Pilgrimage

I am writing this before I am overtaken by time and the events are blurred in my memory. It's not about an earth-shattering event but a pilgrimage that my family took to Manaog (hope I spelled it right), Pangasinan two Sundays ago.
Manaog is a town in Pangasinan, a province north of Manila. It hosts a religious relic, the statue of Manaog in its church. The drive was about five hours in the van that my sister rented for the trip. We left early (is 3:oo a.m early?) to beat the traffic and to return home.
Since there was not much to see in the early morning inkiness, I decided to resume my aborted sleep in the back of the van. I woke up two hours later to a morning shrouded in light fog. I dozed again and opened my eyes minutes before we passed by the most spectacular sight on the road - the static display near the gate of Camp Aquino, the Headquarters of the AFP's Northern Luzon Command. There were planes, a light tank, armored vehicles parked near the road. I wish that we could get off to get a closer look and take pictures of the obsolete weapons.
My younger brother and I made a mental note of the site, located across the Luisita Mall which also displayed another eye-popping exhibit- an early locomotive model which we surmised was used to haul sugar to the mills for processing.
We rolled on to Manaog and reached our destination more than an hour later. All our plans of beating the traffic went out of the window as the place was teeming with people. Vehicles crawled like snails, other pilgrims roamed in large and smallg groups. We should have left at midnight to get prime seats and a good parking spot.
We had to wait for the next mass outside their old church. Its age showed in its thick walls that probably also served as a sanctuary from the elements and from other men in the old days. We went inside after the mass, but it seems that our plan was foiled by other early birds as all of the seats were already taken. We had to stand in the aisles during the Mass.
After the Mass, we went for a quick lunch before we headed back home. It turned out that my eldest brother had made a small roadside canteen his suki and he brought us there. We discovered why my brother has been frequenting the place. They served the most delicioud daing that I have tasted. After the meal, we went home. We had a lot more to see, including wide fields covered with lahar from Mt. Pinatubo and of course, Camp Aquino and its uniqwue exhibit.
Damn, it was an unforgettable trip!!!!

Wish I Was There

Hooray for the three Filipinos who have climbed Mt. Everest!!! I doof my hat off to them for their courage, unwavering will to triumph and for letting the whole country share in their victory. For those who have friends (especially the Sherpas, a very hardy and brave bunch!!!) who have made climbing to the so-called roof of the world as mundane as making trips to the toilet, then you have no idea that the achievement of Leo Oracion, Erwin Emata and Romy Garduce has boosted morale among their countrymen and reaffirmed their faith that they can stand shoulder to shoulder with the world's best. For the record, they were the first to do so and no doubt that many other climbers are waiting in the wings to try their luck.
The only blotch in the record was the controversy regarding the men's different patrons, who funded different teams, instead of pooling their resources and sending one team on different routes. It was a classic display of the proverbial Pinoy Crab Mentality where envy grips everyone when somebody is on the threshold of victory and they rush not to give the poor guy a much-needed push but to pull him down. It is sad but true, especially the way that GMA-7 and ABS-CBN competed with each other. I tell you, if dropping somebody on the summit by parachute or by chopper was allowed, the two warring networks would have done it.