A trip to Labangon

What i had been through last night was not that memorable but I had to write it anyway, blog ko ‘to!

It was past 8 in the evening when Sona Mae, who could no longer contain her hunger after our planned bbq dinner was aborted (thanks to our ever busy editorial assistant, Jeff), insisted we go home immediately. I was hoping to stay longer as the Half-Blood Prince captivated the whole of me, including my empty stomach and exhausted brain, but I did not want to go home alone that rainy night. By the way, I could not bring the copy of that book as it was stored in my computer, an e-copy yeah, so I had to look forward to every minute I could squeeze into my hectic schedule just to read it.

So we braved the rains with only our copies of The Freeman as payong (umbrella).

Several minutes later we were still standing near UV Colon and no Pardo-bound PUJ was trying to save us. We even walked farther but only got more drenched and frustrated.

Then a Labangon PUJ “rescued” us, or so we thought. But that was actually a relief than having to wait forever for a Pardo jeep that would never arrive.

We were somewhere in Labangon, when Sona saw this eatery that served siomai. Food! So we alighted from our temporary refuge (from the cold rain) just to fill our gurgling stomachs.

This eatery, a table with an extension with large umbrellas, was situated just at the side of the busy street. I would have paid my day’s earning just to get a seat or two in a cozy place eating a decent meal but all I had that night was a hundred pesos so that left me (us) no choice. I was broke like I always am (I think I’m cursed).

Then we ate, and occasionally touched our backs to make sure the water pouring from the umbrella went straight to the ground. But it did not, the back of my jacket was already soaking wet, and sipped through my T-shirt. And I saw Sona had her share too.

For that meal- 4 siomais, 3 pork adobos or something porky, 5 pusos, a Coke (for me) and a bottled water (for Sona)- we paid almost a hundred, that’s divided by two. Not bad for a very hearty meal, but I already felt the cold in my back.

And then Sona said we had to ride a Labangod jeep. Again! I was thinking we were already near the place where multicabs going to the south were. We were still in Tisa, she said, quite far from where we should take our (her) last ride, so walking was out of the question. Well, another P6 to spend.

With only P50 in my pocket, taking a taxi cab was a preposterous idea, although I was thinking of stopping over Tabunok to withdraw but I was also thinking the next payday was four days away, that’s hundreds of pesos from my dwindling funds. Plus taking a cab these days is no longer practical that even riding a PUJ is almost becoming a luxury considering the unabated increase of fare.

Back to the story, so we stopped, as usual, at a bakeshop to wait for a multicab. Again, the wait was like that in Colon.

And finally, it arrived in all its glory, the red multicab to take me to Tabunok and Sona to Lawaan.

And from Tabunok I took a tricycle to get met to Dumlog and from a corner where I was dropped I took a trisikad as my place was still 500 meters or so away from the highway. And from where the trisikad stopped (I would not allow the driver to bring me to my doorstep as it would mean hearing him cursed for having to pull his trisikad that would likely get stuck to the muddy path we had there) I had to walk the remaining 100 meters or less. I was exactly doing that with only the partly dry newspaper as my payong.

And when I changed to a fresh T-shirt and pajamas (not fresh) I realized how great it was to be home. Well, that was not the first time.