Bound for Ilocos 2011

It was for the funeral of my Lola last year that I was last in Ilocos, the home province of my father and maternal grandfather. Obviously, it was not a trip taken out of pleasure but of familial duty.  I should say that the family is also the reason for this trip although the occasion is to be a happy one: the christening of a cousin from my mother's first cousin, a Valido. That's how large a Filipino family is.

This particular journey, however, was "launched" not from my usual base in Manila, but from my hometown, Cabanatuan City, since I am on vacation from work since the last two days of March. 

The baptism is scheduled on Sunday, in the town of Nueva Era.  The invitation to the event and my confirmation of attendance was actually made such a long time ago that I waited for a repeat of the process. It finally occurred last night. However, even until this morning, I still planned on leaving only tomorrow night, a Friday, since I feel that I have some other family obligations to fulfill in Nueva Ecija. Besides, I want to save my money which should last me until the end of this month and not a day earlier.  My loving dad, however, in a sense, shoved me out of our house's door.  He assured me that he would take care of that which I was concerned about. He added, as well, that it is more practical for me to go now given the amount of money and time I will be spending on traveling. In a way he was saying: Be wise with your money!

And so here I am at a Jollibee store of the Metro Town Mall in Tarlac City, at the intersection of the north to south Maharlika Road and the east to west highway that goes all the way back to Sta. Rosa in Nueva Ecija.  It is almost 9 pm.  Not knowing the departure time of the last bus out of my city, I had to leave Cabanatuan in a huff, and doing so caused me forget a towel, among other essential things.  It turned out that my ride, at 6:10 pm was the second to the last trip; another bus was leaving at 7 pm.

The journey to Tarlac was made on an ordinary aka not air-conditioned Baliwag Transit bus. Judging from its condition, I bet it belongs to the fleet of buses my brothers and I used to take to visit our cousins here in Tarlac in the late 1980s. My 5'11" height and 200 lb weight barely fitted into the space in between the seats. The interior paneling was mostly rusted and the sound the bus made while speeding through the highway was akin to a rickety ladder. With passengers getting on and off the bus at so many points and the driver even stopping to visit his family, the supposed to be 45 minute travel lasted an hour and a half. With the jeepney as the other choice for means of public transport in this part of the country, it seems that Baliwag did not really care to improve their services for the last two decades.