Tagaytay

I got home (from work) at noon and learned that Tatay was about to fetch Louraine at her dormitory. I told him I'd like to come with him. Having no sleep yet for the whole night until the following morning, I feel I still had the energy.

The sun was in all its glory when we left pacita, and interestingly, rain came pouring down when we reached Louraine's dormitory. Iba na talaga ang kamandag ng balat sa pwet ng kapatid ko... I thought. Just when I thought I'd ask Tatay to go to Tagaytay. However, we still went to Tagaytay. It was after conniving with Louraine that she'd tell Tatay it was her who wanted to go. I was to shy, or too chicken, to ask for it.

And there goes our road trip! On the way to Tagaytay, I silently prayed for the rain to stop. It was answered! It was drizzling lightly to no rain at all when we got there. Tatay asked where we particularly wanted to go. We said we just want to see the view, the taal volcano, the flowers and the lake. Okay then, so we'd just pass by so you'd see the views, he said. Louraine suggested that we go to the picnic grove.

Along the way, I said I'd like to stop first for a nice, clean and pleasant smelling restroom. We found a restaurant at the side of the road so we pulled over. As we are going in, two men approached and tried to convince us to avail for the boat ride. A round trip boat ride costs 1,500. Of course, we declined, since we have no plans of riding a boat that day.

Before going to the restroom, I ordered first. I asked for a clubhouse and a mango shake. When I joined the two of them at the table, Tatay told me he ordered for a pansit and toasted bread, while Louraine had asked for another mango shake. The clubhouse was not really satisfying, but the pansit was good. I payed for our meal, and guess what? For that merienda menu, I have to pay 400 pesos. Oh well, this is something that doesn't happen everyday, you know? So shedding of 400 bucks didn't really hurt.

While having our merienda, which was by the way lunch for Tatay, we were exchanging text messages with Nanay. Nanay, on that time, was at her office. We told here that where we're at and even joked that it was the Revo that we've brought. You know Nanay, she's too possessive over the Revo.

Citing our conversation:

Tatay: dali, I text mo ang Nanay, sabihin mo revo ang dala natin. Tignan mo, matataranta yun
Me: okee... (sending her a text message)
--- 5 minutes interval
Nanay: you're joking! Corolla and dala nyo, hindi revo! (reading from her text message)
The three of us: *laughing*

After we finished our meals, we decided to take the talisay route on going home. Actually, there are three routes to choose from, the one leading to Sta. Rosa (this is the shortest possible path), the one to cavite, and the longest path, the one going to talisay. Picnic grove was out of the picture already, since the restaurant we dined in had a great view and a good restroom. Part of what I've paid for, I guess.

By the way, before we left the restaurant, we told nanay that it was the talisay road we're taking. She forcibly objected to it, but we still did go on. Matitigas talaga ang ulo.

The road was like the one we pass on going to Quezon province, the bitukang manok. But it is,I think, more dangerous. And it was then that I understood why Nanay was protesting that we don't take that path. We have even passed by a car that had over-heated, and a jeep beside it that would like to take advantage of the situation. Unsafe as it was, it was worth the ride! The taal volcano could be seen clearly since we are more closer to it. We pulled over again beside a sign that says "lot for sale". We took pictures, enjoyed the view, felt the cold wind on our faces and then left.

In about 20 minutes, we reached the town proper of Talisay. Since nanay, in her text message earlier, told us that she wanted some talbos ng sayote, we stopped over at the town market. I found it weird that the market only had a few stalls opened, and I could count in one hand the shoppers I saw. It seemed like it was good Friday that time. Such a lonely place.

We saw no talbos, but Tatay bought two Upos. Afterwards, we went to the shoreline for another view of the taal volcano. Some men, the bankeros I presume, asked if we wanted a boat ride. The boat ride there costs 1,000 pesos. Again, we politely declined.

Since we are already in batangas, which incidentally is tatay's province, we stopped over at their ancestral house in santor, tanauan. He said he wanted to pull out some of his crops as a pasalubong for lola. It was the balinghoy I'm talking about. I haven't eaten a balinghoy yet but from the looks of it, I think it resembles a kamote, and probably taste like a kamote, too. Tatay led us to his balinghoys and even asked me to take a picture of it so that Lola will see that a balinghoy could grow as tall as our house, because Lola thinks that balinghoys only reach up to 3 feet tall only.

We got home at 5:30. Imagine, I have been in 3 provinces in less than a day! What a day it was!

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**NOTE: this had taken place on January 20.