"MANY A MAN COULD HAVE MADE A MEAL OUT OF THAT"

LUCENA CITY, PHILIPPINES

Temperature: Hotter than hell in San Mateo, 34 Degrees Celsius in Lucena

Track of the day: "Kaleidoscope World," Francis M.
"I'll take it," Alecs says to the sales clerk at SM Mall here in Lucena, handing over the guitar he spent nearly an hour picking out. This particular guitar is for Alecs' godson Joel who celebrated his fifteenth birthday this weekend. Joel had expressed interest in learning to play the guitar and after seeing his musical talent on the piano Alecs was convinced he needed a guitar as well

The clerk packs up the guitar and we head out to catch a jeepney to Tita Vinna's house where Joel and his family are staying. Tied up in front of the house are three dogs including Ate Anna's three-month old black lab. "I love the Philippines," I say, bending down to play with the dogs as Alecs gives Joel his guitar. Back at the house we join the rest of the gang for our last night all together before Kuya Sherwin and his family must head home. Before I know it we've lost complete track of time and it's already morning, but Kuya Sherwin decides against his original plan of an early departure. As though in light speed the day flashes by and we are now standing outside the house bidding farewell to Kuya Sherwin, Ate Prime, Shawn and baby Phoebe. Jupiter and Pluto join the rest of us as we wave goodbye to the back of their car before Alecs picks up the guitar he couldn't resist buying and

starts singing with B.A. I continue sitting outside with Kristine and the dogs enjoying the warm night air until Tita Menchie calls us in for dinner. Sitting at the kitchen table are Alecs and B.A. staring at a stack of coins, a bemused dopey grin on both their faces. "What are you two up to?" I ask, spooning some arrozcaldo (rice soup) into my bowl. "It's the leaning tower of peso," Alecs says, obviously quite smug with the somewhat witty name they both came up with. "Dorks," I mutter under my breath and shaking my head as they reluctantly take their masterpiece down to make room for their dinner plates. "So what's on the agenda for tomorrow," I ask between delicious bites of my very favorite Filipino meal which of course features rice along with chicken in a tasty broth. "We're going to Unisan, which is about an hour away from Lucena," B.A. tells me, finishing his rice

soup and moving onto the main course of rice and fried chicken. "Unisan is where Tita Judy lives, as well as a couple of my mom's aunt's and uncles," Alecs adds.  I finish my third helping of arrozcaldo as Alecs pushes his chair out from the table, sighing and yawning. "Well, many a man could have made a meal out of that," he says with the biggest smile on his face as he looks for my reaction. "Oh I'm sorry, I thought you were Alecs not grandpa," I say laughing at his mimic of one of my grandfather's 'Glenisms' (a common phrase he says after nearly every big hearty meal). We reminisce about home for a while and Alecs recounts the time grandpa deliberately cut off the water at the cabin while Alecs was in the shower, soap still in his hair. "When I came downstairs her grandfather was just laughing," Alecs tells B.A., recalling that particular weekend in Sylvan Lake, "then he asked me how my shower was." We continue on like this for some time before packing it in for another night.

"Meg wake up, we're almost here," Alecs whispers, nudging me on the minibus heading to Unisan the next morning. I stretch my arms, tie my hair back and look out the window to find a beautiful coastline dotted with looming palm trees, the brilliant blue sky framing the crystal waters. Moments later B.A. knocks on the roof of the van, signaling to the driver that this is

where we want to get off. As we walk down a small grass path Tita Judy comes to meet us, guiding us to her home. Inside I meet Kuya Jo-Jo, her eldest son, for the first time and am then whisked off to the kitchen where you guessed it more food awaits us. Almost immediately after lunch we all hail a couple tricycles for the quick trip to visit Lolo Freddie and Lola Azun, one of the aunt and uncle's of Alecs' mom. Inside sits an impossibly sweet old lady in a rocking chair whose impressive English skills take me aback for a moment. Much to my surprise and excitement we are fed only a platter of crackers and some fresh juice instead of another meal. After visiting for some time, Lolo Freddie, Alecs, B.A., Tita Judy, Bea and I bid the others farewell as we head to the local graveyard to visit some relatives grave sights. As we walk through the small town everyone notices the new faces and either comes over to chat, waves or looks on with curiosity. A short ten minute walk away has us to the gates of the grave where Alecs' grandmother and grandfather as well as Tita Judy's late husband rest. After paying our respects we bid everyone farewell and catch the world's slowest

bus back to Lucena. "I'm glad we made it to Unisan this year," Alecs says about halfway through the ride, "I think it made Tita Judy happy." Awaiting us back at the house in Lucena is another enticing filipino meal before another early night in preparation for tomorrow's trip to Manila. 

A bright start to the morning has us on a bus bound for Manila, the capital of the Philippines. A four hour trip, plus a taxi ride has us at our hotel in Quezon City, part of the greater metro Manila. We check-in to our two floor room with a bathroom, living room and kitchen on the main floor and the bedrooms and another bathroom on the second. "This is my first time in a hotel," B.A. tells us tossing his backpack in his bedroom and then flipping through the T.V. channels. "Well I hope you enjoy it then," I say

"we wanted to stay here as a thank you for taking the time to be with us this entire time," I add. With that we leave the hotel and head to Tita Baby's house, another one of Alecs' mom's sisters who lives just outside Manila in San Mateo. My throat started hurting the moment we arrived in Manila and now it's a full-blown cold that has me coughing and feeling feverish. "We're going to stop at Mercury Drugs and get some medicine when we get off okay," Alecs says after seeing how ill I look. Shortly thereafter we arrive in San Mateo and pick up some ginger ale, fishermen's friends and medicine before walking to Tita Baby's house. The heat lays on us like a wet blanket and we all complain about how sticky our skin feels. "It's so much hotter here than in Lucena," I say wiping the sweat off my forehead. Alecs musters up a nod, unable to speak as the heat envelopes us, but moments later we are sitting at the kitchen table with three electric fans facing us. We greet everyone and I realize that last time I visited this house I was sick as well. "They must think I'm always sick," I whisper to Alecs, feeling guilty about it, "I feed bad." Alecs just tells me not to worry and to simply take it easy so I can get better soon. Back in Lucena Alecs purchased a rather fitting t-shirt which says 'Powered by Balut' on it (the partially developed duck egg he loves so much) which he now shows off to his family. "Tita look," he says jutting out his chest and pointing to his t-shirt, "powered by Balut." Tita Baby just shakes her head, laughing at his childish goofiness, but Alecs remains quite smug with himself. "I think you've changed Kuya

Alecs," B.A. tells me later that day. I look up from what I'm doing, "for the better or for the worse?" I ask a little afraid to hear the answer. "For the better," he laughs, "he's more relaxed, goofy and fun to be around. He used to be so serious." "Serious?" I say completely bemused, "are we talking about the same Alecs?" We spend most of our time in Joenel's attached office which has air-conditioning before heading to the eldest of Alecs' mom's siblings - Tita Tessie's house. A short five-minute tricycle ride away has us at the buzzing house full with people. I meet several more of Alecs' cousins and their kids and Tito Edwin (the only brother of Alecs' mom's 7 siblings) and his wife Tita Lenny, who have the best English skills of anyone in the family. Unfortunately my cold is now full-blown and I am barely able to sit up straight let alone carry a decent conversation. I try my best to be friendly but I become more and more dizzy as time passes by. Noticing this Alecs catches up as quickly as possible and then makes an early departure so I can rest back at the hotel. "Next time I promise not to be sick," I say as we walk down the hallway to our room, "I wish I was feeling better because your family is so much fun we could have been out all night." Alecs assures me next time will be better and sends me up to bed while he and B.A. talk well into the night. 

The next morning we wait for Tita Menchie and Kristine who are coming all the way from Lucena to meet us here. Back in Canada, Alecs and I shipped a box to the Philippines full of work clothes, shoes, ties, our Nintendo Wii, Alecs' laptop and much more to take with us to Australia. However as luck would have it the box is late and we need it ASAP. Since Alecs' parents also sent a box of goodies to Tita Menchie, both our boxes are in her name and we need her to pick them up from the central office. Therefore the morning is spent driving here and there, finding the box in a warehouse full of boxes and then catching a bus back to Lucena with

these impossibly heavy items. Once in the community we pick up some BBQ skewers from a vendor on the corner for dinner and load a Jeepney with our two boxes to the house. Once inside we all collapse after a long and tiring day at the kitchen table. We pile our plates with rice and take a few skewers of absolutely delicious (and I really do mean delicious) meat. "Try one of the pig intestines," Alecs says, happily taking a bite of his. "Pig intestines," I say, "you want me to put that in my mouth?" Alecs and B.A. laugh at me hungrily eating theirs without any qualms. Realizing that I need to be more adventurous in my food choices I decide to shut off my mind and just take a bite of the skewer of intestines. Luckily for me they actually don't taste too bad and the texture is similar to that of chicken. "See, I told you so," is all Alecs can say as he takes a second helping of rice. Feeling slightly more like a local and proud of being somewhat adventurous with my food choice I decide to pack it for the night attempting to rid myself of this cold.

Tomorrow we will relax and spend time here enjoying ourselves with no agenda, something we haven't done in a long time. 

Until next time so long,

Alecs and Meg in Lucena

Ps. There are no videos for this post but we did add a video of our golden banana hotel room in Cambodia to the March 28th post "WE'LL BE BACK I PROMISE". So if you're interested in seeing a great little hotel room check it out on the right-hand side under 'Old Stuff."