Road Trip: Lanuza (Part 2)

When we arrived in Lanuza a little after noon, several things struck me as odd.  First was that we had been cruising at a reasonable speed along the highway and had to stop suddenly because it appeared we had just entered a subdivision.  We were about to backtrack when Joey turned the van onto a road that led to the ocean, which was only meters away from where we were.  Of course, Joey got out immediately to check out the waves and we (Ed, Chi-Chi and I) got out to take pictures.  My brother then communicated with his friend, who was the Mayor of the town, and we were instructed to go to a certain house.  When we got there, I got my second and third surprises.  One, the mayor was a young man (I guess my image of "mayor" is a tad old-fashioned, that he/she must be older) and two, the house he was directing us to was to be our 'hotel' or homestay.

What is a homestay?  Instead of looking for capital and constructing new buildings, the local government unit decided to convert their old houses into vacation homes, much like in the US.  They are actually fully-furnished houses whose occupants find the space too big for their own use, so they let out rooms to travelers, or surfers, in this case.  How much is the rent?  Oh, just the minimal fee of P200/head/night.  It's a municipal ordinance; we were impressed.  The house we were given was owned by the mayor's aunt.  So we chose our rooms, brought in our bags and settled in... at least the rest of us did.  Joey disappeared immediately.  Hehe, well, it was to be expected.  After all, we did come to this far place because he wanted to chase some waves.

Anyway, later in the afternoon, when the sun wasn't too hot, Ed and I decided to explore.  The town proper wasn't very big and you could walk right around it in just a few minutes.  There was a small plaza, with a basketball court and the municipal hall, a small market and an eatery right next to it.  Then I got my fourth surprise.  The main highway tapered to a narrow two-lane road and appeared to end just a couple of blocks from our homestay.  When we walked over to the corner, the road turned to the right and widened again as it flowed on out of the town.

All in all, it is a quaint place to be.  Everybody knows everybody, even the bus drivers and jeepney drivers.  Everyone had a smile even for visitors like us.  It was pleasant to see a family set up a banana cue stand just around the corner from our homestay and as the afternoon became evening, all their bananas were bought by none other than their neighbors.  We ate dinner at the small eatery.  At around 6:48 pm, there was an earthquake.  The ground shook, the eatery shook and we could hear the stones from the beach shaking.  We were looking for something sturdy to hide under, yet, the people sitting at the next table didn't even react.  So we asked them if earthquakes were a common occurrence...  They said yes.  Okay, no worries.

Now Back to Our Regular Program...

DAY 3 (of our Trip to Koronadal)

Early the next morning, we left our dorm to drive over to Polomolok, where Dole Philippines is located, for breakfast... o ha? It was a beautiful day... the sun was rising... there was a light haze which was slowly lifting... and we were accompanied by the majestic outline of Mt. Matutum all the way. Our friend from Dole, Mr. Leo Balito, met us at the entrance and gave us a quick run-through of the place as we drove towards their exclusive clubhouse in the middle of their Manager's Compound.

Of course, having been born and raised in Del Monte Philippines myself, I couldn't help but compare the two. DM soil is clayey, while Dole's is sandy; Cawayanon has fewer houses than Dole's compound but the former's golf course has 18 holes where the latter has only 9. On the other hand, there were tons of similarities: their education systems are both based on American schools, their houses were build to fit American lifestyles and, the signature feature of American suburban living-- wide open spaces!

After breakfast, we headed back to Koronadal. Since we weren't in a hurry-- we weren't really interested in the morning topics-- we decided to stop by the famous Durian Garden, of which Leo had spoken so highly of. According to him, we could have our fill (eat-all-you-can) of durian for only P99. By all means, let us prove that to be true. When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to see that not only did they have durian, but also ornamental plants of all shapes and sizes! Our plant-lovers were in ecstasy!

That night, though several chambers had already left for home, the ones that remained were invited by none other then the owner of the mall (Fit Mart Mall) in which the convention was held. It was there that we felt we were Paupers in Queens' clothing because all the other delegates were owners of large capital businesses (malls, schools, supermarkets, etc.). Then again, knowing this just added to our enjoyment of the evening, which consisted, again, of a lot of food, impressive entertainment and good company.

Only one thing marred the evening: around 7:54, a shaking began. At first we thought a truck had passed by, but as the shaking extended to 7:55 by my watch, we knew that we were experiencing an earthquake. No one was hurt, in fact, since we were seated out in the courtyard of this huge house, we were appeased to know that nothing would accidentally fall on us. Other than this, the party was a success.

As soon as the program ended (9:30pm), we left, pleading fatigue, but actually it was to ensure we had a good night's sleep for our travel home the following day.