i again was in laguna last weekend, this time, for the annual mountain climb.
every last saturday of may in our town (pakil, laguna), townsfolk and visitors climb up a mountain where there are stations of the cross along the trail and mass is celebrated in a small chapel at the top.
months back, i invited two of my closest batchmates to this climb. they both excitedly said yes.
as the date neared, our batchmate from japan suddenly arrived. she surprised us actually. i was on the phone with her saturday and i was asking her when she was coming over and she said soon but wouldn't give the date. then monday night over dinner with three batchmates, she pops up! surprise!!!
her arrival caused me a bit of a dilemma. i didn't feel comfortable bringing my two closest batchmates to laguna without inviting her as well considering she's been so nice to us even from afar. the thing is, if i invite her, i would have to invite this other batchmate as well who also has been very nice to us. if i invite her, she's sure to bring her daughter along. (when i invited my batchmate earlier, i requested she does not bring her son who often tags along in our batch gatherings.) if i invite this batchmate, i would have to invite my classmate as well. if i invite the nice batchmate and my classmate, this other batchmate who is their neighbor might tag along as well. so many people!!! i did not want to be hosting too many considering we have no help in the laguna house. so i told my two closest batchmates we'll just cancel the laguna trip and i'll just bring them along some other year maybe. they were disappointed but understood nevertheless.
then the week of the climb, my sister tells me she couldn't make it as she has a lot of load at the office and won't be able to take friday off. hmmm.... there would now be space in my car not just for two passengers but for three. i wanted only four for a comfortable ride, originally, me, my sister plus my two closest batchmates. with my sister begging off, i now could have in her place the batchmate from japan.
my earlier dilemma on having to invite this other nice batchmate if i invite the batchmate from japan has been erased as the nice batchmate would be attending a luncheon celebrating the birthday of three of her classmates on the weekend of the climb. she invited me actually but i declined telling her i'd be in laguna.
i decided to revive the invitation to my two closest batchmates requesting one of them to ask the one from japan whether she'd like to go as well on condition she does not bring anyone along (she travels with an entourage, ha-ha). unfortunately, one of my closest batchmates says she couldn't make it as she has to work friday night! much as i wanted her to be with us, i didn't want to postpone going to the day of the climb as i did not want to be waking up early.
she offered to just take a public commute and follow on her own early saturday. i wouldn't let her saying if anything happens to her i would feel responsible as she would have been on her way to our place on my invitation. either she goes to laguna in my car or not at all.
with her not going, my other close batchmate also would not go anymore as she was shy about going to our place without this other batchmate. hmmm... i was disappointed but, bottom line, no problem. i'm used to going to laguna alone.
then friday morning i receive a call from this batchmate who had to work friday night telling me she has asked a male batchmate to drive her to laguna early saturday.
i was like, "huh?! how come you've invited someone to our place, a guy at that, without clearing with me first???!!!"
i didn't like it and i told her VERY clearly, or so i thought.
then i receive a text from this other close batchmate telling me the batchmate from japan wanted to go and is asking whether she could bring her niece along. thinking the other close batchmate wouldn't be going anymore, i said yes. there'd still be four of us in the car, me, my close batchmate, the batchmate from japan, plus her niece.
what do you know, i receive another call from the other close batchmate. she tells me the male batchmate wouldn't drive her anymore but she has instead asked her female officemate to drive her to laguna. i was half-amused and half-annoyed. i emphatically told her:
1. i didn't want her to be bringing along people i did not invite, much more someone i have not even met
2. i didn't want her going to our place without me because if anything happens to her i would feel responsible
she finally got what i've been trying to say so she just wished us an enjoyable trip.
so it was set, 3 pm we will be leaving for laguna sans one of my closest batchmates. (i felt sad she wouldn't be there...)
then i receive a text from the other close batchmate saying the batchmate from japan will make it 3:30 to 4 pm yet. i said i didn't want to be driving along the zigzag mountain road to laguna in the dusk/dark so i told her to ask the batchmate from japan whether she was sure to make it by 4 pm because if she wasn't sure, i wasn't going to bring them along anymore and i'll just leave on my own at 3 pm.
she texts back 4 pm is sure.
i said ok, i'll wait until 4 but no later. i said if by 4 the batchmate from japan is not around, i'll leave them both.
agreed.
close to 4 i text the close batchmate asking whether the batchmate from japan has arrived. nope. i text her i'm off to laguna and just tell the batchmate from japan i've left them behind.
4:07 i receive a call from the close batchmate telling me the batchmate from japan is on her way. i tell her i was way past their street already and have no intention of going back. i told her to tell the batchmate from japan not to proceed anymore.
4:27 i receive a call from the batchmate from japan. she's near the meeting place already. i told her i was already in antipolo, way past leonardo's, way past this and that landmark. i told her i was sorry but i wasn't going back for them (ugh! am i so bad???)
4:36 i receive another call from the same batchmate. she's in the meeting place already, the house of the close batchmate. i said i was much farther now and consoled her by saying the mountain climb is tiring anyway so it's ok even if they don't get to go. she said she wanted to go still. we were talking and talking and my heart melted eventually so i said if they're willing to follow i'll park and wait for them. she happily said yes so park i did.
close to an hour already and they haven't arrived! i was restless and annoyed already. i wanted to leave them behind again. i hate waiting! worse, i didn't want to be driving on a road, specially a winding mountain road, where the only sources of light are my headlights!
suddenly, their vehicle appears on my side mirror. they park behind my car, hurriedly get off, apologetically and happily greet me and all is well. whew!
we drive off to laguna and safely get to our house through the dark mountain road.
we eat dinner, rest awhile and they go night swimming afterward. (i did not because i drove.)
saturday morning, we were preparing for the climb. my dad who was supposed to have gone ahead suddenly comes back with a police vehicle. huh?!
he tells me he originally hired a public jeepney for us. while he was waiting for the jeep, a police vehicle arrived and parked someplace making it hard for jeepneys to make a turn. he requested the driver to move the vehicle so jeepneys could turn around. the driver tells him no jeepneys will be arriving anymore as the mayor has just prohibited them from plying the route as they pose a danger to the climbers.
he tells the driver, "aba, paano 'yung mga bisita ko?"
the mayor overhears this and tells the driver to fetch my dad's visitors. that's us, ha-ha. we therefore climb a long stretch of the mountain onboard a police vehicle. cheats... : }
actually, vehicles do not normally ply the trail. it's just on the day of the climb where they appear and bring lazy (uh-oh) climbers to the end of the navigable road, which is up to the 7th station of the cross.
anyway, from the 7th station we started our climb on foot. hike, hike, hike, rest, rest, rest. hike, rest. hike, rest. hike, rest. finally, we make it to the top. we roam around, hear mass, and have lunch afterward.
what do you know, upon opening our lunch bags, we discover that my close batchmate has accidentally picked up from the dining table two plastic bags full of native delicacies intended for my mom's visitors! she brought up two heavy plastic bags to the mountain only to bring them down again. exercise, ha-ha... (we could have given the stuff away like we did the rest of our food but my mom wouldn't be able to order replacements in time)
while on the mountain, i asked my companions whether they still would like to go to liliw on the same day or just postpone it to tomorrow. (liliw is the shoe capital of laguna.) they said same day. ok. i said we'll leave the house to go there at 3.
after lunch and some more roaming around, we go down the mountain. descend, descend, descend, rest, rest, rest, descend, descend, descend. no more cheating this time. on foot from the mountaintop to our house : )
at the house, i rush to the bedroom to rest while my companions sit around the dining table.
3:20 pm i go down and see them chatting with my mom. i remind them we were going to liliw.
3:40 i go down again and they're still chatting with my mom!
i tell them they better get ready or else we're not going to liliw anymore. i said time is no issue with them as they'd just be sitting while me i have to stay alert even if tired as i would be driving.
they hurriedly get dressed and off to liliw we go. on the way, we stop by the stores at paete, the wood-carving capital of laguna. they look and buy; i just look, ha-ha
from there it was liliw, to the long stretch of road lined with stores selling shoes, bags, slippers. we all look and buy this time ; )
we were not able to check out all the stores, however, as darkness has descended and we've hit closing time. we eat dinner in liliw before going back to pakil.
at the house, i ask them whether they'll be joining me at mass the following morning. they ask what time. i said 8:30 am. they said they'd just hear mass in the city. ok.
5:30 am of sunday i wake up to cook them breakfast. after that i went back to bed and got up later to take a shower. i see my batchmates already awake and tell them breakfast is ready. i told them to eat without me as i'm going to take a shower before mass.
so shower, shower, shower. after my hour-long shower, was i surprised to see all three of them dressed already! i asked them whether they've eaten breakfast. they said no as they would be going to hear mass with me and wanted to be on time. i felt so mean, ha-ha-ha
i prefer to walk to church but since they were with me i decided to hail a tricyle. ride a tricyle and hear mass we did and all throughout mass i was uneasy thinking my companions might be hungry already (me, i don't really eat breakfast so no problem).
after mass i quickly showed them around the church and then we rode another tricyle to a nearby eatery where finally they got to eat breakfast. they actually wanted to go back to our house and partake of the stuff i cooked but i said that would be cold already and the one in the eatery would be better as it would be a hot meal. (actually, i am no cook at all. i just exerted some effort for them but i wasn't confident of my cooking's taste, what more if it's already cold, ha-ha)
from the eatery, i brought them to our town's handicraft store. again, they looked and bought. me, i just looked ; )
from the store, we went back to our house for lunch, part of which was the breakfast i cooked earlier (ouch!). we rested awhile then got ready to go for a dip at the public pool, supposedly healing and miraculous.
on our way to the pool, we dropped by my balikbayan aunt's house and invited her to go swimming with us. she said she'll follow and she did.
we dipped in the pool; swam a bit. when it was time to go, my companions filled their bottles with water flowing from the outlet. we brought all this drinking water back to the city.
from the public pool, we resumed swimming at the pool in our house. actually, this one turned out to be as much a pictorial as a swimming session. we'd take a dip, pose, take a dip, pose. front, back, left, right; all angles, all poses, ha-ha
6 pm we left laguna for the city. we expected to be there by 8 pm but somewhere along the descent we started crawling as there was this big container van in front of us carrying what i think are coffins (yikes!) given that it had the marking 'st. peter' : }
the van was going slooow and we, too, were going slooow still i did not want to overtake the van. i was telling my companions doing so would feel like i was overtaking the dead to its destination and i did not want that. so we all just made the most of the crawl, talking, laughing and making fun of our speed, or lack of it, along the way.
at long last we reached antipolo and along the area lined with food stalls we decided to stop to buy cashew and what-have-you. by the time we got back in the car the big van was already nowhere in sight. good!
along the way, my close batchmate received a text from the close batchmate who was not able to make it to laguna. she was inviting us to the birthday celebration i earlier declined. apparently, from lunch it has been moved to dinner. i was tired already but my companions wanted to go so i gave in on the condition we won't stay long as i still had to attend an early flag ceremony at the office the following day. agreed. ok.
nearing the venue, my close batchmate texted the close batchmate who invited us only to be told that she has left and was on her way home.
everyone was like, if she was not there anymore then maybe we could already skip the party. ugh! i drive through this long, narrow road to the venue for nothing???!!!
anyway, we go instead to the close batchmate's house to bring her our pasalubong. she is surprised we proceeded to her house instead of to the party. she tells us to go there even for just a short while. i was like, we were almost there already, i don't feel like driving back. so we just chat awhile and then proceeded to my other close batchmate's house to bring her home and to eat dinner.
i was really tired and sleepy already (i was up at 5:30 am, remember) and suddenly this other nice batchmate arrives unannounced close to midnight. ugh! i wasn't very pleased. i was afraid they'd go chatting on and on and driver me would have to wait up and take them home one by one to think i still have flag ceremony the following day. i said midnight everything's off. agreed.
when the clock struck twelve, even if there remained things to be said, i firmly said i'm going to take them home already.
pile in the car we did and we brought home the batchmate from japan plus her niece.
from her house, it was just me and the close batchmate who did not make it to laguna. goodness, along the u-turn at katipunan, there was this motorcylce rider with neither reflector nor helmet who, instead of making a U from the opposite lane, made an L, as in, he went perpendicular to my path! i steered the vehicle to the right and there he was, still going straight. i stepped on the brakes just in time and honked and honked and honked and only then did he stop, looking dazed toward us. ugh!!! close call!!!
my companion was hysterical and wanted to go down to confront the guy, bring him to the police station, etc. i was like, aaaaaaaarrrrrrrgh! pity me, pleeeeeeeeease... i want to go to sleep NOW!
i brought her home and then drove to my parents' place by myself. what do you know, while taking my stuff from the car, i saw this male ghost standing to the left looking at me. yikes! he was a small guy wearing white pants with belt. i muttered, "leave!!! leave!!!"
this was not the first time i've seen something of the type but this is the first time i saw the apparition's face. yikes!
i walked to my parents' house without looking back and all the while my head felt swollen, as in, the feeling you have when something supernatural is around. my feeling returned back to normal only upon stepping inside my parents' house.
there, finally, i got my sleep but not for long as just a few hours later i had to attend the office flag ceremony.
what a weekend...
