Hi everybody! I know this is another late post but I just want to share with you guys another one of my escapades. This time, I’d like to go back and tell you my experience of the vacation I had with my Tita decades ago at Albay, Bicol (during the ’90s) and compare it to the trip that we had with hubby’s side of the family last 2010 and 2013.
Jun’s parents are both from Albay, Bicol. His Dad is from Oas and his Mom is from Guinobatan. But Jun grew up in Manila. He only spent summers in Bicol. As a couple, we’ve visited Bicol twice, last 2010 and 2013. But prior to 2010, I went there during the 1990s, when I was about 7-8 yrs old. My Tita was also from Albay and in one of their vacations, she brought me along with her family.
That vacation with my Tita was my first experience going to a remote place. It opened my eyes on how it was to live in an actual province, away from the city, my family, friends, school and all other things I’m familiar with. I remember feeling culture shocked, it was a weird weird experience for me. I’m a pure Manilena. My siblings and I were born and raised here in the city. And Albay back then was so different, so rugged and provincial (compared to how it is now). I may only have vague recollection of that trip but it was one of the happiest experiences I have as a kid. I recall the feeling of wonder as, for the first time in my life, I experience harvesting for our food everyday (we did a lot of fruit picking and we also harvested vegetables like string beans, ampalaya etc). I also remember doing things like bathing in a small balon, catching small fishes in a flowing stream, dumping in a middle of what looks like a forest (I don’t know if it’s really a forest or just a piece of land, you know how it is with a child’s mind, everything seems to be exaggerated) And I mostly remember myself crying incessantly because I missed my family and the city so much and I was scared of the sounds at night, the chirping coming from crickets, tuko (gecko) and some other lizards I’m not familiar with. But what scared me the most and kept me awake until wee hours was the continuous rustling sounds outside our hut. My mind was working overtime, imagining things like aswang and manananggal. It didn’t help that the house we were staying at is a kubo (hut) and it doesn’t really have sturdy walls and roof. Every night, I could hear the sounds and I recall thinking how the aswangs or mananaggal can easily break into the house and devour us kids. You know the stories about the dwelling of these monsters, these ghouls, shape-shifting animals and other evil creatures of night, they are mostly seen daw in remote areas especially in isolated provinces. Scaryyyyyyyy!!!! But I survived 🙂
But seriously, this memory holds a very special place in my heart because my Tita was my most favorite relative in the world then and it was a lonely, lonely time for me and my cousins when she died few years later. Rest in Peace Tita Ely.
And so, as a tribute to her and to this experience, I want to write everything I can remember about this trip, to the smallest detail na maaalala ko. It would be a wonderful memoir for her and sa kabataan ko.
So let me start at the house that we lived in. It’s a typical kubo, has walls and roof made of pawid and anahaw. And the comfort room is outside the hut, actually it’s a bit far and seems to be the common bathroom for the huts around the area. The toilet has thin walls made out of patched wood. The toilet is actually a deep hole in the ground covered with a wood that has a small hole in the middle where you would pee or poop. When you do the “No.2”, you have to make sure na ma-shoshoot un sa butas. Wala ng flush flush 🙂 Igib ka lang ng tubig para may panghugas from a nearby poso. O di ba ansaya? Imagine if you would be in that situation now? Good luck! Hehehe.
I remember the folk song “Bahay Kubo”. Like the description in the song, “kahit munti, ang halaman doon ay sari sari”. The place is small but the area around are full of plants bearing fruits and vegetables. And as I mentioned earlier, we eat whatever we harvest for the day. There’s actually this other place where we were able to harvest more variety of fruits and vegetables but we had to walk few kilometers to get there. Alam nyo naman sa probinsya, kilo-kilometro ang layo ng mga lugar. And do you remember the balon I talked about? After the harvest, we would go on a sidetrip to this balon and my Tita would let me and my cousins swim in this balon called “Balon ng Batibot”. I don’t know if it was a tribute to the famous children show in the country that time, yung Batibot. But it sure was fun. I think it’s actually a bukal or spring more than a balon or well. The water flows freely from the stream going to the bukal / spring that is only about 3.5 ft deep and this is where we would jump and swim for hours. The water here is very clean and the most exciting part is you get to see small fishes swim in it. We would try to catch fish here but mostly it’s easier to catch fish where the water flows going to the spring. I think the water comes from a river pero hindi namin pinupuntahan yun. But you will see the trail of ankle deep water coming from the river going to the spring. This is the best place to catch small fish. We just have this plastic ng yelo then we will place it in the water. Mapupuno ng tubig ung plastic and in just few minutes the fish will swim inside the plastic. Huli sya!!! We would jump for joy at paramihan pa kami ng isda. We were catching them so we can bring them home for our aquarium. Unfortunately, either the fish will die or the plastic will have a hole and everything will spill and in the end, the fish will die. Kaya wala din kaming naiuwing isda. But still, it was exciting for me since I have never experienced it before. Oh, and what also enthralled me about the spring is the water’s really clean but once you swim on it, the water will turn brown since the water wil mix with the soil. But once you leave the water, just give it few minutes, around 5 mins, the water will settle down and be clear again. Then we’ll just jump right back to the water. It’ll turn brown again. And we’ll go out of the water then watch how it will get clear once again. Then repeat the process over again. Hahaha para lang kaming tanga, when you see us getting excited watching how the water changes color, nakakatawa na.
This vacation was also the reason why for so many years in my life, I thought I had a pleasant voice (hanggang makatapos ako ng elementary naniwala akong maganda ang boses ko hehehe). While I was there, my Tita and her relatives would repeatedly ask me to sing for them. Talagang kuntodo palakpak sila after I sing. At eto pa, I’m always singing the song “Lumayo Ka Man sa Akin”. I mean, the song is good kaya lang not for kids di ba? This may be the reason why they kept on asking me to sing, baka favorite nila ung song hehehe. Ayun ako naman, I had a delusion na pwede akong pang-contest ala Regine Velasquez. Somehow, I realized na sintunado pala ako when I was in high school. Ang gagaling kasi kumanta ng mga kaklase ko. My dream of becoming a Concert Queen was shattered noon. Ilusyonada kasi. Hahaha
Hay, it’s really a wonderful thing to remember how when we were young, napakababaw ng kasiyahan natin. This really is a treasured memory, one I think I will not forget kahit magka-alzheimer ako hehehe joke lang.
Anyway, let’s fast forward to 2010.
Day 1
Jun, My Mother-in-law, my bro-in-law & his wife and I spent Undas at Guinobatan Albay, still in Legaspi. After visiting Jun’s deceased relatives and paying our respect, we went to see the most famous tourist spot in Legazpi – The Mayon Volcano and the Cagsawa Ruins. The Volcano is as stunning and majestic as its photos in books and postcards. Almost a perfect cone. But what really captured my interest is the Cagsawa ruins and the whole area around it. Usually I’m not fond of old, dilapidated structures, no matter how rich it’s history is. But I fell in love with the ruins here. There’s just this rustic beauty in it. The bell tower, tall cogon grass and the view of the volcano, all of these made the place really stunning. My kind of place, so pocturesque. Kung hindi lang sana mahiyain si Mt. Mayon, okay na sana. It’s really hard to get a view of that almost perfect peak, the clouds are always blocking the view. But I still can’t let this opportunity pass. I just had to unleash the inner model in me (Charot!!!) hehehe 🙂 Kaya pictorial to the max kami. In no time at all, I succumbed into my vice and had my photos taken endlessly by my kawawang partner, Jun. Buti na lang, a guy approached us and offered to be our photographer. Jun was able to relax, pero konti lang kasi syempre I forced him to join me sa endless picture-taking naman hehehe. FYI, there are so many locals here offering their services as photographer. They have no fixed rate, tip lang. They will teach you interesting and fun poses. They are experts in using even the complicated DSLR cameras. Kaya I was really happy with the result of the photos. I don’t know how to use my own DSLR that’s why I am not able to maximize it’s functions. Ung photographer was able to use the manual function making the photos even more gorgeous than ever! And the poses were fun and very creative. While we were there, we saw a couple having their prenup photoshoot. Bongga ng background nila hehehe. When I posted my photos naman, an officemate of mine commented “wow prenup nyo na ba yan ni jun?” (we were not married yet. Malandi ako eh hahaha nabuntis na muna ako before then Kiara was more than 1 yr old nung nagpakasal na kami hehehe). That’s how beautiful the place is, I’m pretty sure the couple had killer prenup photos! I wish I thought of this din nung kasal ko 😦
Anyway, once we’re outside, we were able to see souvenir shops and stalls selling food and drinks. They’re just along the entrance. Bigla ko tuloy maaalalang bumili ng pasalubong. But I was told by my MIL that most souvenirs here are a little more expensive, better go and buy pasalubong at Palengke nga daw. So yan din ang piece of advise ko to you people. Just buy pasalubongs straight from palengke.
After spending few hours at Cagsawa, we headed to our next destination – Tobaco, straight to Mt. Mayon itself. Jun told me that there’s a Museum, viewing deck and picnic area standing at the slope of the volcano halfway its peak. I read from somewhere that it used to be a hotel but the establishment stopped it’s operations due to the unpredictable conditions and frequent eruptions of the volcano. But now, the place has been made to be a viewing deck and picnic area. Unfortunately for us, the deck did not offer much of the scenic view. Again napalibutan na naman kami. There were clouds and fogs everywhere. We stayed for about 2 hours but not once did the peak of Mayon showed itself to us. We had some glimpse of mountains around but I guess our timing wasn’t just right. We were not able to see the top of Mayon and the panoramic view around 😥 So we contented ourselves in visiting the Mayon Planetarium and Science Park. Entrance here back then was only P10.00 / hd. Mura naman kaya pumasok na kami ni Jun even if they were able to see this place already. Ok naman, it’s a fast way of knowing the History of Tobaco and the Mt. Mayon itself.
After our visit to the Mayon View Deck, we went to Lignon Hills. This is one of the highest spots in Legazpi, overlooking the airport and the whole of the city. And of course the view of Mayon (that is, if it decides to show up. This volcano is sooo elusive!). As you can imagine, the view is undoubtedly stunning at night. This is just a perfect place to relax and bask at the sight of the city in the evening. When we arrived, my hubby and my BIL both tried the zipline (P200 each). There are also other outdoor activities that you can enjoy here like biking, hiking etc… but I wasn’t interested with any of those syempre I was preggy that time kaya I just enjoyed the sights and had some snacks. I think it was around 7pm when we headed back to the house. It was a little hard to leave the place, nakakarelax eh. Kaya lang we have a whole-day activity the next day kaya we had to go home early for dinner and get our beauty sleep 🙂 Hehehe
Day 2
We got to an early start. We were off to visit my MIL’s chicken poultry and the farm and piggery owned by Jun’s Tita. Our second day is like a field trip, educational but still entertaining. This is the first time that I visited a poulty and piggery. Ung farm nakaexperience na ako. My MILs chicken poultry has about 5,000 hens in the 2 buildings but I heard that they added another building last 2014. They also set up radios and speakers inside the buildings. The reason for this is the hens need to get used to noises. They get surprised and shocked when they hear loud noises, especially the horns from the vehicles. This makes them feel stressed, sometimes causing them to die. So to “acclimatize” them from the noise, the hens were made to listen to loud sounds of the FM radio. It was kinda funny 🙂
The piggery and farm are located elsewhere. I learned from MIL that the government does not allow the chicken poultry and piggery to be at the same compound. Kailangan nakahiwalay. I don’t really know the reason why. I wasn’t able to ask kasi mejo naging busy ako having my photos taken with the pigs. I thought some of the photos were hilarious! I hope I can have time to upload the photos here. I just need to look into my archives.
The farms were not super productive as what you would imagine with the usual farm. The most common trees and shrubs are pili, coconut, avocado, papaya and suha. They also have coffee beans, dahon ng gabi, pepper and more. It was my first time to see suha and avocado trees and the coffee plant. More photo ops then after a couple of hours, we left the place. We headed back to the house for lunch then we went to the palengke to buy stuffs and pasalubongs. Ikot pa ng konti then we decided to call it a day.
Day 3
Though Bicol is home to many amazing beaches, we were not able to go to any of them. Napakalayo pa ng travel by land and sea if we wanted to go to Caramoan and Calaguas. We did not have enough time unfortunately. We just went to a near resort. Parang ginagawa pa actually ung place, I’m not gonna bother writing about it, it’s not really a good resort.
We left the place by afternoon, went back to the house to rest and pack. Then we went back to Manila late in the evening. From Guinobatan, we just had 1 stop over and we traveled back in 8 hours lang since walang traffic.
I enjoyed the whole trip but I can’t help but compare this vacation to the one I had when I was a kid. It’s in the same city, but the 2 experiences couldn’t be more different. During my first trip, it was so raw and provincial. I know it’s been more than 2 decades ago, naturally, There would be a big difference. But I still feel underwhelmed by my 2nd experience. Aside from our visit at the Cagsawa Ruins, I was waiting for something extra ordinary which will leave me amazed and in full wonder. Nasaan na ang kinukwento ni Jun na ilog where he and Richard (his brother) would spend countless hours swimming. Wala na rin ang balon. Dati, para magkatubig, nag-iigib pa kami sa poso. Tapos, panay kain din namin ng balimbing. And nagpupukpok ng pili. I also recall how in awe I was (or maybe a little freaked out?) of one of the lolas who was eating nga nga that time. Ang weird.
Ngayon, andami ng mga tao at mga sasakyan. Naalala ko nga noon, it was very seldom to see cars at the main road. You can even play Piko there sa sobrang walang sasakyan. Pero pag may nataon na dumaan, super tulin naman ang nagda-drive. That’s why it was very scary to cross the road na rin dahil sa bilis ng mga sasakyan.
Then of course, I will always remember the Nipa huts and ung higaan naming papag. My 2nd and 3rd experience, we stayed at my MIL’s house. It’s a 3-storey, concrete house. It’s a very pleasant house, with 2 dining rooms, living room, family room, 5 bedrooms, 3 toilets and bath, all with water heater installed and a very spacious kitchen similarly designed to kitchens in the US. Lahat ng area with aircon. Kaya it’s worlds away from the kubo we stayed at during the 90’s. Ibang iba talaga. There’s not an ounce of modernization during that time. Lahat old-school. Now, it’s so modern. I kinda miss the old Albay.
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This is the first part of my blog about Bicol. The Next blog will cover my 2013 trip, where we were able to go to Cam Sur and wakeboard at CWC so watch out for the next blog.
‘Til next time!!!
Tins ❤ ❤ ❤ 🙂 🙂 🙂
Pamilyang Gala Chronicles 