San Antonio, Isabela

Blog entry on trip to Isabela

San Antonio, Isabela : 12 hours away from happy Manila. The inhabitants of my grandmother's home are Tito Victor, Tita Maricon, Lola Pacing, 3 cats named Ming, a family of chickens, and Christine the goat, who is worth 700 pesos and who my grandmother plans to butcher in the near future. But hopefully not.

-Day one-

8 pm.

The headlights of the van blazed into Lola's garage, and there was the goat, scampering away. We had Chicken Joy! for dinner. It was a safe trip all throughout, despite mom's fear of seeing that crazy naked man praying in the cemetery again. (She and her brother saw the guy on their last visit. We didn't see him, but the thought of it is creepy nonetheless.) Lola seemed much more alive than she was the last time we saw her. The mosquitoes were alive and well too. We watched Music and Lyrics, and Tito Victor unveiled his rather large collection of pirated DVDs. We were in pirateland! Yay! That night, I shared a bed with Abby, hugging a stiff pillow and burrowing into my batik. I could hardly move.

-Day two-

...which proves to be a lot more interesting than day one.

The family, along with Lola and le faithful driver Kuya Melan, drove to the Bayan of Ilagan to get some supplies. Mom was pointing out cotton trees along the way, which weren't really cotton trees, but...something else. (I forgot the term Lola mentioned. x.x ) We ogled at the yellow rice road and the yellow corn road and the yellow sitaw road. Harvesting season! Almost. There were miles and miles and miles of farmland everywhere. Ilagan wasn't nearly as modernized as Santiago, but had a sufficient supply of junk food to keep us happy. Yes, I ate two large bags of Boy Bawang. Mmm. Garlicky. Abigail purchased enough candy to last her a week, and Lola bought 6 cans of rootbeer. (Yes, I must've inherited my love of rootbeer from her.)

We ate lunch at Felicita's (which serves the greatest pancit in the land) and then went back home. After resting a bit (and watching a couple of movies), we were off to the river. (see post on mermaids.)

The night ended in Tito Victor's delicious liempo, kalabasa in gata, and mangoes. The siblings weren't able to overcome their fear of bugs, and thus had to be *accompanied* while taking a bath. Hurrah. The night's movies were Letters from Iwo Jima, and Flushed Away. After the movie, a three-minute conversation in the bathroom. Did I mention San Antonio has almost no signal? Yes. No signal, except for at the edge of the garage, the middle of the bathroom, and beside the oven toaster. :D

-Day Three-

The day begins with me waking up beside Pat with no blanket. It is hot, and Lola is already up. It's 9. Breakfast is meatloaf and sausages and soft rice and scrambled egg. After dallying around the house a lot (and attempting to watch House of Flying Daggers), we're off to Ilagan again in the late afternoon to go shopping for the bonfire dinner later tonight. Way Back Into Love is playing over and over and over and over again in my head, and Pat does Josh Groban thrice.

At the store, one customer mistakes me for one of the store girls. :P

Lady: Miss, saan yung mga pantyliners?

Me: (startled) uh..(looks around) hindi ko po alam..

Lady: (realizes her mistake) AHH! (covers mouth with hand) sorry! sorry miss!

Me: That's ok..

Lol. :D

Dad purchases two chickens along the way back to San Antonio (cooked ones, mind you.) It's really dark by the time we get back to the house, and Tito Victor and Kuya Melan and Kuya Jesse (who is slightly drunk) begin to heap firewood in the back yard. Soon, a bonfire rises four feet into the air. Dinner is chicken and dessert is marshmallows and roasted banana and graham crackers and chocolate. Yum. Kuya Jesse asks us if we believe in "Fairytales that are real", and proceeds to tell us about the time he saw a mermaid, and about the manananggals in Capiz, and that time when a girl and her boyfriend fell victim to the creature.

Sooo.

After roasting marshmallows, Tito Victor rigged up mom's MagicSing, where he got a score of 78 on his first try. Not bad. Then mom went, and then I went, doing Rainbow Connection. Abigail went after that, reciting her version of The Golden Rule, garnering a score of 32. Lola sang a couple of songs, and after that, we watched part of Night at the Museum, but were sent to sleep by mother. Another day, the last day, ended.

Yeah, it's a breath of fresh air, getting "away from it all". I rather enjoyed the mosquitoes and no heating and roaming around the house looking for signal. The first trip of summer. Yay. :D