Rice fields. more pics
It was cloudy and rainy, but the rain was intermittent and, when it fell, it was light. Auntie Baby picked me up at the resort and took me to her house where everybody else was to meet.
Pretty soon, we had their jeep (which they bought from the US Navy when the Subic base was closed) loaded up with ingredients for lunch, bags with change of clothes, and bamboo fishing poles. The girls crowded in the jeep with Uncle Usse driving, and the boys hopped on the trailer.
There was a whole slew of us: Auntie Baby, Uncle Usse, their eldest John Paul, their daughter MaryAnne, (their youngest Vincent stayed home,) our two young cousins Vir and Jerson, Uncle Usse's nieces Bernadette (nicknamed Badette), Alex, Irene, Abigail, Sharmy and Kate (Sharmy and Kate are also balikbayan from Guam and they're moving to Long Beach, CA after the summer vacation), their neighbors Eric and Pogpog, and me.
Auntie Baby's second son Jeffrey came to meet us at the start of the trail with a cariton (cart) pulled by a carabao. The bags were moved to the cart and the jeep was left behind. A few rode the cart; the rest of us walked. MaryAnne later remarked that riding the cart was harder because the big rocks make the ride very bumpy, which makes one's behind very sore.
The carabao-pulled cart. more pics
The trail to Auntie Baby's bukid (rice field) was very muddy and there were streams of rainwater still flowing on the path. It was easy walking if you had the right footgear, which I didn't. My slippers were too slippery and tended to get stuck in the foot-deep mud, so I walked barefoot when I could. Even barefoot, I still had several near-slips, but at least the mud releases my feet more easily. At one point, I lost one my slippers and took a while to find it because it was buried six inches in the mud. We also had to cross a small river that got to above my knees. I must say, my treks on the trails of Seattle have trained me well; otherwise, I wouldn't have enjoyed the walk. :-)
When we got to Jeffrey's house, they started cooking lunch, while a few of us went a little further to the river. The river is called "kabatuan," which means a place with many rocks. The root word "bato" means stone or rock. MaryAnne jokes, "Ang agaaga, gusto na ninyong mag-ice cream." (It's very early, [and] you already want ice cream.) Someone asked what ice cream she was talking about, since we didn't bring any with us. She explained, "Kabatuan. Rocky Road."
The river was swollen and flowing faster than usual. John Paul, Jerson, and Uncle Usse waded in a short distance and tried to fish anyway; they didn't catch anything.
John Paul, Jerson, and Uncle Usse fishing. more pics
The kids from the neighboring fields saw us and joined the party, but we just hung out in and around the nipa hut. While the others chatted and played with the baby, I took pictures of the kids, who were fascinated with seeing themselves in the tiny LCD screen.
I cut Alex's bangs because she wanted it cut before having her picture taken. Later, I also cut MaryAnne's hair, but it had started raining so I didn't get a chance to take her picture.
Lunch was a noisy affair with dogs and cats begging for scraps and humans chasing them away. Jeffrey had found some fancy (shiitake?) mushrooms and we had that with other vegetables and some fish. Later, we had kamote (a kind of yam) to snack on.
After a while, we headed back to Auntie Baby's house, since we couldn't go fishing anyway. The walk back was just as fun. But this time, I knew how to spot -- and avoid -- deep mud.
No comments:
Post a Comment