Botolan

After another day of rain, we packed our gear and headed to town to catch a Victory Liner into Botolan to visit Uncle Khid and family. The ride there was cramped and rather uneventful, until we actually made it to Capayawan. Interestingly enough, when we stopped there to catch a tricycle, mom started talking to a driver who was married to Auntie Blessie’s cousin, so he told us exactly what we needed to do to get where we needed to go. Boober and Dad wandered over to get a hot dog, and we went over to stand with them, and all of a sudden, I felt the ground move. It was weird, because I thought I was just nauseous from the bus, but people all around were saying “Lindol” which in tagalog means earthquake. Sure enough we’d been through an earthquake and a typhoon in one vacation. Anyways, from there we made our way to the tricycles and headed to Uncle Khid’s house. We had stopped at a market, where a bunch of schoolgirls fell in love with Laurel, so we listened to a chorus of “Bye Laure-lle” as we sped away.

Once we got to Uncle Khid’s house, we stopped to say hello to everyone, and went over to see Auntie Tansing. Her hips were hurting, but she sat up and smiled and hugged us close. At 71, she was still shy to have her picture taken, saying her hair was a mess, but I told her not to worry, she was beautiful. Her silver and gray hair pulled back into a ponytail, and her eyes watering as she sat next to mom. It was definitely a nice visit. Mom and Laurel and I walked to Bangan the long way, while Boober and JohnJohn went the ‘shortcut’ through the river. We walked along the beach, looking for more shells, seeing some of the leftover effects from Pinatubo. JohnJohn showed us the black sand, so we asked where the gold was hidden. They all laughed and we headed over to JohnJohn’s house and Uncle Dado’s. Basically they lived in what I would refer to as a compound… a main house, with all the other houses around it. It was the same at Uncle Khid’s. We went to a well where Dad said he climbed down when he was here in the late 70’s. Apparently, someone dropped the bucket down the well, and Dad volunteered to climb down and get it. After meeting all of our extended relatives, we all walked back to Uncle Khid’s.

Dinner on the table, everyone sat down to eat and talk, the kids were all home from school, and Dad and I took turns taking pictures of everyone. JohnJohn broke out the beers and even showed up with Kalamansi for me to add to my Red Horse. I sat on the railing talking to Jennalynn all night. Talking about how much we enjoyed ourselves, and how beautiful the provinces were. Went to bed with a buzz and woke up just fine. Mom and Dad headed over to the cemetery to visit Lola’s gravesite, while Boober, Grace and I went via the river with JohnJohn. We went swimming in the ocean, but the waves were so rough, they kept knocking me down into the rocks. We went searching for more shells and then went back to JohnJohn’s house for lunch. All in all, it was a great afternoon. A funny thing about Filipinos and superstition… they accept it without question. For instance, in JohnJohn’s backyard, he has a bunch of plants growing suspended in the air on nets. There are empty bottles hanging everywhere, so Boober and I asked why. JohnJohn said that they help the plants grow. So we asked how. He said, “I don’t know, because the old man said.” We laughed and thought that was hilarious. We made our way back to Uncle Khid’s and then packed up to go back to Auntie Luding’s.