Pangasinan Provice

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25 January 2007
It's 12 noon as I write this in my notes. It's already hot! I am loving every single experience here, even the heat. Ronnie (our guide) and I drove from Sea and Sky Hotel in San Fernando this morning, up to San Juan to pick up Tito Joe (Mr Austria). On to the south to Agoo to get Romeo. We drove out of La Union Province and into Pangasinan.

We stopped at the home of Tito Joe's sister, Tita Angeles and her husband, Tito Tudding, near Pozorrubio, Pangasinan Province. Also met their grown sons, Cesar and Roland, and some other relatives. I ate my first homecooked Filippino meal here, Philippine style. I talked with Cesar at the fire while cooking the Bangus fish, bought fresh from market this morning. Roland, Romeo, and I walked into their 80-tree mango grove (planted by Tito Tudding in 1982), to see if we could find some ripe mangos. No luck; we were about one month too soon. So Roland picked some green ones to eat with alamang (diced salted shrimp - a purple color) as apetizer. A little too pungent, but glad to experience it with them! (Later on that night, I had an upset stomach, probably from the combination of unripe mango and salted shrimp paste).

We ate the main course foods with our fingers just like I was taught to do by Ronnie (LOL). The main foods were so 'masarap'! (DELISCIOUS!) We ate bangus, tinola (ginger chicken in broth and papaya), and of
course lots of rice. By the way, the chicken was alive this morning; killed and cooked just for us to have fresh. Reminded me of my boyhood in east Kentucky, when my family had a small chicken farm. Overwhelmed by such warm hospitality of all of Daumier's family!

Cesar hopped in the van to join us to Aliminos and the 100 Islands region, western Pangasinsn Province. Just outside Lingayan, we took a short break to surprise Tito Joe's uncle and aunt, Tito Vicente and Tita
Carmen Reyes, and their granddaughter, Cathy, whose husband is serving in the Philippine Air Force. They insisted on feeding us. Watermelon, rice pudding, potato salad, Pringles chips, coke, cookies . . . whatever was readily available. Such kind and sweet people!

It's almost 3PM, and we finally arrived at the beautiful coast at Alaminos!

Let's go take a bangka boat ride now, out to some of those islands!

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