Who’s Fault Was It?

The christmas vacation that I had was quite short, yet full of experience even if in between the days were inactivity. I quite enjoyed the middle of the vacation because it had let me unwind my mind in all the stress that has gone with me during the preliminaries. I enjoyed the great food which was at the most freshest state, the cool breeze in the day which was also as fresh as the grass cut by a machete, the peaceful scenery of the bukid and the mountains, and the loveliest sunrise, sunset and full moon that you will never ever ever see in Metro Manila.

But then, there is one part of the vacation where you, at first, enjoy but when prolonged, it gets uncomfortable . What am I talking about? You already know it, I know… It’s the part where you would travel to the place you would be taking your vacation. And it almost made the vacation not worth the while.

The travel to Iloilo, where I went this vacation, wasn’t a good start. It was December 23 when I started the so-called voyage. There were no buses available for booking, and that extra buses were not available for booking as they were unpredictable on when it will come in the Alimall Cubao Terminal. I was in the terminal at 2am. I waited and waited, until 8am they began to provide some reservation papers for the extra buses. The bus came in the terminal at 11am and departed at 12nn. All the extra buses were not equipped with airconditioning units, so it is hot as hell. What made the heat increase was the amount of child passengers, who talked too much, cried out loud or moved too much, adult passengers, who spit everywhere, talked too much or occupied too much space, and baggage, which were of sizes of balikbayan boxes and washing machines! I was thinking if they didn’t know about freight carriers…

It was 4pm when we reached Batangas Port. We rode a ferry to Calapan Port at 5pm and departed at 6pm. It was 8:30pm when we reached Calapan Port and travelled to Roxas Port. We arrived at Roxas Port at 12mn, and this is where we get stranded for a while. We were able to board a ferry at 5am, which departed at 6am. We arrived at Caticlan Port at 9:30am. From there, we travelled for another 8 hours before arriving at my destination. I arrived there at 5:30pm, just a few more hours before christmas. Well, I was still thankful that time when we arrived.

The travel back to Manila was the most hellish of all that I have ever experienced. I really regretted that I departed on January 2. I started waiting for the bus at 7am. I have one sack of rice with me to be given as pasalubong to my tito who had let me stay there after Typhoon Ketsana has strucked Metro Manila. It was 11am when the bus arrived, and I was lucky that I had a seat in that bus because everyone else who didn’t had reservations seated in the isle of the bus using a monoblock chair. The bus departed by 12nn due to the commotions that some passengers done. We reached Caticlan Port by 6pm. This is some of the hell came from. We waited there for 12 hours just to get aboard a ferry. Ferry departure was consistent, but it wasn’t able to support the massive amount of vehicles which were to be transported to Mindoro. It was 6am of January 3 when we were able to ride a ferry, and 7am when it departed. We had reached Roxas Port by 11am. Then we travelled to Calapan Port. The most hell of all ports that I had to endure…

It was 3:30pm when we had arrived at Calapan, where we got stuck at the line of vehicles, which are also inbound to the port, for more than 24 hours! At least it was compensated abit by my travel to the town proper of Calapan. I somewhat ate some time there, but it wasn’t enough. I had to endure the heat of the bus, despite of it being an airconditioned bus, because it didn’t turn the airconditioning on. All the food that we had were already spoiled and we had no more funds for food. By sheer luck perhaps, we were able to board a ferry to Batangas Port by 11pm the next day, January 4. We had reached Batangas Port at 1am of January 5 and travelled for 2 to 3 more hours back to Manila. It was the time where I finally been able to sleep abit, although it wasn’t enough to give me rest for everything that has happened.

I really said to myself after the incident that I should do some more strategizing next time. But at least I had the experience to tell my future grandchildren. But I hardly forget what I have undergone. I had frequently analyzed on who’s fault was it for that to happen.