No Show Driver, Rain, and a Disappearing Man

         Back in September after the first Bi-monthly, our class had been longing to go and have a holiday in Canigao Island (they saw our pics from our visit when Ted and Rachel came to visit).  But there was always a reason not to go- practical exams, long quizzes, and all those stresses of med life.  Last Friday, after we finished our Finals in Psychiatry, we finally resolved THIS WAS IT!  We were going to Canigao.

             Problem 1: We were on tight budget, I mean it's the semester's end so people only had a few bucks to spare before going home to their provinces.  I was used to traveling on a shoestring budget, so I told them we can actually pull off a Canigao holiday for merely Php500.  Tipid trip means we have to cook and prepare our own food, bring lots of de latas.  We met Friday night at Mcdonalds so we could all go together to our house where they will sleep over because the driver will arrive at 4am.

                Problem 2:  Tacloban is such a small city, that almost all stores/ groceries were already closed by 8pm!  Good thing I went to the market earlier that day so we just reimbursed the cost of the Shrimp, Pork, and Chicken and let Ate Noreen buy the next day.  And so we cooked and prepared and waited for dawn.  But as  dawn came, and the first rays of the sun  the driver was a now-show.  I called up all the drivers I knew, and no one was free, worse comes to worst, Hannah said- we'll just be the ones to drive!  Luckily my mechanic called and said he has someone who is interested in driving us (2days) for 350 a day.  The thing is, that would be the first time I'll meet the driver.

 

 

       And so we went on the road, 4 hours late from our planned departure time.  We reached Matalom by 11am, went to their market to buy ice and fish.  Our food consisted of Adobong Manok, Pork Sinigang, and Shrimp we cooked the night before, 6 cans of Bluebay Tuna, Rice, a kilo of fresh fish we bought from their market which we will grill for dinner, 2 gallons of Pink Lemonade (my brother brought a lot from the US), soft drinks and water.

 

           Med 1 students celebrating the end of the 1st semester- Thad, Ivy- Med Tech from St Scho, Hannah a nurse from Western Leyte, Jayzel who took up Basic Medicine in Manila, Kat and Jonathan- nurses from Samar, Trina, a BS Bio major from UP Tac, and Josh, a nurse from Cebu Doc.

  

We finally reached our destination and set up camp... We had lunch and despite rains now and then, it promised to be the perfect day indeed!

I slept outside while my classmates were inside their tents.  First time to sleep under the stars. Amazing!

           And oh, the drama I was talking about?  We searched the entire island by snacktime early afternoon for our driver because we couldn't find him. I called the boat office on the mainland to check if the Fx was still there (I gave the keys to the driver, thinking that he would be with us the whole time. But since he disappeared I was worried he went away in the vehicle).  I went with the boatmen to the mainland even though they insisted that the vehicle was there including the driver, I told them firmly I need to see it for myself.  Relief came over me when we docked, I was pretty pissed the driver didn't ask permission that he was going to the mainland.  He told me he wanted to sleep in the car.  I gave him money from dinner and breakfast and told the management we would be going back to the mainland by 10am the next day.  All was well, so we hitched back to the island with a couple of fishermen.

 

Good night!