It was so quiet and dark at that time of the morning, and as we walked down the sandy pathway along the beachfront, we passed a few people laying on the ground on their sides sleeping. Arnel had grabbed my suitcase and was carrying it over his head as he navigated the corner and down the puddle ridden dirt road running away from the beach. We stopped at a jeepney parked in front of another hotel. I'm not sure if it was because our whole group took longer getting to jeepney or not, but we ended up having to wait because they said there was another group there first that that jeepney was driving to the terminal. We moved inside the open air hotel lobby and waited until it was almost 5:30 by this point until a our turn came. We climbed in the jeepney and i noticed that the floorboard of the car was very rusted. Holes gapped through where you could see the road. I grabbed onto a bar above, thinking that if the weight of the seat pushed through the rusted floor, I might be able to hold myself up...although with my lack of arm muscles, I'm sure that was unrealistic.
We made it safely to the ferry terminal, Arnel walked up to pay all the terminal fees and helped carry our luggage down the very precarious steep and narrow gangplank. It was incredibly impressive how he held my bag over his head while walking down this board no wider than a foot that had rungs nailed on to help with the footing. I was nervous and very thankful that there were two men helping hold our arms or hands as we walked down. A wrong step could send you tumbling into the murky waters below. The gangplank had a railing of sorts on only one side, so I was holding on to that as well. It would shift slightly as the boat bobbed about in the water.
The ride back was still pretty crazy, though this time I could see the road we were taking and the climbs up the mountains and down, some were coastal views, some were these carpeted hillsides of dense jungle. We would pass some nicer houses, but also a lot of bayan kubo (huts). There were areas of fields and farming. Mountains rose in the distance giving it that perfect picture you've seen millions of times of places like this. So pretty...but I was tired and ended up dozing off this time since I was more relaxed not being right in the front ready to launch out of the window and I had a seat belt to keep me in place. Plus, the exhaustion from the 4:15 wake-up call kicked in.
The airport was still tiny and the lines were long...and not moving. I think they eventually opened some more counters and check-in sped up a bit. This time they did ask us for our passports, but only the person standing at the front counter had them - no checking to see if people matched the passport. Oddly enough, it's not the thought of terrorism that concerns me so much about flying, it's the idea of falling out of the sky and plummeting to earth. So, lack of checking didn't concern me too much.
Upon arrival in Manila, you could see this city was different than where we had been. Tall skyscrapers filled the skyline. We were quickly met by a driver in the van of a family member living in Manila. It was nice to have it and be able to use it while here. He drove us through the traffic and onto the freeway and we arrived fairly easily at Silantro, a Filipino-Mexican restaurant opened here by a cousin who had lived in the US for awhile. We sat down in the nice, yet small, restaurant. Family members continued to show up, and by the time we ate some very tasty hamburgers and burritos, we had quite a large group. I was so tired at this point though, I could hardly sit up and keep my eyes open. By the time we left, I was so grateful to be sitting in a car, able to nod off as necessary, which I did very soon after the tires began moving.
I woke up when we were pulling off the expressway and stopping at a rest stop. I broke down and had a Starbucks frapuccino for the caffeine (I like to try the local things usually). There were some fast-food restaurants I recognized, like Dairy Queen as well. I used the bathrooms there and encountered no toilet seats and no toilet paper. I am very grateful that one of Chris' cousins warned me before we left that I should carry toilet papers or tissues on me in case I find myself in this situation.
The expressway made me remember our trip to Italy last year when we would be pay fee after fee on an expressway there. I looked out and could see a lot of flat farm land, mountains in the far distance. The drive to Dagupan, our next major destination, was about 4 hours. The decision was made to go first to our hotel rooms, which was actually at a resort partially owned by a family member. There was a detour, so we ended up on this very narrow dirt road that took use through some a little village. We did eventually find the resort called Happy Ripples. The gate was opened and unmanned, and we drove through a large empty field but up ahead was a very nice looking entrance to the buildings. Some little twinkle lights were wrapped around a few trees. A nice young man met us, but the place was empty, we were the only ones in the small hotel tonight. He showed us our rooms at the very end of the buildings, but from there we could hear the water crash on the shore. The hotel had some really nice meeting areas and a large hut that served as a bar. We dropped our stuff into a some clean and fairly nicely furnished rooms and then headed back out to Dagupan (we were actually in San Fabian).
Once in San Fabian, Chris' parents decided we no longer needed the driver and so instead of the 8 or so days he was hired for, they dropped him off at the bus station with an extra day's pay. It was the first time it seemed like we saw him smile. I think he was happy about it. Chris' dad took the driver's seat, and even though it had been several years, he was right back in the saddle, ready to go and navigated pretty well for the craziness of these roads. We did end up driving in circles, multiples times through the town trying to decide if we were meeting up with people to drop off laundry, where to eat, and what to do. There was a pretty little park, with a bunch of stars hanging from the trees. Kalesas (horse drawn carriages) lines streets on one of the corners by this park - reminding me of Central Park in New York City (although not nearly so big and there were some definite differences). We drove over a bridge that was brightly decorated in lights and passed a market of goods being sold. There were plenty of people out and about, and a food festival seemed to be going on, so we parked with the help of a security guard, and then crossed the busy street.
Pretty quickly I felt eyes on me. Within moments two young boys came up and held hands out. When we shook our heads and moved on, they followed and rested the hands lightly on my arm. They continued with us, and began to sing. Chris tried to translate for me and it was something about the three kings. Part of me wanted to give them something (I always appreciate some kind of entertainment and they were really cute singing), part of me wanted to buy them food, but I was also a little concerned about how many others might flock over if I were to do this. I was getting some stares, and Chris mentioned that this was not a very touristy area, so that might be why. We saw nothing to eat, and honestly I was a little overwhelmed and tired at this point with these two boys that would not leave us, no matter whether Chris told them in Tagalog, his mom told them, or even crossing the street. They held on and walked with us. We ducked into the Yellow Cab Pizza, which was the first building and as the security guard opened the door, the boys finally split.
We looked at the menu, then went to join his parents who were over at another Chinese/Filipino food place. They happened to be out of most food things and it didn't look that appetizing. While there, a group of white and Filipino people walked in and they were dressed up. I'm pretty sure these were missionaries of some type. I've done enough missions trips to recognize what they might look like. I had a feeling that these may be from a more conservative area and church, or they could be JW's. Not absolutely sure why, but they kept eyeing me...maybe because we seemed to be the only non-Filipinos around. Three of us returned to Yellow Cab and ordered a pizza, where the missionaries ended up too.
After a little more driving around, we headed back to San Fabian, back to the hotel rooms and ended our long travel day.
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