Wednesday, January 17, 2007

And While We're on the Subject of Transportation... (and because this is the first time I'm seeing this photo again after one year)

Pierre and I were on a pre-wedding road trip of Luzon in 2005 and wanted to get ourselves from Manila to Bicol. Looking at the map, we decided to take the coastal route. It should be more scenic. So we turned left.

A few kilometers in, we were struck by the isolation. No other vehicle shared the road with us. There was a lone jeepney, but it was going the other way. Disrupting the calm would be the children of the occasional roadside community, shouting something as we'd pass. Figuring this to be the usual "Hey, Joe!" screamed at every male foreigner, regardless of nationality and actual name, we paid no attention. We were actually a little sick of it already. Stupid us, they were only trying to help. Two-thirds in, just when we thought we'd reach Legaspi in no time, our car ran into this:


Rock and earth piled at a minimum of four meters, and maybe quadruple that at its highest. A young man who had just clambered over from the other side told us that there was another landslide some kilometers forward. So of course we turned back, passing several of the children as we went. This time they kept silent.

5 comments:

Gina said...

OOUCHHH! That hurt! =P
That just shows we should listen to kids....sometimes.

decorator said...

ay punta kang antique! take the road trip from iloilo to san jose... the last time (jan 8), we had about four of those. pero nadadaanan na...one way nga lang-- walang salubungan.

at some areas, the entire street bumaba ng 5 to 10 mts deep... so dahan-dahan lang baka lumipad ang kotse mo.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" in reverse.

Anonymous said...

You were lucky that kids were trying to help you. When hubby and french friends were in Banaue trekking aba kids are showing there ass off, sticking their tongues out and they even tried to throw stones pero yun nga si Bernard tried to stop them hahaha!

Apol said...

Exactly, GINA and KAT.

GWYN,5 to 10 meters deep? Ang daming namatay?

HAZE, showing their asses off and throwing stones? Weird kids.