San Juan, La Union

28 May 2008: I’m typing while on a plane from Manila to Iloilo to see Sean’s Aunty Vicky. We finally took off, after a 2 ½ hour delay. It’s about time! But, here’s a little bit about our previous trip.

Last Friday, we took off from Manila to San Juan, La Union which is in the Northern Luzon Province, considered the surfing capital of the Philippines. I asked our hotel concierge, Jun, how much it would cost to get a driver to take us there and he first gave us the “hotel” price. I asked him if there was any less expensive option and he hooked us up with Arvin. Unlike “drivers” in Europe, Arvin was not dressed up in a black suit, driving us in a slick, black Audi A6. Instead, he had an old white Toyota Corolla with peeling window tint and the strong scent of air freshener. But, it got us there! Apparently, there was confusion the evening that Sean called and arranged the ride. Arvin and his buddies already had a few beers. He picked us up expecting to take us to San Juan, Batangas, not La Union. That’s about halfway to where we wanted to go, so poor Arvin was in for a much longer day than he expected. He probably said goodbye to his family and told them he’d be back in the afternoon, but ended up getting home that night at 1:30am! Going down European freeways, 200-300 kilometers would have taken us 2-3 hours. In the Philippines, that same distance took us approximately 6 hours. Luckily, he didn’t charge us any more than the quoted price.

We left the bumper to bumper traffic of Manila down an expressway and I thought we were on our way. Shortly there after, we were on the MacArthur Freeway, a one lane road going through town, after town, after town. In between, there might be a large field with a caribou (water buffalo) or two and sometimes goats or chicken. Somewhere in the middle, we also saw quite a bit of damage from the typhoons that hit the Philippines the week before, the one’s that put a damper on the Boracay weather. This area was the hardest hit from the storms and we went through a couple towns that probably didn’t have electricity for a week. In this smoky area, they were still cleaning up the downed trees and power lines and burning branches. Some of the shacks were completely obliterated and corrugated metal roof tops were pulled up like an orange peel. Arvin was a good driver, but to drive in the Philippines is quite sketchy. I don’t think I’d attempt it, and I’ve driven in Central America. There’s this kind of organized chaos that takes some getting used to. Everyone goes wherever, however, to get to where they need to go. They honk every time they come up to someone, and they attempt to pass everyone they come up to. I still wonder if they need to replace their horns, which is unlikely in the US.

We stayed at the Sunset German Beach Resort where our stark room consisted of concrete floor, stucco walls and a bed platform made of brick. It reminded me of a large prison cell. I supposed it’s good for withstanding typhoons (although that area was not hit hard the week before) and rowdy surfers. It wasn’t smelly and there were no bugs. And at least, I didn’t have to worry about tracking sand in there or Kai breaking anything. The owners of the resort, Jan (German, pronounced “John”) and “Naynay” (Filipina wife, name literally meaning “second eldest daughter”) were very friendly, the rest of the grounds were very lovely with lush foliage and the food was excellent. Kailani instantly took a liking to all their very slim cats, including the smallest kitten she’s ever seen. It probably easily fit in Sean’s palm. Sean ate his share of homemade German sausage that was better than anything we had in Germany. And, their Filipino food was great too! The best part was that you just walked right out onto a beach, probably about a mile long, where you were lucky if you saw anyone. The sand wasn’t quite as white as Boracay, and the water wasn’t as blue as either. But, there wasn’t garbage all over the beach like in Boracay either. The water was warm and the weather steaming hot, so it was no effort to jump in and get wet. Unfortunately, the waves on this beach break were only ankle high. They only really pick up when there are typhoons. So yes, if we’d only flip-flopped the weeks we went to Boracay and San Juan, it would have been perfect.

We made the best with what we had and taught Kai how to ride waves on a boogie board for a couple days. Then, we graduated her to a long board. (The board was apparently left by Ken Kneeve (or Kim Kneefe?) from, of all places, San Jose. Apparently, he worked in management for BMW and would go there yearly. One year, he told Jan he was switching to Ford, the American car market took a dump and he never came back again. Thanks for use of the board!) Sean and I switched off on the board, sometimes with Kai laying on the front. She’s getting really brave in the water now. She kept jumping off the board or out of our arms and trying to swim. She’s able to hold her breath, kick her legs and paddle her arms. But, her head still doesn’t want to pop above water for her to breathe. Hopefully soon! Unfortunately, we all ended up a bit pinker than we should have that day, mostly my back and Sean’s. We enjoyed the longboarding a bit longer than expected and didn’t sunscreen our backs as we should have.

We started changing our minds about staying there a week. If we did, we’d only have a few more days left before flying to Bangkok. And, anywhere else we wanted to go to was a journey not worth just a couple days. So, the option was to stay in the “prison cell” for an extra half week, but that was getting old. Or we could say in Manila, but there was not much we wanted to do there. Also, guilt about flying halfway across the world and not seeing Sean’s aunt got the best of us. So, we called Arvin for a ride back to Manila. Of course, the waves picked up a little the morning that we left! The ride was almost as grueling as the ride there, but we managed. I took advantage of having Arvin there and asked all the questions I could think of about things in the Philippines, like “What the heck is up with all the ‘Pig Fattening Service’ signs on the side of the road?” and “What do they do with the goats?” and “You mean they only eat the goat meat and don’t milk the goats?!?!”

In Manila, I was finally able to get online and book flights to Iloilo, where Sean’s aunt lives. I tried to do in San Juan, but had trouble paying by credit card. I finally broke down and we went back to the mall to get a used cell phone (armed with some advice from Arvin), and Sean got Kai some movie downloads for his PSP (which we’ve had issues downloading ourselves). Oh yea, it’s actually MINE, given to me by Sean for Christmas! ;-) Going into the area of the mall where the cell phones and other techy stuff is sold is like an indoor flea market. All around you are the women at their counters trying to get your attention, with their singing voices, saying “Sir, Ma’am”, “Ma’am, sir, blah blah blah for sale for cheap!”. It’s hard to explain, but I don’t think I’ll forget what it sounds like. The other thing we hear a lot are the ladies that come up to Kai asking “Hi baby, what’s your name?” and “How old are you?” It’s hard to explain. You just have to hear it.