We woke up at 4 am this morning and by 5:30 we’re on the road to Hagonoy, Bulacan where we would meet-up with Edmund’s golf friends and families to have lunch at the palaisdaan of their friends Elmer De Leon, Zaldy Villa and Lito.
Edmund was worried to bring me along because he knew how scared I am to ride boats. But since this is a family event, I did not want to miss bonding with my husband and kids so I gamely went.
We stopped-by the Jollibee at the Petron gas station and had a cup of chocolate drink. Their friends, Chino Raymundo, Honor Mendoza, Elmer de Leon and thier respective families were already there waiting for us
Then we convoyed for an hour to a place in Hagonoy, Bulacan called CONSIGNACION.
We parked our vehicles at the huge warehouse/parking owned by Lito Lacap, who happens to be our generous host too.
We were told that this is the time for prawn harvesting.
Edmund assured me that the boat would be big and could accommodate 50 people. That was the information given to him by Elmer. When we saw the boat, it’s small, narrow and could only accommodate 20 people. There were blue monobloc chairs arranged in the boat. Oh no, I did not want to ride pero kasubuan na. It’s too embarrassing to back-out and I did not want to disappoint my family. So, with all my might, I hopped-in. I was thinking “and why am I exposing myself to this kind of activity that brings me nothing but fear?”
But I had to confront my fear. I don’t want to sit at home and do nothing. While I still can walk, hop, jump, then I want to spend more time outdoors with my family. When I was young, my father had several boats, yes I fell off one time and hang-on to my dear life, maybe today is the day that I would have closure. But not to fall-off the boat again, I hope.
The boat ride took an hour and a half through the dirty and murky river.
I felt so sad seeing the sorry state of this river. This could have been a beautiful river with the good leadership of the local officials and sincere cooperation of those living around it. Not yet too late, they can still clean this up.
According to the locals, the boat is still the faster way to travel from Bulacan to Pampanga.
After more than an hour of holding on to my dear life, praying to the heavens, super-hyperventilating, screaming and unashamedly crying when the boat tilts to the left and to the right, I finally reached our destination, a palaisdaan in the middle of the brackish water.
And of course, the banyo is the first destination, where is it? Do you have toilet paper?
My son accompanied me to the banyo, he’s the bantay
Banana trees in the middle of nowhere
Deep well
The owner’s abandoned rest house.
The owner prepared a seafood feast for us,
Pritong Biya
Pritong Tilapia, meron din inihaw
Family of Edmund’s friend Honor Mendoza, His daughter Gabby, wife Kit, another daughter, and Adrian.
Crabs, magsasawa ka sa dami
Despite the heat, and lack of comforts, we still enjoyed our brunch.
Eat and run.
Only Julienne and Marvin rode in the same boat. The host made me ride the speed boat because I was so nerbyosa nga. Faster daw yun and does not tilt and sway. Edmund accompanied me and the wife of Elmer.
My husband was so patient with me the whole time. He made sure I was less scared and comfortable.
I enjoyed the speed boat ride. It was faster and more stable. There were no waves kaya okay lang. It could have been more enjoyable if not for the terrible heat.
This looks more like a canal than a river. If you are missing a pair of tsinelas, you might find it here. Floating shoes, diapers, bottles, etc. abound. Parang nakaka -lungkot.
The speed boat dropped us off at a port somewhere in Pampanga, to ride a van that would bring us back to Hagonoy.
The heat was debilitating.
After half-hour, my kids’ boat arrived for a cold drink and they sailed again, leaving Edmund and I to ride the van.
It took the van more than an hour to Consignacion because the roads are narrow and baku-bako.
Another seafood feast was waiting for us, lunch daw yun.
Ang sarap nito, inihaw na bangus sa dahon ng saging, na merong sibuyas, kamatis sa tyan.
fresh oysters, mas masarap yung sa Sydney
Edmund bought some prawns and the crabs and ayungin were compliments of the owners.
I didn’t even know that they have ayungin also.
Biya, nung maliit ako, everytime ito ang ulam natin, laging natitinik ang papa ko. Pero sa susunod, kain na naman.
Masarap isawsaw sa kamatis na may pulang sibuyas.
We headed home before 3 pm. It’s nice to look at the old homes in the area. Some are huge Spanish mansions.
NLex, no traffic
The minute we got home, I ate this delicious atis from Sydney.
