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Published: August 8th 2007
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Manila at Sunset
The skyline and the amazing sunset of Manila. The ghost tales from last night caused quite a stir. Meli woke me up in the middle of the night…well, more like I woke her up with my floundering and grunting. The dream:
I dreamt that there were two indistinct shadows in our room. It was one of those dreams where you can’t separate dream from reality. Melissa asked me who was in the room, but I ignored her at first, and then told her to keep quiet and maybe the shadows would leave. We talked about how weird that was and fell back to sleep. Moments later, the shadows came back. This time, I got out of bed and looked around, the bedside table where I left my laptop had moved from the foot of the bed to my side of the bed. The crimson curtains in the room moved as if provoked by the breeze of a passerby. Meli startled me when she shook me. I woke up and yelled “oh sh*t!” At that moment, I thought I was still dreaming and that the hand touching me was one of the shadows. I refused to tell Melissa about the dream right then, for fear of freaking her out.
Morning Pool Time
The sun is just up, and they're already in the pool! The A/C had been on full blast; the cold air coupled with my dream gave me goose bumps from head to toe (sparing the palms and soles Meli points out…nerd) like an allergic reaction. I turned down the thermostat and switched it to low cool. As we lay in bed making small talk, the bureau door suddenly squeaks open. I saw it and heard it; Meli missed both, so I was seeing and hearing things and going crazy alone.
At 6am, there is splashing in the pool. Terran was up and ready to swim and his Lolo Raffy indulged him. We fought has ignore the noise and squeezed in another 90 minutes of sleep. Sensing that they were having too much fun, I got in my trunks and dove in. Pretty soon, everyone was in the pool. Morning pool play. Within an hour, tummies growled. We ditched the pool for the hot tub, more of a lukewarm tub after sitting all night, and ordered delivery from Max’s. Sam, the designated waitress, took orders. The options were Adobo flakes, boneless Bangus, or chicken longganisa. The story of the food delivery was reminiscent of that Thursday in Buenos Aires when it
Morning Pool Time
Terran and Lolo Raffy have a moment. rained and it took forever for out food to arrive. Twenty minutes after ordering, Sam got a call saying they were out of Adobo flakes, the choice for me and Tito Raffy. To further complicate things, the person on the phone wanted Sam to not only provide them with alternate dishes for the flakes, but to give the entire order over again. Tita Reena took charge, gave a piece of her mind (and the entire order again!) and after nearly an hour from the time we first ordered, the food arrived, with an extra order of boneless bangus.
Meli and Tito Raffy avoided the riffraff by hanging out with the masseuses. They were busy enjoying their massages in the kamalig. Meli described her masseuse as the superhumanly strong finger lady. The food arrived just as their massages were done. Mamu and I were up next; I took Meli’s lady and she practically broke me, in a “oh my goodness, what a good massage” way. Now it was time to unleash the beast. I ate my breakfast and the extra one. At 11:30am, we bounced.
Yesterday, I rocked my Jose Rizal tee and Tito Raffy asked if I wanted
to see his house, which was near the Los Banas area. Also yesterday in Starbucks, I got to show off my Pinoy knowledge when the barista gave me a pop quiz before taking my order. “Do you know who that is on your shirrt?”
Yes, I do…it’s Rizal. “Who is he?”
The Filipino national hero and I’m going to house tomorrow. What, you think I just bought the shirt because it looked cool, not knowing what I was buying? She giggled in a way that tempted me to get a free drink out of her. If this was the USA, I would have done just that. Meli marvels at my ability to get free stuff. Anyway, she took my order and before walking away I turned and told her “I’m down with the team.” Another giggle.
Finding Rizal’s house required effort. We asked the people at the Monte Vista resort and someone at the gas station when we stopped to fill up before heading out. Still bewildered, we rolled up on motorists on their bikes in the middle of traffic and Tito Raffy would yell out the window for directions. Luckily, no one died. We arrived chez Rizal in
Morning Warm Tub Time
The hotsprings water has cooled down enough for Terran, and he is lovin' running around in this small pool -- the center of attention! Calamba—where this doctor, scholar, polyglot, national hero was born and spent his childhood; the province of Laguna, where Los Baños and Calambra are situated, was one of the first sites of the Philippine Revolution—only to discover that it was closed. Tito Raffy got out the van to scope out the scene and I followed him to take pictures. He called over a worker to the locked gate and tried to get the hook up. It was all in Tagalog, but I’m sure Tito Raffy was like, “do you know how much work it took to get here…he came all the way from the USA to see this house…hook a brotha up.” No love. I managed to get some good snaps of the building and Tito Raffy negotiating. Back in the van, Tita Reena pointed out that today you could see the top of Mt. Makiling, which is an anomaly because there are usually clouds obscuring the view of the summit. Mamu and Meme tried to get a picture, but buildings and trees kept getting in the way. Both of them were using the flash and the delay kept causing them to miss out. Meme had a lot more success than
The Gate
Wait, Terran, you have to pay to get through the gate! Okay, there it goes, you can pass! Mamu, but neither had a great shot. Finally, the driver pulled over at an intersection and let them get the “perfect” shot.
We stopped two more times before reaching Jamie’s place, where we were having lunch. Meme pointed out that we made four stops in an hour. Los Baños was only about 90 minutes from Manila, so the multiple stops got painful. The last two were so that Tita Reena could hit up the ATM; she did not succeed because of a presumed card error. It was actually human error . Ogoy and Angel joined us at Parañaque for lunch. It was not the healthiest, but that did not stop anyone, including those among us who probably should be more health conscious. Very tasty, lip smacking, finger-licking good: Big Apple Pizza, KFC, pork longganisa grilled by Jamie with loads of garlic, garlic rice, shrimp alfredo pasta, au gratin potatoes, Absolut, calamansi juice, Coke Lite, Tanduay Rhum. It took no time for the itis to kick in. While some people succumbed, others of us drank and traded war stories, with Jamie and Ogoy leading the discussion. Guy talk.
Back at Mariposa, Meli and I hit the books. No studying
Worth a Million
That smile just tells it all. here. She finished off Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie and I finished Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin. It instantly became one of my favorite books. This was our last getaway in the Philippines. Tomorrow will be a laid back day as we start to prepare for our next leg: Vietnam. Of course, I can’t leave you without telling you what we had for dinner: tokwa (tofu), talong (eggplant), miswa (rice noodle soup), red rice, and vegetable medley. Plenty of veggies to counter the colonel’s 11 herbs and spices.
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