Manito

It is neither a habit of mine to "maki-piyesta" nor a family practice of ours to celebrate our town's fiesta. But a few days ago, a friend of mine invited me to a fiesta celebration of St. Raphael the Archangel in Manito, Albay.

Manito is among the towns located on the mountains that I always see every time I cross Rizal St. in Penaranda Park. It was in 2007 that I was first invited by my friend to go to Manito with friends from the office. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to go around the town because we left almost ten am and arrived almost noon. We went first to a port which was under construction, then to a boiling lake or swamp called "naaso" and had lunch at my friend's relatives house.

The most enjoyable part was swimming in the afternoon at the beach in Cawayan, Manito. The beach is not similar to the popular beaches in the Philippines but it brought back nostalgia of Boracay and Puerto Galera. I still even have the tanning lotion I used. While the rest of my colleagues were busy cooking and swimming, I was busy with my tan. I poured generous amount of it all over my body in the hope that I will get a tan but the three to fours hours of swimming and sunbathing did not even help change the color my skin. I miss my tanned look.

We left the shores quickly because the waves were rushing so fast due to high tide. Good thing I was able to save the shells I have collected along the shores earlier which I gave to my mom as souvenir. I also bought a broom which was their famous product.

In September 2009, I went back to Manito. I brought along my students, camera, foods and drinks.We arrived earlier than the last time.We did not only eat, drink and swim but we also did team building activities. It was actually my second team building which I organized. Though it rained later in the afternoon, we still enjoyed our bonding and the setting. We enjoyed so much that we lose track of time. There were no jeepneys passing by anymore because it was almost five pm when we left and it was a Albay District Fiesta holiday. We had a hard time looking for a ride home that I decided that three of us will walk going to the nearest terminal and the rest will stay in the waiting shed and halt a jeepney or a private vehicle that passes by.

I felt a little bit worried while we were walking because there were really no signs of transportation. We stopped in a sari-sari store and after a few minutes we heard voices shouting "Sir! Sir! Sir!". It was my students riding at the back of an L-200 type of vehicle. We got inside the car, smiled and said Thank you to the man and woman as we sat on the back seat.

My students were enjoying the view from the back load that I can even hear their noise inside the car.
I on the other hand was very silent and was praying that no accident will happen. We stopped in an office where the girl who have not introduced herself to us said that she is just going to drop off something. The man driving was probably  her boyfriend.

We were dropped off at Jollikod. I tried to pay for the ride but they did not want to. I was beyond thankful!