December:
22 - 5:30pm.
Left Baguio. On the way to Banaue. 8-hour trip. No way around it. Shortcuts do not exist.
Ride was eventful. There were mountains, potholes, mountains, potholes, plains, fog, potholes, trees-that-made-a-pseudo-tunnel-in-the-dark, fog-that-writhed-inside-that-pseudo-tunnel, fog-so-thick-it-wet-the-windshield-like-only-rain-would, more pseudo-tunnels, less fog, open road, detours, puddles, potholes....too uneventful circumstances...it was all the same (i.e. potholes, trees, plains, trees), only thing new, was mud...and mud...and rain -though thankfully, it was really light.
23 - 00:55
Arrived in Banaue (My mum's hometown). It was frickin' freezing! Colder than Baguio even. My breath had been misting up in front of me (again!), my teeth were uncontrollably chattering. I was totally wrapped up in my scarf (a knitted blue one that is so warm thank God I had it with me) and thin (!) jacket -I did not expect it to be that cold. The labor of climbing up and down the mud-and-stones steps from the road to the house helped work up body warmth though, and once it was over and I was inside, I couldn't help but sigh in relief.
23 –
Big bro's family arrived. YAY! The kids are here! (Aah, there adorable faces and unlimited energy, so peaceful to be with)
Playing with them worked up the warmth again. It was after all still quite cold.
24 –
Spent the day like we were tourists coz as unbelievable as this sounds, we never really did do much sight seeing, always thinking "We'll just do it next year" or "I can already see the fields from the porch!" and in the case of souvenirs...well, we very nearly always end up visiting Banaue hotel where we could have bought stuff (like the "Banaue" shirt my mum bought for me and my y. bro when we were in the lower grades in elementary (Where is that shirt now, I wonder? Hmm...)) and besides, there was my aunt's gift shop below the house anyway -she does dresses too (using the different styles of cloth of the Cordilleras, you know the ethnic ones. Really lovely ya know).
Went to Viewpoint. Got lots of pictures (no time to post right now but soon) and some souvenirs too. Hehehe... XP
25 –
Unbelievable, but true...
As always on Christmas Day, the sun shined through the thick clouds and though it wasn't as warm as you'd expect it to be, at least the cold had gone leaving only a relative coolness to the day that brought out a crisp Sunday morning. Perfect weather. I only regret sleeping so late last night that I couldn't get up and enjoy the sun's warm rays that always touch the porch in the early mornings. Sigh...
26 –
Went to Hapao (dad's hometown) to visit our relatives. The view along the way (it was about roughly 2 hours I think...not really sure, but it was a heck of a long one) was fantastic to look at. My younger bro even took pictures. It really was a kickass view. We even saw the mountain side where my dad was in hiding during the Marcos regime -as well as the side were the almost fell and rolled down (Ouch! That really would have hurt if it did happen).
Dad's relatives were a happy bunch. They even had a good view of their fields (the terraces in Hapao, Banaue isn't the only one ya know) and the river -you could bloody hear the thing even though it was a long way off.
[Getting tired with recalling past events and typing... T-T]
Went to a view deck nearby while the food was being killed cooked. We took pictures once again. Went back and ate. Yummy food, really –even though I’d seen it alive earlier. ;P
After that, some chatting then back to the town again. Spent the afternoon doing nothing and just walking about trying to take good pictures with the cellphone and then with my digicam. Ended up taking most with my phone.
It was late afternoon before we finally got to wake my brother up and go visit the hotel (Banaue Hotel, typical name, eh? ;P ). Aah, the memories of the days we spent there…
The lobby was great as usual. The new thing I’d immediately noticed was the expansion of the souvenir shop. It was covering the half of one side now and not just a corner.
We ate dinner in the restaurant. It still looked the same old, same old. We sat behind a table where once I’d seen a rainbow a couple of feet away from where I’d sat looking out the glass wall. It was spectacular to look at. I’d never seen a rainbow so up close before. And I think I remember me and my brother (younger) having ran to find its end since it looked close to the are where the pool was. We went but no rainbow. I guess we miscalculated. ^^;
Anyway, my brother (older) was complaining how it was always carrot cake that he ended up eating every time he came here before, from when he was a kid till high school an a little bit afterwards. So it kinda ticked him, I suppose when ate and I ordered carrot cake. (LOL XD ) we were a bit disappointed though, since we expected it to be the cake with icing and not just the bread –which it just was. But it still tasted good. Dessert/appetizer was ice cream. Haha! Pistachio with chocolate shavings. Yum!
It was getting dark and started to rain so we all finished our food and left. I spent the rest of the night reading while relatives and friends of the family were outside in the living room singing (off-key but at least not so irritatingly like).
27 –
8:30am
It was cold again. So cold. Spent the morning in a packing rush. Everyone was preparing their stuff, including me. I hadn’t pack the night before so I really was in a hurry.
9:30am
Left. Aircon in car…so much…colder…X_x
10:48am
Went past Lagawe town proper…road was covered by fog…
6:21pm
Arrived in Baguio. Home!
And it was cold still! Gah!
