City). Large tableaus, which I think were made up of wood, stone and plaster, depicting Jesus and the Stations of the Cross surrounded the quaint chapel situated on a hill and fronted by a tall, magnificent statue of the Lady.

After mass, we headed back to the hotel and the medrep who drove us to and from the Shrine gave us some useful tips on where to taste the best culinary offerings of Santiago City. Maybe tomorrow, Nengerz and I can go food-place hopping while the parents bore themselves to death with the lectures.

For now, we can just chill here in the room and wait for the parents to wake up for dinner… NAGUGUTOM NA AKO!

Hay… I do hope I can bring home some kakanin and pasalubong for my Lola, cousins, Hunnie and C5.

And on another sidenote, the cable here has Pinoy Big Brother 24/7 channel! All day, pure reality TV entertainment without commercial breaks! Yahoo! Crush ko si Kim! Kim ang cute mo!

I MISS MY HUNNIE! (O di ba, sabay bawi!)

7:51 PM

^___^

April 30, 2006

11:43PM
Santiago City, Isabela
DAY TWO

PBB

Watching Pinoy Big Brother on the 24/7 PBB channel

Enjoying immensely

Realized when taking shower that I am a sucker for teeny bopper romance chuvaness

Laugh-out-loud enjoying PBB teens Bam and Niña flirting and bickering with each other

Crush ko na talaga si Kim. Mabuhay ang mga astiging Chinese!

Yuck

Tears from heaven

Earlier today, I went teary eyed during the final song number of the movie “The Fighting Temptations”

Naalala ko tuloy ‘yung homily last Sunday sa UP Parish. Sabi ni Father what’s-his-name, na sa Misa, madadama mo ‘yung presence ni God kahit sa isang phrase lang na sinabi nung pari, o kaya isang awit na kinanta ng sobrang ganda… Eto siguro ‘yun

Weird

Mom and Me

“Nami-miss ko ‘yung pagkabata ng mga bata. Parang ang bilis kasi ng phase na yun tapos grown-up na agad”

“Pagkabata? Alin? Bakit naman?”

“Parang sila (turo sa mga bata sa kabilang mesa). Kasi ‘yung panahong bata kayo binuno naming sa pagtratrabaho, puro sa katulong kayo. Namimiss ko tuloy ‘yung mga labas na gaya nito”

“…”

11:58PM