September 17-20, 2012
At 6:00AM, my mom and I were already in NAIA Terminal 3 to check-in on a
Cebu Pacific flight to Puerto Princesa, Palawan. Luckily, weather was not so
bad though it was not that sunny. It was an hour flight and we arrived at
Puerto Princesa Airport at exactly 9:15 in the morning.
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| Puerto Princesa Airport |
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| A carabao we saw resting beside the road. |
A friend had fetched us
and brought us to the city terminal. Since it has been raining for weeks now,
the river going to our property in Quezon, which is located in the southern
part of Palawan, is not passable by smaller vehicles. We had no choice but to
ride this big jeepney almost the size of a mini bus. It was non-airconditioned
and jam-packed. It was actually fine with me as I wanted to experience the real
adventure going to our property. The jeepney was fully-loaded. Inside are the
passengers and above the vehicle are the lugagges and other stuffs of the
passengers. Everyday, there is only one trip going to Puerto Princesa City and
back to Quezon so residents in Quezon are maximizing their trips to the city
and will buy everything they need. It was a five hour trip! It's like going to South Korea or Japan. I don't know the exact distance from the city as it was
too far, it was literally in the middle of nowhere. But to be fair, it took us
five hours because some parts of the road are not yet done and we have to go on
every town we pass as there are passengers who needs to be dropped. We left the
city terminal at 11:00 AM and (alas!) we arrived at 4:00 PM.
From the road, we have to bring all our lugagge (most are food bought from the
city) down to the shore where our little house was built. Luckily, our
caretaker and his son were already there waiting for us. We were at the top so
the pathway going down to the shore was very steep. It was also raining so it
was very slippery.
I'm not an athletic person and I've always been in the city. The last time
I climbed a mountain was 12 years ago. It was easier though as I was going
downwards but I must follow my mom's advice to be careful not to step on the
little invisible creatures living in the forest so I must continously say
"tabi-tabi po, makikiraan lang po" to show respect. Despite being a
"city girl", it would be better to just follow this local custom and
be careful.
Finally, we arrived at the shore and when I saw the house, I was amazed! I
never thought it would be that beautiful considering that it was only our
caretaker and his son who built the house. As I said, it was in the middle of
nowhere, hence, there's no electricity and worse, no telecommunication signal.
:(
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| Our little hut. |
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| Gloomy Monday afternoon. :( |
I didn't get to enjoy the beach that day as it was still raining. I was
also very tired after our long trip, I slept without any difficulty.
But on the next day, the sun started to come out. It was a very relaxing
place. It's very quiet and all you can hear are the waves and chirping of birds
from the forest. We also eat breakfast and lunch in the little dinning hut they
built just beside the house. Good thing, I didn't buy a skimboard yet beacuse
the beach isn't advisable for skimboarding (the big waves are far from the
shore).
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| Tin-tin, our guardian. |
I'm used to all the noise and seeing people. Since we are alone there,
there are times I feel a little bit scared at night. It's so dark, and you
can't see if someone's out there. I'm a little bit paranoid, I know, but if
something crazy happened, nobody can hear us. Good thing, our dog (we named her
Tin-tin) is very vigilant. Sometimes, there are fishermen from other towns who
pass by our shore. Even though they are still far away or even if it's dark and
they don't have any lights, Tin-tin easily sense them and she will start to
bark.
We stayed in our property (my mom called it Bambolina) until Thursday
morning. But we almost got stranded because the van which supposedly will fetch
us still cannot pass by the river and even the jeepney going to the city
doesn't really go as far as our place. So on Wednesday morning, we went to our
so-called neighbor (I guess it's around 1 km distance) which is a Bible school
for orphans. Fortunately, we met a pastor who's willing to give us a ride to
the town where the jeepney passes by on their motorcycles.
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| Damn tired... |
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| But thanks to the beautiful view around me. |
So on the rainy
Thursday morning at 4:00 AM, we started our way, climbing the very dark woods
with only two flash lights as our source of light. I was panting heavily and it
didn't even occur to me that anytime, a snake or wild boar might show up as I
was very tired and felt like throwing up. I also don't know how long is the
distance from our property to the town but I guess it took us 45 minutes to get
there. But when we arrived, the jeepney wasn't there yet. There are actually
only few houses in the town, and most are rice fields. In the middle of it, we
saw a house with lights. So we went there to rest and they generously welcomed
us. The house has already a small generator that can provide electricity for a
few light bulbs and for small electronic devices. At 6:00 AM, the jeepney
finally arrived. We said our goodbyes to the nice family and the pastors who
helped us. I felt relieved that we had surpassed such challenge. For 4 days, I
had been praying to God to guide us and He surely didn't fail.
As usual, the jeepney stops at every town to pick-up residents who are
going to the city. It was still drizzling and we arrived in the city by
11:00AM.
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| First stop over. |
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| Inside the jeepney with Mom and Vandolph, our caretaker's son. |
I must say that my experience is a fruitful one. I had learned a lot and it
had opened my eyes on the situation of my fellow Filipinos. Whenever we pass
towns and seeing children walking along the muddy roads just to get to school,
I realize that life is definitely hard on their part. I always see on TV the
situation of some rural areas but seeing it myself is different. We complain on
what we have, but these people almost have nothing. We complain when there's no
internet, but in these places, there's not even an electricity, yet, they
survived.
But one thing really wonders me until now... How did these people get
there? Especially in our property. Someone had showed it to my mom so my mom
gets to know it. But for the first settlers there, I can't imagine how they
found the place, thinking that surely, there are no roads yet back then.
Crazy, I don't know. But one thing's for sure. I shall return. :)
