Day 3, Candelaria

A lifetime in one day, thus the hangover from it all.

JohnFunk leaves on 6AM Victory Liner to Pangasinan. Meanwhile, the Ednave-Defensor-Manalo compound has been astir since 5A, Auntie B.’s usual hour of bangon [wake-up], and 1 hour past Auntie M.’s first meds. M&D: plastado. Kuya T, Niña, plastados. Out of the signature Philippine generosity, none makes the first run to the single CR (lights now operational!) for the much needed morning bath. Enter Ate Nida from the Escaler bahay kubo; Ivy, & Seth in tow. Dad goes out to graze the bukid [farmland] grounds, mind flooded with ideas. Quick PAGASA pow-wow : 6:30A Mass. It is pistahan {a festival in commemoration of St. Vincent Ferrer} -- too many crowds. (and the HEAT!) Besides, Leyon wants to pass up on the Mass plan. OK, no Mass. Later na lang when we get back to Manila.

Pack up soundtrack:

ligpit, hanap, balot…
ligpit, hanap, balot…
hanap, ligpit
hanap ligpit
hanap ligpit balot..
hanap*
hanap hanap
ligpit ligpit
hanap ligpit balot
karga!

[Break for Coffee and Pan de Sal at the Escaler Kubo]

Karga hanap
Balot balot
Ligpit ligpit
Balot balot
Ligpit
Karga!
ALIS NA {Time to GO]

[*hanap=to search for; ligpit=to arrange/put away; balot=to wrap/pack; karga=to load up/to carry]

So.. next: Breakfast at Sonya’s, the Barangay school Principal. An newly-reno antique Spanish home, spectacular spiral staircase with bamboo handrail and detail. Menu: A Filipino-American buffet breakfast with longanisa[sweet breakfast sausage], itlog[fried egg], pansit[noodle dish]; the local white bread, sliced American cheese and of course, the ubiquitous mangga. And duhat[looks like native grape but really more like a black cherry because it has a stone like a cherry but tasting quite different from both–sweet with a hint of tannin]!

off to the San Roque site (same as Fri), re-configured for inside the Barangay Hall. The PAG-ASA clockwork ticks in and clicks, fully charged. Nida had to exclaim "Did you notice Anna, something different today? Everyone is happy!" (JF absence implicated, still without mention). Everyone is groggy from the karaoke all-nighter ...the poor caged up tuta [dog] barking nonstop...the hazy-lazy, subconscious and magical aura that is a personal Philippine Dream - amounts to a very laid back, summer-paced work ethic. Notable: Leyon shamelessly masks himself before performing BP of a TB patient; Minor surgery - the barangay Polis woman needs some SERIOUS (like,eeew) wound clean up; patients-in-waiting all lollipopped with dum-dum giveaways. But everyone was all smiles by 2P, after the last local volunteer got their medical look-see, and the ASCO pharmaceutical perks were distributed. A RESOUNDING smile.