August 1, 2010
We decide to check out the wharf area a bit more before leaving… it was sad. Chinese tourists running around snapping photos of each other while throwing peace signs. But I did take a nice pic of Lauren taking a pic of them… she’ll thank me for it someday. And we watched some local boys get into a fist fight on the pier… that was kind of interesting. Then we wandered through the kitschy souvenir shops. Lots of little items, most looking imported… women and children who hit up tourists as they step down from their vehicles. That was about all we could take… but we did enjoy a nice view of the islands before leaving… pretty little islands, oh what a shame what has happened to you.
On the tricycle ride to the bus terminal we talk a bit about our reactions to this place… why were others so excited and we weren’t? Have we been here too long? Are we that jaded? Were are our smiling selves? I pondered that maybe we see things through different eyes than the others we encountered… we know what life the people living here experience. While it is cheap to the tourists, it makes us sad. And the fact that some see it as some great destination and we didn’t find it that way… we have a different idea of a holiday. Maybe that is the spoiled American coming out of us. But if we do make it to one of the world-renown beaches of the Philippines, will we still be saddened because we know the other side of this beautiful country? And I do want to take a moment to add that the landscape from Cabanatuan to the Islands is beautiful. Mountains, rice and crop fields… everywhere is a lush green… big, blue skies. It really is beautiful… I found myself smiling out the bus window as we passed through the little towns and all in between. And the people, when not pestering us about tricycles and boats, are kind and welcoming and that creates another type of beauty. But I have many thoughts about the people, which I’m sure I’ll write about some time… maybe not many thoughts, but my impression.
The bus rides back were on rickety buses again… now what do I mean by this? Hard seats, my butt was sore from sitting for hours like this… the air-com is opening the large windows, they are grimy… not the nice buses with comfy, plush seats… and one bus was so packed, including birds. There were three of us on one bench – that is a good description of the seat. But we made it home… when I saw the shops that line the streets in Accfa, I smiled… home. Funny how I now find Accfa comforting…
