when i was a small boy, every trip to manila was a treat. my father would bring me to his escolta office, shop the nicest clothes for me in what was then manila's finest shopping district, buy me gold fish that i never learned to take care for, and we would always dine in his favorite restaurants. sometimes my mother would tag along. it was not necessarily good news since my mother tended to control my father's spendings for me. sort of the family's conscience for fiscal discipline. in those times, family was just me, my father and my mother. my sister was not due to arrive until i was about ready to go to school.
in my moments of toddler whim, i'd ask my father to go home from his office on board the traditional calesa. and in his moments of deep fondness for his only son, he would gladly oblige. to the amusement of our neighbors in manila, my father and i would grandly arrive in the not so fashionable calesa. in those times in the early 70s, pollution was not much of a problem, traffic jams were unheard of, but riding the calesa was still not a lifestyle statement.
so early in life i've developed a taste for traveling and all its trappings from a person who hardly went anywhere. my father liked good food, nice clothes, very fancy shoes, but never went very far. literally. it maybe that he lacked the opportunity, but there's no doubt in my mind that he would have been everywhere only if he wanted to. stubbornness is a trait truly native to the cadiz gene. ironically too, he initially constrained my freedom of movement for sheer fright that i might be hit by a bus or by lightning. but my tantrums proved more powerful than his fright, so i was able to go around provided his appointed chaperone for me would hold me on a short leash. my father wanted to make sure that i would make it into adulthood unscathed, undamaged by any natural or man-made accidents. perhaps my frequent rides on the calesa my father started what would be an enriching voyage throughout my chaotic but beautiful country.
so i began a long and productive journey as soon as i stepped out of high school. modestly in the beginning with low-budget trips to places like baguio and sagada, each trip would educate me in more ways than i would learn inside the box in the university. even a short ride to intramuros with my cousins was such a fulfilling undertaking at that time. industrial laguna, nowhere in the travelers' guide for places to see in the philippines, was such a respite from my hectic days in college. day trips such as those encouraged me to see my country more and crave for the more exotic destinations in the 7,107-island archipelago.
exotic like banaue and surigao. magnificent like mayon in albay and boracay in aklan. secluded and pristine like narra and el nido in palawan.
and tucked in a hidden peninsula in bicol right at luzon's southern edges, i discovered a tiny settlement with an out-of-this-world bay that would put phuket to shame. inhabited by poor bicolanos in what is probably a 5th class municipality, getting there was no easy task. we went there on a medical mission with my brothers so little was expected as far as accommodations were concerned. but when the work was accomplished and it was time to hit the local attractions, there beaconed towering limestone formations typical of what can be found in some of central china's provinces. scattered along the coast for a few miles and into the bay itself, these limestone formations provided a backdrop to a beautiful white sand beach. the crystal blue waters of the tiny peninsula gleamed in front of such an untouched, undisturbed peninsula. the wonderful thing about this place is that getting there is a major project in itself with a very inhospitable terrain making sure that development would have extreme difficulty in encroaching into this secret, unexpected treasure.
up north close to the taiwan border lies batanes. certainly one of my best trips, local and otherwise, the sheer vista of this tiny province is phenomenal. every inch of this rugged archipelago of five major islands is worth every minute spent on getting there. its unique architecture is nothing like the one found in all of the philippine islands. thick-walled houses with thatched roofs that last generations is what the local people, the ivatans, call home. they add much character to the already breath-taking view of the islands. underwater, the scenery gets even better. with visibility of up to 50 feet, communing with batanes' marine wildlife is another experience all its own. for some reasons, its corals are more brightly colored, far larger, and so full of life and vigor than anything i've seen in all my years of scuba diving. the coral reef would start just a few feet from the shore and extend far into the sea. it contains such a variety of marine life in very clear waters that i wondered how in the world did this place escape the attention of scuba divers. well, that's not such a bad thing anyway. maybe batanes is better left to the ivatans than to the dangerous hands of tourism.
these trips were what made my life in the philippines worth the 35 years that i lived there. every plane that i boarded, every boat that i took, every tricycle that got me to these places were my tools in the voyages i did to see my country of birth before i move on to the world beyond.
someday i hope to resume my trips in the philippines. perhaps on a calesa, but a 747 will do just fine.
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