Tatsulok sa Boracay…Kinuha ko ito nung pumunta kami nung isang taon.
(Triangle in Boracay…I took this when I went there last year.)
On my way to Baybay from Tacloban, I was jolted out of my somnolent state when I saw a motorcycle with a roof. Forgive the surprise of an urbanite because I’ve never seen anything like that before and I have never imagined putting a roof over a motorcycle. For other city dwellers who are also unfamiliar with such a site and whose eyebrows are now raised in disbelief, yes, it was a motorcycle and not a tricycle and yes I can definitely distinguish one from the other. I’m a great fan of tricycles. I thought that it was just a freak thing but I saw that there were more of them as we went along and some had 3-4 passengers riding astride aside from the driver.
I asked one of staff in the office that we went to in VSU about what I saw and they told me that it was called a habalhabal. I theoretically knew what a habalhabal was. My high school Melai, once mentioned it to me that in Carmen, Bohol (where my ancestors and hers came from), habalhabals were the only transportation that can penetrate the interior towns where there were no highways, just dirt roads. However, she failed to mention that it had a roof or maybe the Bohol variety do not have roofs unlike their Leyte counterpart. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention or innovation, in this case. The staff explained that since the passengers wanted to be protected from the heat of the sun and from getting wet during downpours, drivers began putting roofs on their motorcycles. I was told once that a habalhabal could accommodate as many as 10 passengers. Imagine, 10 passengers squeezed together in one motorcycle? Talk about another level of commuting discomfort. I think the seats of these motorcycles are extended so that they can accommodate more than three people.
Incidentally, the word habal is a Visayan term for animal mating, particularly for dogs. I don’t know if the picture of how all the passengers are squeezed in the vehicle brings to mind such a basic animal activity or if there is another simple and innocent explanation in the etymology of the term. Keeping in mind the Visayan quirky sense of humor then I don’t think the explanation is anything innocent, simple maybe, but not so innocent 
Before my 2005 trip home after five years of not visiting, I bought a trolley bag, an instamatic camera, and gifts for my relatives. I was excited about my bag because it represented the possibility of more travels and camera because it was an instrument to capture happy memories. Unfortunately, midway through my trip, the camera broke down. Good thing I was able to borrow from my cousin so I was able to use something for the rest of my trip. The bag survived but was torn in a small not so noticeable place from the rough handling at the airport. However, when my brother’s trolley bag was damaged when he was on his way back to Malaysia, he borrowed mine and I never saw it again. If only he bought a Briggs and Riley bag then when it was damaged, he could have sent it back to them to repair, for free, then he would have returned my bag, or maybe I’ll ask him what became of my bag and tell him to just replace it with a Briggs and Riley.
My officemate and I were on our way home talking to each other inside the FX when the voice of the man at our back impinged on my subconscious. He was talking softly on his cellphone. I wasn’t really paying him any attention. The words, “I called you and texted you but you did not answer” just drifted through my awareness. I was kind of preoccupied already because it was almost time for me to get off and my conversation with my officemate was still on-going. I did not catch the next part of that one-sided conversation until I hear him say, “So you’re saying that you want to break up with me?” in a sad, resigned tone. Of course I could not hear what the person on the other end of the line was saying, much too low for my bionic ears. Hehehe. When I heard the words, it took all my self-restraint not to turn my head and look at the guy at my back. Half of my mind was on following his conversation while one fourth was on my companion and the other one fourth preparing to get off. Then I hear him say, “Alam mo di ko kaya. (You know I can’t do it.)” still in that soft and sad voice. My imagination was running wild with various interpretations, no he can’t break up with his other girlfriend, no he can’t leave his wife and their nine kids (hehehe, so nine kids are too much), no he can’t hang up his black cape (i said wild, didn’t I?) or simply, no he can’t do it if he has to be the one to say goodbye first (ohhh, how sweet…my foot :p) Then the conversation ended and I heard something like a sniffle. I really almost turned my head but then the FX stopped and after saying goodbye to my officemate, I got off the vehicle.
Who says you can’t hear anything interesting in public transportation? Certainly not me because I’ve heard plenty of interesting stories about strangers and even about friends from complete strangers who thought that only walls have ears but not their fellow passengers.
