Passenger Talesstories about my experiences as a traveler and passenger

My friend Laisa invited five of us to go to Puerto Galera with her to celebrate her birthday. Unfortunately, due to conflicting schedules, only the two of us were able to make it. We met at 4:00 am and took a taxi to the bus terminal near the Gil Puyat LRT station. The bus took us to Batangas pier where we boarded a boat for Puerto Galera.

While we were waiting for the other passengers to arrive, an old woman was helped down the plank by some of the boat personnel. Once she was settled, they checked her ticket. They saw that her ticket was for the boat beside us that was also traveling to PG. When they asked her to transfer, she refused, maybe because it was a hassle for her to tranfer, with all her things and getting into the boat was not quite an easy task for her. The boat personnel tried to persuade her, but she remained stubborn. Just so shed did not have to move, she offered to pay instead. Seeing that there was no way he was going to win with her, the personnel gave in and she was issued a ticket after she paid. A little while later, she remembered that the personnal had not returned her other ticket. So she pestered the boat personnel to return it to her. As far as I can remember, I don’t think her other ticket was returned. It was a smooth one hour trip White Sands, PG. During that first day, we just rested because we both lacked sleep.

The next day we started early and had our backs tattoed with henna. It rained while we were being tattooed that’s why we had to stay in the tattoo shop until the rain stopped or risk washing away our tattoo. We were told that we should not wet it for at least an hour.

While we were there, the group from Nestea arrived. They had an event that day. . Nestea organized a swarm of volunteers who wore blue shirts that they provided to pick up trash that littered the beach for their first activity. There was going to be a beach volleyball and other games in the afternoon but we were not able to watch because we wanted to go to the waterfalls.

Laisa and I rode the banana boat. When we started, we were at the front of the boat. The first time it was overturned, some college kids usurped our places, delegating us to the middle. The second time the boat was overturned we were relegated to the back. The college guys were in front. They were afraid to seat at the back. What happened to chivalry? Is it really dead? If it is, how about the rule, returning to the same places?

After lunch we hired a guide to take us to waterfalls. First we rode a tricycle to the start of the trail then we walked for about 30-45 minutes. The vegetation was thick and the walk was scenic. We were really sweaty when we got to the waterfalls. It was just a small waterfall but the water was really cool and refreshing. We took a dip and stayed there for about thirty minutes before going back.

The next day started at dawn for us because we decided to attend the 6 o’clock mass at the church in the “bayan” which was 30 minutes away by tricycle. It was still very dark when we started. I was surprised when the tricycle driver suddenly stopped beside a house. I was wondering what he was about when I saw a man came out of the house and gave the driver a container. It turned out that the driver was filling up his tank with gasoline. I didn’t know that there were places where gas stations are so scarce that some houses sold gasoline or maybe it was way too early for the gasoline stations to be opened. No 24 hour gasoline stations in the country. These are some of the pictures we took outside the church after mass.

Like almost all rural towns that are thrust into the spotlight because of tourism, there is wide disparity between the places where the tourists stay, the beach in this case, and where the people native to the place live. If you just stay in the beach, where the atmosphere is pretty artificial and superficial, you won’t get to see the real atmosphere, the rustic, laidback countryside. The Philippines is a country where opulence and poverty exist side by side. In the case of beach towns, you get to see a yacht club plunked in the middle of a poor rural town.

Anyway, we rode the boat back to Batangas pier at 1 o’clock after our lunch. We were late in getting in the boat that there were already many passengers inside. We were not able sit together because of the other passengers, at least we were still able to get seats. Even though the boat was already full, the boat personnel still accommodated foreigners who were chance passengers. It was one of the most frightening ride of my life because the sea was rough and we were overloaded. It was a rough sailing even though the weather was perfect because in that area, the sea becomes rough in the afternoons. We had to stop twice in the middle of the sea so we will not capsize because of the rough sea. I kept looking at the life jackets on top of the seats in the middle and tried to figure out way to get one if ever we capsize. I was really praying during the whole trip. It was longer that the usual one hour trip because the boat cannot speed up due to the waves. It felt like eternity before we were able to reach the port safely. Maybe next time I’ll avoid afternoon trips unless there will be bigger boats available to sail in.

By the way, sunsets in PG are beautiful. Here are some pictures of it.