Flashbacks - Trip to Arayat, Candaba, etc.

As I've mentioned in a previous blog, the first leg of our exploration of Pampanga was to Arayat. One of our jogging buddies here at Greenfields mentioned some good halo-halo at a place called Jurado's in Arayat. We called former classmate and fellow retiree Myrna (Mercado) Alvarez and husband Vir and told them of the idea and since we're in the same boat - palaboys, of course they wanted to go.

We picked them up from SM parking lot and we proceeded towards Mexico, Sta. Ana on the way to Arayat. We made a couple of wrong turns. Maps and GPS are fairly new ideas here so we don't use them. Instead we rely on tricycle drivers' info which comes free of charge by the way, which you can never beat! Anyway, we made a right turn (to Candaba) instead of straight and of course a tricycle driver gave us correct directions and when we noticed Mt. Arayat getting bigger as we got closer, we thought we were going in the right direction. We finally arrived at Jurado's after a couple more direction queries.




We had one of their specialty chicken dishes and their famous halo-halo afterwards. It was indeed pretty good. But with the weather around here, it's difficult to be disappointed with a cool serving of halo-halo.



It was a little past 12 noon when we finished so we said, "Well it's too early to go home. Since we already know the way to Candaba...."



Once we passed the Candaba sign, the change in scenery was pretty obvious.



We talked with some townsfolk and they told us of the upcoming Ibon-Ebon Festival which will be graced by non-other than President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, which prompted the town mayor to rebuild a road towards a farm frequented by migratory birds. We decided to come back once the road is completed and with less people around once the festival is over.

I took pictures of some of the old houses of Barangay Pescaderos before departing the town.





On the way out, I chanced some of these scenes of Mt. Arayat from a different perspective. Cool shots, don't you think?



We have a little more time so we figured we might as well go to San Luis. On the way there from Mexico, I think it's barangay Sta. Maria, there were hundreds of huge mango trees.

Next on the itinerary: Porac, Floridablanca, Sasmuan and beyond...

The Saga of the Lost Driver's License

As most of you know, I lost my Philippine driver's license when we were in London along with my California driver's license, a credit card and some dollars and pesos. I've already easily acquired the replacement for my California driver's license but with my Philippine driver's license, it was not as simple. I had to have my lawyer buddy Nasty Marcelo draft an affidavit of loss for me. Donna and I went to LTO a few weeks back but when she saw the crowd, she said, "No way are we going to wait with all those people!" We tried to talk with friends and see if any of them have 'connections' but so far, none do. Friend Bert from California suggested I contact his friend and see if he can help but I figured I'll try to do it myself first and if it proves too stressful, then I'll resort to calling his friend. So, today I went back by myself and went through the 'normal' process of getting a replacement driver's license.

I got there at around 9:30 this morning, turned my affidavit of loss in to Window #1 and they gave me a form to fill out. I filled it out, turned it in and waited. Several minutes later, my name was called and they told me I should renew it. I said, "Fine, so what do I do now?" She said for me to go and get a medical and drug testing, 250 pesos and 100 pesos respectively. Turned those in and waited some more. It was almost noon when my name was called for picture taking. But before I got a chance to pay for the fee, they announced, "Lunch break from 12 to 1". I went to nearby Cely's and when I came back at around 12:50 they've already started calling names. Around 1:10 I got called and paid 380 pesos. The clerk mumbled, "Releasing, outside." There's a window #6 there that says 'Releasing' but since she said outside, I sat near the entrance and waited some more. Around 1:30 I overheard my name being called, not through the PA system, however. I looked around and remembered her saying outside, so I went outside and there's a small desk by the entrance with a gentleman sitting there. I told him my name and he gave me my driver's license, FINALLY! I paid 15 pesos for the plastic jacket and now I'm home blogging!
YAY!

Flashbacks - Masantol, Pampanga

When Donna and I decided to retire here, one of the things we thought of doing was roam around Pampanga. We hear of Balikbayans going to Cebu, Boracay, etc. but I figured hey, I'm a full blooded Capampangan and I haven't even been to most of the towns of my province. So when Mike Pangilinan, a friend from our Capampangan advocacy, ANASI, said there's this French geographer, Jean Christophe Gaillard (JC for short) who's organizing a boat trip to Masantol, Pampanga and would I be interested in going - I said sure! First of all I've never been to Masantol and second, a boat trip to Masantol? And I thought we're located in the Central Plains of Luzon - what boat trip? It turned out, Masantol sits by the Pampanga River and its mouth goes straight to Manila Bay. This totally surprised the heck out of me but what's even more surprising, JC speaks fluent Capampangan! He sent me a text message (in Capampangan!) saying Mike and I were to meet a couple of his French students at the McDonald's in the intersection of Olongapo-Gapan Road.

Mike, who's from Angeles City dropped by our place here in Sindalan and we went to McDonald's. High school friend and Balikbayan from London, Alice also tagged along. After a quick lunch, everyone crammed into the van.

We took the NLEx southbound and got off at the San Simon exit to Apalit. We turned right towards Macabebe from MacAthur Highway and onto Masantol. On the way, JC was giving Mike directions through text messages. We made a couple of wrong turns but there were all kinds of tricycle drivers to ask directions from and we finally made it to the boat dock. We were to meet JC and his group at another stop at the Pampanga River. The first thing we noticed was some guys wading in the water. We were told they were catching prawns.



Here the river was clean, the water is not murky like in San Fernando. And there's all kinds of migratory birds, from China - per Mike P.


When we met JC at the final stop, we transferred to their boat and we proceeded to go straight to where Pampanga River dumps into Manila Bay.



We even got off and explored through the palapat forest.





On the way back, we made a detour through a river tributary towards a Masantol barangay called Sapang Kawayan. Sapang Kawayan is basically an island, hence accessible only by boat. The vice mayor of Masantol was with us, otherwise, Mike said we wouldn't be let in.



We were told Sapang Kawayan politically is part of Masantol but it's so far from it that they deal with nearby Hagonoy, Bulacan. Everyone in it speaks Tagalog except for a few residents 70 years or older.



JC interviewed the school children of Sapang Kawayan and they said during high tide their class rooms get flooded mid calf and they sometimes end up with athlete's foot. The only time they get sent home is when the place is hit by typhoon and there's actual flooding and the water gets to be waist high in the class rooms.




The trip was great, both entertaining, humbling and enlightening.


For a complete picture portfolio, please visit Trip to Masantol.

Flashbacks - Bagac, Bataan

High school classmate and friend Rey Vergara has mentioned this place where his boss dismantles old houses and reassembles them in a huge property he bought in Bataan. Rey works for The New San Jose Builders, a construction company in Metro Manila and it's his boss's passion to develop this place in Bagac. So one day he text'd me saying if Donna and I are free he'll pick us up and he'll take us there.

Long story short - we went, along with his wife, son Roberto, another high school classmate Mike, Donna and Lilibeth!

It took us about a couple of hours in his Ford Expedition, from our place in Pampanga to get to Bagac. I imagine my friend must be loaded to be able to afford gassing up that huge monster. Anyway, the place was just gorgeous! They've reconstructed about ten structures I believe. As we walked along, Rey mentions, "This was an old house in Candaba and this one was my grandparents' ancestral home in Mexico, etc."





He said the houses sit on a 50-60 hectare property acquired by his boss, Mr. Acuzar - and it's right next to the beach!

One of the buildings they restored was the original UP School of Fine Arts and that day the UP Diliman College of Fine Arts students and faculty came for its inauguration. Rey delivered a short speech right before the priest performed the formal blessings.


We had lunch and dinner there. They served a small ray fish for lunch (sting ray or manta ray?) and it didn't taste too bad and a whole lechon for dinner, among others.



There were four students from the UP College of Music who provided the entertainment after dinner.


I took way too many pictures of the place for me to post here. So here is the link for all the pictures of Bagac, Bataan.