Some Days in the 4th Quarter – Part 2

Just a week after our Ilocandia adventure, Bro Bear and I were reunited. This time, he decided to fly to Cebu to be with me for about two weeks. Bro Bear had foreseen a long break in between semesters thus, a long vacation to the Southern Islands was drafted.

Day 7. I rushed to the airport and picked up my ursine petit ami. We planned out a wonderful trip to the Visayas and Davao weeks before and we finalized our itinerary over lunch at his favorite DIMSUM resto.

Last year, Bro Bear spent the sem break in Cebu. We had a wonderful time exploring the old churches south of Cebu City. This year, we decided to visit Negros and Iloilo and explore their beauty. We would be dragging ZeeWee along for this alternate road-water trip.

Day 8. I invited Bro Bear to my town’s fiesta. Invited guests and relatives came. Bro Bear was unusually silent until he began an interesting conversation with my officemates about the latest showbiz gossips.

 

  

The celebration was rather simple. My parents wanted it that way. Guests really liked the fish fillet that we ordered from LOLA INDA. The empanada was a hit too. And of course, the CnT Lechon was stellar.

While some guests belted out some videoke staples, we engaged ourselves in a serious conversation about the latest issues in philippine showbiz. Bro Bear dropped bits of information about the break-up of this and that. My officemates took in some gossips and downed it with red horse beer. The chitchat went on for hours until it was time for us to call it a day.

Day 9. The start of a 5-day western visayas trip, mom and dad were surprised to see me all packed up and ready for a long drive to Negros. I just informed them of the trip hours after the last party guest left. At 5 am, I saw myself driving away from the city with my Bro Bear at the passenger seat and the realization of our dream of a different trip together.

We reached the mining city of Toledo a little after 6am. Vehicles queued up for the ferry that would take them to San Carlos City, Negros Occidental. Judging from the number of vehicles waiting for the boat, and also upon the advice of the port personnel, I realized that we could not get into the 7.30am trip. I decided to drive up north to the port town of Tabuelan and caught the 8.30 am trip to Escalante City.

The road trip along the western coast of Cebu was pretty bad. My parents were worried enough and texted me several times to be extra careful with my driving. A series of weather disturbances had already formed in Mindanao and these had brought rain in the Visayas.

We reached Escalante City before lunchtime and I drove through countless road cracks and potholes and arrived in Victorias City at 12nn. Bro Bear wanted to visit a certain church in Victorias which had an altar bearing the mural of an angry Christ.

We found out that the church was located within the premises of Victorias Milling Corporation. Here, we finally saw the great works of the artist Ossorio. Bro Bear was very much fascinated by the unusual depiction of Christ. Ossorio had a different take on the images of saints and of the stations of the cross.

His work was different from what I had seen from other Filipino artists, which was why his work stood out from the rest. I stared at the burning heart of the angry Christ. Prayers for help seemed to escape from my mouth as I pondered on the sad news I received from home. In silence, I stared at the thorns that squeezed the burning heart and I tried to feel the pain from the unexpected domestic development.

When Bro Bear was done taking pictures of the artworks, I ended my prayer with much hope and willingness to go on with life. We left the VMC compound and drove for an hour and reached Bacolod City. 

That same day, we visited our friend Ibyang whom we haven’t met for a long time. Ibyang recently gave birth to a baby boy which she named Yoda.  

Day 10. After my client visit, we went back to Ibyang’s house and spent the afternoon taking pictures of Yoda. In the middle of a huge bed, Yoda was asleep. He never moved throughout his slumber, except at a time when he noticed some flashes of light on his face. Bro Bear had used an extra flash for his camera as he took wonderful pictures of Yoda.

The mother was not to be outdone. She had put on some make up and had changed into a scarlet shirt. She lifted Yoda from bed and drew him near to her face. She smiled in front of the lens, as Bro Bear took it as a signal to take their photos.

Day 11. We left the city in the morning and crossed the strait of Gumaras for the port town of Dumangas. It was All Saints Day, a holiday in the Philippines where people troop to the cemeteries to honor and remember their dead relatives and friends. My roots are from Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, a town 60 km south of Bacolod City. Bro Bear’s roots are from Panay, in Hamindan, Capiz. To celebrate, Bro Bear and I decided to go the old churches and cemeteries in Iloilo.

From Dumangas, we headed southwest to the towns of San Joaquin, Miag-ao, Guimbal and Tigbauan. Their churches were old and impressive, especially San Joaquin with its façade bearing the carvings of the Battle of Tetuan, and Miag-ao which was also on UNESCO’s list of WHS.

San Joaquin Church

Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Church, Miag-ao, Iloilo

Finally, Bro Bear had rounded up the four baroque churches in the Philippines when he visited the beautiful Miag-ao Church.

Back to Iloilo City, I drove northward to the towns of Pavia, Sta. Barbara, Cabatuan and finally to Janiuay where we visited their beautiful 19^th century cemetery. Bro Bear and I were impressed by the cemeteries of Janiuay and San Joaquin.

 

  

 

The San Joaquin Cemetery was more beautiful than Janiuay. Although there are 3 arched entrances in the latter, that of San Joaquin was more orderly and intact. At Janiuay, the “sam-ang” was crowded with tombs and people. A mass was being held at the mortuary chapel as we went on to take pictures of the necropolis.

We headed back to Iloilo, passing through the old church and cemetery of Cabatuan, then on to Sta. Barbara and Pavia and then to the former “queen city of the south”. We were back in Iloilo before the night fell. 

Day 12. We were scheduled to leave Iloilo at 4pm. It was sunday and most of the people were not in the city.

The streets were almost empty. Even the restaurants and shops were still closed at 8 in the morning. Bro Bear and I roamed around to search for a open coffee shop but we were not successful. So we decided to visit the old churches in the city.

Just minutes away from where we stayed, the spires of the church of Molo could be seen. The Sta. Ana church dominated the skyline of the old chinese district.

It was said over and over that this Gothic-styled church survived several earthquakes, fires and the World War. This church was also perceived as a Feminist church because of the 16 images of female saints mounted in every column of the church.

While most of the churches in the southwest were made of yellow stones quarried from mountains of Igbaras, The Church of Sta. Ana was made of white corral stones. It was strong enough to withstood the devastating earthquake that hit Panay in January 24, 1948.

We drove to the district of Jaro and visited the Cathedral and the Bell Tower. The city pays homage to the Virgen of the Candles (Virgen de la Candelaria) a carved stone figure which was deemed miraculous. They said that the stone image was brought down from its niche to its current location because it was growing in size year after year.

  

Just like most of the churches in Ilocos, the Cathedral in Jaro had its bell tower detached or separated from the church. It stood across the street in the Jaro Plaza. The belfry may have served as a watchtower or a lookout against raiders from the sea.

 Since we could not find an open coffee shop for breakfast and since fastfood joints were not an option, we made a short trip to Deco’s and tried their Batchoy and puto. Iloilo’s La Paz Batchoy is the province’s most popular dish. Batchoy or bachui (chinese hokkien) is a noodle soup with pieces of meat, pork organs and crushed chicharon (pork cracklings). The soup base is a combination of shrimp broth and chicken stock.

Soon after we were done with brunch, a traffic enforcer approached us and informed us that we have to move ZeeWee out of the no-parking zone. This however prompted us to just leave Iloilo City and proceed to Dumangas and take the next trip back to Bacolod City.

We were able to take the 12nn ferry and reached Bacolod City 2 hours after. 

Day 13. Before the sun was up, we were already on the road toward San Carlos City. We passed by acres and acres of sugarcane plantation. The majestic Mt. Kanlaon rose in the horizon. The road trip was smooth. But getting a ticket for ZeeWee to cross Tanon strait was a nightmare.

We reached San Carlos City early in the day but we missed the 10.00 am and the 3.30pm trip to Toledo City simply because tickets were sold out. We waited for more than 9 hours just to get a 5 am ticket for the following day.

The city was also celebrating its fiesta and a lot of people came to witness the Pintaflores Festival. Finding a vacant hotel room was as difficult as getting a return ticket to Cebu. It was a win-lose moment when we finally found a room to spend the night. We got ourselves a pricey room.  

Day 14. Finally, the heavens permitted us to cross Tanon Strait even though there was a slight delay caused by the breakdown of one of the ferry boat’s ramp. We were heavily drained from the previous day’s experience. When we were finally leaving the port of San Carlos, our bodies dropped like logs, we landed flat on the half-cushioned seats.

Lessons were learned and everything was charged to experience. As we reached the shores of Cebu, Bro Bear began to smile again and I stroked his hair to assure him that everything would be alright.