Of Vans and Good Food - Our Samar Experience Day 8

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012, WEDNESDAY

Catbalogan City, Western Samar

This is our last day in Catbalogan. As usual, breakfast was a feast with tinapa, papaya, bread, etc. After breakfast, we decided to stay in our room to savor our last day there.

At around 11 a.m., Iosa knocked on our door to give us some merienda. Grabe, overflowing with food talaga. She gave us some suman latik and local puto. We finished 7 slices of suman latik. Ang sarap. Then I tasted the puto. Masarap din.

By 12 noon, it was time to grab some quick lunch because our trip to Tacloban was leaving at 1 p.m. So even if we were still full, we had to eat something. And by something, I mean shrimps, fish, etc. The fish was so good. It was filleted, I think, with mushroom then cooked with a bird's nest soup-like sauce.

After lunch, Rhuel and Tita Piding quickly exchanged notes about the Pedraza family tree. Turns out that Tita Pidings' lolo was a Pedraza (a brother of Mama's dad) who got a girl pregnant out of wedlock. The fruit of their union was Tita Piding's mom who opted to use her mom's last name, Cadiz. Tita Piding's mom, therefore, is Mama's cousin. She then married a Piczon.

So that makes Rhuel and Tita Piding cousins. Iosa is already Rhuel's niece and the kids are Rhuel's apos. Coolness. :)

Tita Piding had crabs and kesong puti for Mama. We were supposed to pay for them but because she's so generous, she didn't accept our offer of payment.

Afterwards, Iosa and Pia brought us to the terminal. After saying our goodbyes, it was time to head back home.

Tacloban City, Leyte

Our van left Catbalogan at a little past 1 p.m. Fare was Php170 (normal fare is only Php120 but since we're being brought to the airport, we had to pay an extra Php50) each.

We got to the airport at almost 4 p.m. The airport was crazy. There was no x-ray machine at the entrance so if you had to check-in some stuff, you had to go to the pre-departure area first to have your stuff go through the x-ray then you'll go out again to proceed to the check-in counter. Labo.

We were supposed to hand carry the crabs because according to Tita Piding, we can hand carry them. But the airport person didn't allow us to do so. So we had to check-in twice.

Our flight back to Manila was not delayed but as usual, we spent several minutes circling Manila skies because we could not land yet. Hohum.

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I had a nice time showing my husband around Samar. Now he knows where I spent many happy summer years when I was young.

I love the place, even if getting there can literally be a pain in the ass (my butt was aching especially during the latter stretches of the trip due to the numerous van rides we had to take). My parents grew up there. I have a lot of relatives there. I have a lot of good memories of the place.

I love the long drive from Tacloban to Sulat or Borongan, even if it can be very tiring, because I enjoy watching the greeneries and appreciating nature. I don't think a lot of places in the Philippines have that. I just hope the place remains green and beautiful. I hope the people would become more conscious about throwing their trash properly. The beaches, though not comparable to Boracay, are good enough but because of the basura, they were not really appealing to the eyes.

I hope Borongan and Sulat will not be as overcrowded as Catbalogan. I wish they'll retain the probinsiya feel because that's the thing that keeps me grounded. It reminds me that I have relatives and friends who love and appreciate me, regardless of what I've become. They will always be proud of me. These places remind me that indeed, life is good. :)

I hope I will still have the chance to visit the place once in a while and I hope my future kids will also have good memories of the place. :)

Of Vans and Good Food - Our Samar Experience Day 6

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012, MONDAY

Borongan City, Eastern Samar

It's our last day in Borongan. Toto and Trish are leaving for Tacloban at 8 a.m. while Rhuel and I are leaving for Catbalogan at 10 a.m.


We had some quickie breakfast before we started repacking our stuff. Fortunately for us, Auntie Madge had a huge gym bag where our clothes finally fit. So we now had 2 backpacks, 1 gym bag and 1 hand bag.

Before we left, Rhuel had his picture taken with the uncles in the payag and with Auntie Madge inside the house.

When it was time to say goodbye, I found myself teary eyed again. Hay, I guess I'll never outgrow that. I used to cry in the past whenever my cousins would send me off at the bus terminal. But this time, I thought it will be different. I'll be with my husband and there will be no send-offs by cousins. But I cried just the same. Hohum.

Our 10 a.m. trip was slightly delayed and we left the Duptours terminal at around 10:30 a.m.

Catbalogan City, Western Samar

This part of the trip was exciting because we were meeting another set of Rhuel's relatives whom he never met in the past. He only heard of them through Mama's stories. This time, we were visiting his relatives on his maternal grandpa's side, the Pedrazas.


Tita Aging, Mama's sister, must have alerted their relatives that we were coming. Before we even left Borongan, Tita Piding (Piczon-Oral), the relative we were supposed to track down, texted Rhuel to inquire about our time of arrival. There goes our surprise, hehe. She told us to text her once we get to Buray so we can agree on a meeting place.

The trip from Borongan to Catbalogan took roughly around 3 hours. Fare was Php160 each. We sat in front of the van and Rhuel had to sit between me and the driver because Duptours has a rule that girls can't sit beside the driver. Eh ang haba ng binti ni Rhuel. So he was moving around all the time. I tried to nap but the ugly roads made it impossible for me to sleep. I finally decided to stop trying to nap when we got to Buray.

Tita Piding told us to get off at the fire station and she'll meet us there. She invited us to have lunch in their house. It was embarrassing because she thought my entire family was coming.

When we arrived at the fire station, Tita Piding was there waiting for us with her daughter, Iosa. We rode their van. Rhuel asked about affordable hotels or pension houses in the area where we can stay. But Tita Piding was gracious enough to invite us to stay in their house. Pasensiya na lang daw at tiyaga na lang kung anong meron sa kanila.

When we got to their house, betcha by golly wow, I don't know what she was talking about when she said tiyaga and pasensya. The house was huge, as in mansion. They lived in a compound and Tita Piding's house was the biggest. Turns out that the other houses belonged to her kids.

When she led us to our room in the second floor, ay wow-er talaga. May balcon, 2 big beds, TV, aircon, huge bathroom with bath tub, etc. Who can ask for more? And guess what, their water heater is even centralized. We didn't want to leave, hehe.

Our late lunch was a huge feast. She served us crabs, shrimps, lechon and one more dish that I can't recall. Grabe, parang piyesta lang din. :)

After lunch we freshened up a bit and we decided to explore Catbalogan. First stop was the Grand Tours terminal where we reserved vans for our Calbayog trip and for Tacloban.

Tita Piding's family owns Samar Colleges and her dad used to be the governor of Samar. She dropped us off at Samar Colleges and she told us to meet her there afterwards when we're done exploring.

We went around the city and visited the usual spots - kapitolyo, simbahan. And there was nothing else to see, hehe.

The city hall was so boring. It didn't look stately. Parang multi-purpose or barangay hall lang.

It was still early so we decided to grab some merienda. We saw a cafe that looked cozy. It's called Flaming Hat (yep, not hot) and it's beside the city hall. We ordered coffee, Rhuel had beef and cheese quesadilla (it was so good) and I had chocolate moist cake. We enjoyed our merienda. :)

When we got back to the school, Tita Piding already went home so we decided to take the trike to their house instead.

Dinner was a feast again. We had yummy kaldereta and fried lumpiang gulay. It's funny how their dishes tasted like the dishes Mama cooked. We met some other relatives like Anna, Tita Piding's daughter, and the rest of Tita Piding's apos like Pia, Matt, Ram and Mishka.

After the hearty dinner, it was time to sleep.