Hala Bira!

Dad was in shock when I asked him to bring me to the airport last Saturday. He wondered why I needed to leave Cebu on a weekend when the major festival would take place the following day. I lied a bit when I told him that it was way cheaper to get tickets for a Saturday flight out of Cebu than on Monday. The airport might be too busy and wild after the Sinulog festivity.

I also told my mom about my flight. Of course she was worried because the weather did not look too good. The skies remained overcast and the sun never had the chance to break the darkness and the showers. So mom advised me not to go to Boracay. She did not want me to cross any sea or take a banca ride to the island. In all honesty I told her that I would not be going to Boracay. I did not have plans to go there either. I just did not tell her that I would be going to a place that is only 70 km away from Caticlan, the jump-off point to Boracay.

I was very happy with my decision to be in Kalibo for the Ati-atihan Festival. It coincided with the Sinulog Festival of Cebu. For this year, I wanted to check out what Kalibo has to show to honor the Holy Child Jesus.

From Iloilo, I hurriedly got into a van, got off at SM Jaro a few minutes after and transferred to a PUJ that would take me to the bus terminal at Tagbak. When I got off at the bus depot, I saw a Kalibo-bound bus exiting the terminal and I hailed it. The bus driver saw my flailing arm and my blue-purple layered tops and halted the bus for me.

The four-hour journey to Kalibo began. I would be meeting my friends Apo and Paul in the capital of Aklan which was about 145km from Iloilo. My friends had spent the night in Boracay and had left the island after lunch. They were already on their way to Kalibo.

The funny thing about the bus driver was that he had this huge mirror over his head. I could not help but noticed that he would look at the mirror for almost every minute. In my amazement, I forgot that I stared at the mirror for quite a time. And it was too late when I noticed that the driver looked at the overhead mirror again. I did not look away. I just continued to stare at the reflection.

So our eyes locked but I did not react until he winked and raised his eyebrows at me. I froze a bit from the shock I got from the reflection at the mirror. I turned to my sides to check if the driver was trying to communicate with someone such as the bus assistant or the trip checker. I saw none of them at my sides. The driver was basically winking at me.

I did some self-check. I tried to think that the driver was not flirting at me at all. I tried to think that he was just trying to be pleasant with someone who could pass as a Japanese tourist. I could not think of any other reason why this driver would be staring and smiling at an unsuspecting passenger like myself. If you ask me how the driver looked like, I could say that he’s not homely at all. He’s average-looking and his huge eye bags cover half of his cheeks.

So I just veered away from the mirror. I was more excited about what the Ati-atihan would be like when I would watch it the following day. Four hours in a bus plying the Iloilo-Kalibo route was taxing. Sections of the highway especially in Passi City was terrible. I could see that there were cement laying that went on in some parts of the stretch and somehow, they promised a lesser bumpy ride in the coming months.

I reached Kalibo before the end of the day. I could hear some drumbeats already when I stepped out of the bus. The main roads leading to the church and the plaza had been closed to traffic. Human traffic on the other hand was heavy and huge.

I decided to wait for my friends at a nearby fast food joint. At that time, I did not know where they were. I waited for them to call me or text me but they never came. I waited a bit and called Apo several times. His phone was ringing but my calls were unanswered. I got a bit frazzled from the situation so I just took it upon myself to search around town for a place to stay.

Instead of searching the streets for Apo and Paul, I searched for a room to spend the night. I asked around and people pointed me to a two-storey building at a corner near the bridge. An effeminate guy showed me the unoccupied room at the second floor. It was a small room with two double-deck beds. The guy would give me the room for two thousand pesos (US$40) per day with free meals. Right on, I realized how room rates shoot like rockets during festivities like that. I told the guy that I need to tell my friends first before I’d get the room. At the time I still did not know how to find them.

I left the establishment and decided to hail a tricycle for Numancia. It’s 5 kilometers left of Kalibo and is the first town you’d pass if you’re going to Caticlan. My friends had already booked a room at Doña Crispina Resort and I was taking the only chance of ever staying in Aklan for a night. I told myself that I would take the next trip out of Kalibo if I would find out that they did not check-in at the resort.

To get to the resort, I had to negotiate with the tricycle driver and the dispatcher to lower down the fare. I managed to pay 120 pesos for the ride to the resort. I never thought that Doña Crispina was that far. I thought it was just a short ride from Kalibo. It took me 20 minutes to reach it.

The trike ‘chauffeur’ stopped in front of a closed gate. I stepped off and asked him to wait for me for a sec. So the question would be if my friends checked in at the resort. I scrambled to look for a doorbell. I pressed on the button several times. A resort staff approached the gate.

I was relieved when he told me that my friends had checked in a few hours ago. But he told me that they left as soon as they dropped their bags in the room. I told the trike driver that he could leave already. I decided to wait for Apo and Paul at the resort. I would be spending the night in Aklan. From then on, it was pretty certain that I would be experiencing Ati-atihan for the first time.