The summer heat is draining water from my body. I drank half-glass of iced water after breakfast and a full glass of pure buko juice before leaving the house.
I did my rounds in Binangonan. There were a couple of things to do in preparation for the Holy Week.
My last stop was usually Jollibee (to pee) , but there was an unexpected traffic blockage leading to it. There were about 40 tricycles and two jeepneys trying to squeeze into a narrow passage. We turned left na lang at the first corner to get out of the masikip town. I remembered I needed to pee. It would still be an hour travel. When I saw this bigger- than- usual carinderia along the highway, we stopped.
They also have a small sari-sari store, fully enclosed with iron grills. Maraming magnanakaw siguro. Nung araw the stores in Binangonan didn’t have grills. When I bought candies, the tindera would even ask me to get from the jar. She didn’t count it. But I never got more than what I was supposed to. Limang piraso, singko. Hindi singko pesos, kundi singko sentimos.
Ang mura ng pagkain. Peso has more value here.
They were selling halo-halo so I ordered two big cups for my companions, but after 10 minutes, the tindera told me they ran out of ice.
Omb to companions——- “Wala na pala silang yelo, gusto nyo ba coke na lang?”
Companions————– “Pwede na rin Mam”.
Abah. That’s what you call expression of appreciation.
They have fresh mango shake daw. I ordered a cup for myself.
Tindera 1—— “Sampu isa”.
Omb———— “Sige, pero yung walang asukal”
Tindera 1—— “Anong size?”
Omb———— “Yung buong mangga ang ilagay mo”.
Tindera 1—— “mahal na, beinte na kasi malaki, beinte singko”.
Tindera 2—— “Kahit magkano kaya nyang bilhin, mura lang sa kanya yan”.
Antipatika naman ito. Hindi naman nya ako kilala, nakita lang nya siguro meron akong sasakyan.
I was in a hurry, it’s 5 pm and I wanted to reach the Jollibee in Angono so I could pee there instead. Mukhang hindi na aabot. I noticed the sign CR 5.00.
She couldn’t find the key to the toilet. She got a knife and tried to pry the door open.
While she was doing that, I covered my face with both my hands kasi na-wi-wee na talaga ako.
She couldn’t open it. I wanted to do it myself because I was confident I could. I tried to move the knob but it didn’t want to open. I wanted to kick the flimsy door but I would definitely destroy it. Instead of paying five pesos for the use of their CR, I might end up spending a few thousand.
I will now try to resist drinking buko juice before going on a long trip.
This town is becoming less accessible to me. With the opening of Puregolds in Darangan, traffic has worsen. It now takes some 40 minutes to get out of this town. Kaya ayaw ni Edmund pumunta dito.
