CALIRAYA, LAGUNA

It was the worst ride ever. Never again! MRT (train) on rush hour. I got home form work with a battery-low body, stressed from worked and triple-stressed form the MRT ride. I took the MRT to get home early for the Caliraya trip. I was so excited about it. I needed to go somewhere far. I needed to travel.

I got home and instantly was ready for the trip. I went out, wrapped with recycled clothes, the same clothes I used from work. (Wardrobe is empty, they all partying in the hamper). 

The decision was impromptu. Hermana Potencio pinged me about the trip, asked me if I go. I was sleepy and draggy that day and felt so tired. Unfortunately, I can’t say no to travels.

Hermana Potencio, a former Mormon missionary brought me there. She said that she’ll meet a friend, Anthony, a former missionary, too. (Who later I learned that it was her ex)

We took a bus in Buendia station. The Bus left at around 10:30am. The bus wasn’t that good. The window glasses were dirty so the view outside was bad.  Taking photos did not work; it’ll waste the camera’s battery instead. So, I just slept and went all the way to Slumberland. Too bad I didn’t enjoy the scenery while                      travel. On the contrary, the short nap gave me a dose of energy.

After three hours we finally got off the bus. We were in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. It was about 1:30pm So, what’s next? Hermana texted her ex. She said that we needed to ride a jeepney going to Siniloan. “That’s where he’s going to meet us”. 

We took a jeepney ride. The ride was amazing. We passed Paete, a small town in Laguna and is known for "The Carving Capital of the Philippines”. We also saw an amazing old church built a more than a hundred years ago, Pakil church. Pangil reminded me of safari.

This is in Sta. Cruz, Laguna.
Most bridges in the Philippines are banded by a politicians' name.

busy small town of Siniloan

Paete's small street 

The 'show-off' town of Paete where streets are surrounded with woodcarving and handicraft shops. Roam around this small town and you'll see how they actually make their  solid products. Show-offs.

Road to Siniloan

The Laguna de Bay. 

Pakil church

We finally met Anthony in a school in Siniloan. He was with hi tricycle, wasted no time and started our trip going to Caliraya Lake. The road to Caliraya Lake was torture for the tricycle. It was uphill and the tricycle was crying in pain. The sound was deafening. He was making a grinding noise, I thought it’s the bike chain can hardly cling on to the sprocket. Poor tricycle. Hang on, tricycle. It will soon be over. While the tricycle was in pain, I was in pleasure enjoying the view as the wind gets colder and colder..the altitude get higher and higher.

Uphill. 

We stopped over to take photos of the amazing lake.

Take a good rest our dear trike while enjoying the man made-lake.

Finally, we were at the lake. We wasted no time and took pictures. It was getting late.

Anthony, doing a Michael Jackson pose.

picture picture

SUNDAY SHIFT

     Sunday shift. I came to work. I walked in the building hallway. It was so silent like there is no one. The security guard checked my bag then let me in the production floor. I was alone. Where are the agents? It was Sunday, stupid! Everyone is enjoying their day off.

     I walked in. The only noise that I heard was the air conditioning unit.  It was dim. Most of the lights were off. I saw one agent. He was sleeping in his workstation; mouth’s opened, waiting for a call while leaning against his chair. There's another one, a girl smiling and giggling while texting.  (She must be texting her boyfriend. Valentine’s on the next day). And another one, browsing on the Internet. Everyone’s breaking the house rules. Truly, when the cat’s away, the mouse will play.

     But me? No no no. I am a good boy. Instead of breaking company policies, I explored my workstation computer and found MS Paint and created these images out our boredom.

And before you see my picture that i made, let me inform you that these are stupid images. They make no sense. I did this not to entertain you but just to kill my boredom. A little child's artwork is better than these images. Nothing is amazing or nice about this images.

What have you eaten for breakfast?

color maze

a cat possesed by the devil

valley, snake, river, and belt

disfigured face

your uncle, drunk

your uncle saying bad words while vomiting

tree three

upside down

gaylords

Where? In Quiapo

          It was Saturday. It was supposed to be my day off but my schedule has changed. My boss asked me to choose which day I’d like to have as my rest day. I chose Thursday and Friday because those days have the highest call volume in the office. (by the way, I'm a call center agent and I work at night. I hate it when there are lots of calls coming in. It’s choking me). On weekends, working is like sleeping and getting paid. 

One of the popular churches in the Philippines, Quiapo Church

          I heard a knock on the apartment door. It was my chef’s wife and Denise. And guess what? They came to invite me to go with them in Quiapo. Without any hesitation even if I knew that I needed to sleep for the night shift. I was feeling nocturnal. But first, breakfast. 

Squash, omelet, binogoonan, rice, tilapia, with Pop Cola. That’s what they call balanced diet – a meal with both healthy and unhealthy food. 

          This was my first Saturday that I'm working. Though I was aware that I'm going to work yesterday, I still felt unchained from the bondage of labor. I smelled the air of freedom, the smell of the day off cologne, the scent of “no work”.

         On a taxi, on our way to Quiapo, I took pictures. Feeling like a pro-photographer with my very cheap camera while wrestling with the unbeatable, ever-famous Manila traffic jam.

          When we were at our destination, I hid my camera in my front pocket. Atmosphere was unfriendly. There were lots of people. I felt there were hungry snatchers around lurking 

for a prey. Or I was just too paranoid. I wasn’t able to take more photos as a wanted to. But, lo and behold! Pam and Denise were holding plastics helium balloons. Where did they get those? They borrowed it from the balloon vendors just for picture taking. I fearlessly took my camera out, and click…click… click..

This little girl kept on watching us while we were taking photos. She wanted a picture for herself too.



At the train station, we had Shawarma and Palabok before going home.



The not-so-delicious palabok

Another Day

Its more than two weeks now and my chef is still on his vacation. No one is cooking for me. I go home alone and get home alone.  What a boring life. It’s a good thing that I brought my guitar with me and people still are active in Facebook.  

 Thanks to my cook’s wife, Pamela, for bringing me a pasalubong  from Dipolog City.  (It is an overcrowded sardines in a bottle, like Manila). I ate them like orgy with a rice wrapped in a banana leaf that I bought from a carinderia just a block away from the apartment. I hate washing dishes so I used the banana leaf as my plate. Solved!  

Guitar time. Fingertips hurts.  Its been a while since I played the guitar.

Problem:  Didn’t know what songs to play.

 Solution: YouTube’s video tutorial. Bon Iver!

Lesson: NEVER STOP LEARNING

PUFF

The poor fish. He was catching his breath when we took him out of the water. I could hear his loud inhale and exhale. Poor him. But he doesnt have to worry. He's in good hands. Im an animal lover. And just so you know, We took this cute fish back to where it was, ofcourse. He was with his sea turtle friends. Now im sure he is swimming with the sea tutles.

This is in Guimaras, Philippines. It is a small island town in the Visayas near Ilo-ilo city. We were island hopping. You see that guy in orange? He seemed disgusted with what Im doing. Well, he is our tour guide. He brought us here in a sea turtle hospital. This is where they keep sick sea turtles, wounded turtles that were hit by careless pump boat.

That green dancing giant. I love to watch him dancing without losing a single dose of energy. Nobody cared about him. We notice him and took a picture of him because he was sad dancing alone.

I wonder where he is dancing right now.

NOSE

When I was a young boy, I told myself I will not easily die because I can hold my breath for a long time. Among the group, im the only one who has the talent of holding breath for a long time. I remember imagining myself being shot with a gun. I asked “what should I do if I was shot by a gun?” I simply thought, “Easy! Simply hold you breath, rest, hold on to the pain, and wait until rescue comes.” I was not yet aware of how our bodies worked. I simply thought that living is simply breathing and the most important part of our body is our noses. The longer you can hold you breath, the greater chances or survival.