Chasing the moments
Messages from friends and relatives are very precious to me and they inspire me a lot.
On Monday, just this week, I received a message from my nephew: Andy J. Oppus – Uy. I find the message very appropriate for the day. It ran this way, “Today is another moment of thanks giving for all that we have and for all that we are: moments of walking an extra mile to share with others the greatness of God; moment of giving words of inspiration to those who are weakened with trials and challenges; moments with God to enable everyone to make peace, not war. Let us continue to grab every moment to radiate the best of God in us.”
It was also on that day, last Monday (March 1), when Carrie, one of my many bffs, brought me to our 3rd paseo, together. This was another “Two for the Road” experience and this time, we drove to the coastal towns of Dauis and Panglao. Our driver is still sunny. He used to drive a tourist van, but suddenly got stuck with a “no job” status due to the pandemic. He is a good neighbor of Carrie.
Let me tell you about my friend Carrie and how we became friends. She is not a Boholana but she was so enamoured with Bohol (when she was still active with her work in the Ford Foundation), that she decided to stay put. Yes, here in Bohol, particularly, in the town of Baclayon. She practically made the barangay of Cambanac a beautiful place to live in with a house designed to adapt and blend with the terrain of its landscape and contour of the land. That dream, to stay here, was made a reality many years ago. The design of her house is a creation of a local architect. My editor and bff, am I at liberty to divulge his name? Hi hi hi hi. Anyway, you can ask me the name of the architect in person.
Why are we enamoured with our paseo? This was a pastime of our youth, as I wrote in one of my weekly articles. We enjoyed going out to see the sunset and stay there until we would hear the sitsit of our parents or grandmothers. The sitsit was an indication that it was time to go home for the angelus.
We have many similarities with Carie. Both of us are retired and sharing our advocacies. Actually, we first met in person when we had our Bahandi show entitled, Ang Karaang Balay. This was held at the Malon House some years back. This was a play written by Alfred Valensona, directed and choreographed by our very own Gardy Luza Labad, with a theme song “Karaang Balay composed by Clyde Ebojo from Dauis. I miss Alfred as he is now residing in the U.S.
And from there, my friendship with Carrie blossomed. Later, we were joined in by Gemma, Cora and Inday with my all time friends, Dory and Carol. We are looking forward to their coming home after this Covid scare. They are already vaccinated in the countries they are residing now and I am sure that their presence here will be most welcomed.
Let us talk about Panglao, another leg of our tour. The church of St. Agustin and the churchyard are sights to behold. Our hearts leaped with joy when we saw the San Agustin Church standing in its glory. And the St. Agustin Academy, beside the church, is fully restored with taste. Seeing the church and the school that afternoon brought nostalgia to my heart. I suddenly remembered my cousins. They and I, used to dance on the stage near the church and the academy, many and many years ago. This was the time when our Tio Brely was the parish priest of the town and director of the school.
Tio Brely was Fr. Gabriel Villamor – Oppus. He returned to God’s Paradise a long time ago. He became a Trappist monk after the death of his mother in the 60’s and when he died; he was buried in the monastery ground.
The old Panglao is gone. Now, there are houses well maintained and they must be houses of the old locals. I’m hoping to see fruits and vegetables, like before, that made Panglao famous. This was in my youth during the abundance of : pajo, chicos, star apple, carabao, mangos, camote, gabi ug uban pa. Wala na diay tabo sa Panglao? Jurassic na gyud diay ko. Daghan pa bang isda sa Panglao. I remember Nang Talia, our family help (from Panglao). Every time she went home for a visit, daghan to siya ug dala inig balik niya sa balay. Ma isda ba, ma kinhason ba ug ma paho ba. So Carrie and I went to a fruit stand. Sold there were strawberries from Baguio, cauliflower, brocolli and other veggies from other sources. Wala na gyud diay ang gabi, ubi, saging ug uban pa. Gimingaw ko sa Panglao kaniadto, pero nalipay pud sa Panglao karon.
We learned, when we were in Panglao, that most of the foreigners there lost their jobs. And this is sad. But amidst the pandemic, they have found solidarity and an expression of their skills and talents. We met one who went into pottery and has been displaying his “products” in their front yard. Men and women of different nationalities are selling every Friday along the Alona stretch, some cakes, pastries, chocolate, nuts and the likes as a way of reinventing themselves.
Yes, it is some kind of reinventing themselves. I just hope landlords will do their share of reducing the rent as their way of helping those affected by the pandemic. We must do some kind of sharing, sa hirap at ginhawa, kung sa Tinagalog pa.
We went to several streets in the area. Panglao island, indeed, is very beautiful. Let’s preserve the place the way it was. Right now, it’s already an overload of resorts and the resorts that are yet to be. Tama na and let’s go back to the land. Nurture it for the future generation.
On our way home, dalikyat pud mi ug bisita ni Dory, another bff of mine. She is ok and very ok. Imagine doing business via zoom. It is something I could not do. I just use my smartphone to send my messages thru messenger and to transmit my narrative for this week to my editor and other bff.
On our way home, like what we usually do during our paseo, we hummed and sang, whichever comes first, our favorite song. This time, we dished out one of my mother’s favorite lines: I’m always chasing rainbows watching clouds drifting by.
Again, I say this is a good song for today because it is filled with many hopes. Isn’t it that at the end of the rainbow you’ll find a pot of gold?
Looking forward to our next paseo and two for the road.