Memoirs of an Amnesiac

It was supposed to be just a 3-hour drive from Nasipit, a town near Butuan, yet it took those 13 people loaded inside a Starex van more than 3 hours to reach their respective destinations.

To the two of us who were not familiar with the place, the trip brought us mixed emotions. I guess it is expected for those who had just been in a new place. We were both excited and anxious. Excited because the trip seemed like forever and we're taking in every sight we see, engulfing them like water going down one's throat on a scorching summer day. And anxious because we seemed to be taking the same road with the usual road signs, as if someone in the Cebuano term, "gimino." (We were almost about to take off our shirts and turn them inside out.) The only nice thing about the trip was that two of our companions hail from the place we were heading.

Anyway, on the first hour of the trip, a friend challenged me to count the number of Starex vans that we would meet. Starex vans were a normal sight there, being the only mode of transportation that could travel long distances. I was up for the challenge. I counted probably almost 6 when my eyes were droopy and I gave in to exhaustion. When I woke up an hour after, I was caught in the conversation of two ladies who were discussing how to get there.

She was obviously travelling by herself and was scared about riding. She unfortunately rode in a wrong van. Her route, shall we say, is supposed to be on the other way. So imagine all of us who were very silent about the trip became all of a sudden acquaintances when faced with a dilemma at hand. My two other companions offered suggestions. One man whom i thought was drunk (because he spoke in a rather different tone, that of a "Kamayo," a native dialect here), offered another route while the rest averred. I was there, an observer and was taking the scene like a movie goer almost about to give it a rating.

The confused woman then asked whether she could borrow a cell phone so she could text her son to fetch her up. Because I was a Suncellular subscriber and the cellsite signal was poor there, I had not offered mine. But my good friend who was a Globe postpaid subscriber willingly offered hers. The driver at the same time, was also worried about her. He was not the one who talked her into taking that ride but the dispatcher.

So, in short, we arrived at my friend's place, too exhausted, hungry and were ready to burst our bladders. (We did not go down during stop overs (to our disappointment) because we were hurrying up to go home.) We have been on the travel for 27 hours and yet our spirits seem all liven up.

Nothing beats an adventure packed with a lot of humanity.