San Jose, Mindoro

The heat here is oppressive! At the end of the day, however, one gets used to it. An air conditioned room after a cool shower is something to look forward to.

I'm sort of looking forward to our trip to California on Saturday, just for the weather alone. But most of all, of course, I miss our loved ones over there..

SAN JOSE, MINDORO

Back in the late 50's to early 60's, I have some relatives who relocated to the town of San Jose on the island of Mindoro. Consuelo (Atching Elong) Maniago-Lising, her husband Eliseo (Cong Ely) Lising and their children all moved to Mindoro. I'm not sure how many children Atching Elong had at the time. Atching Elong is the oldest daughter of my uncle Vedasto (Bapang Astong) Maniago. Bapang Astong is my father's brother. I visited San Jose in the summer of '76, a few months before I shipped off to the join the US Navy.

A few years later, Atching Elong's younger sister Atching Afric (Africa Maniago-Navarro) and her family followed suit,

I used to remember how weird it felt to have people older than me kiss my hand (siklod in Capampangan, mano in Tagalog) as a sign of respect to an 'older' relative. Atching Elong's children Dolor, Eden, Joel, Peping are all a few years older than me and yet they do 'mano' to me. And this because I have 'older blood' albeit younger physically, with their mom, Atching Elong being my cousin. It's not so bad now that I'm much older.

Anyway, since we moved here in the Philippines they've been wanting me and Donna to visit once again, especially Dolor. We planned to visit a couple of times in the past but for whatever reason, (a storm prevented flights to the island, for one) we didn't make it.

Last March 19 through March 24, we finally made it.