u-journal

I am doing my laundry now. I am at ‘Westgate Plaza’ at ‘De La Costa’ street. First time I come here for laundry. They have self-service here. I use it for washing my towels, it is ridiculous expensive to wash them in a regular laundry-service, since the price of washing each towel comes up to 30% of it’s brand new price… CRAZY! Anyway, towel-pricing is not my business… I am waiting for Becky now. I never wrote about her, but she is nice. Becky is a Filipino girl. I have heard that her actual age is something like 30 to 33 years old… That’s completely incredible either physically nor mentally She looks 22 to 24 and she acts 16 to 18. She is cool. She is funny. Yeah, she is Becky… Most active Filipino person I know so far. Always ready to help, always ready to party… always late, like now… I am glad that my yesterday experience has already been assimilated in a positive way, in a good ‘mental mood’, let’s say. Yeah! Seems like my last days mental instability is calming down and turning, twisting into this general good mood that I am enjoying now. Stephany is coming soon! That’s probably a big help within me, within my brain. This tiny mental emptiness reached it’s bottom a few days ago, when I read Stephany’s complaining email.

Here I am, at half of the way of the Mayon volcano. Impressive view. Really shocking. I climbed with two guides. I have taken pictures of them… The beginning of the ascension was really HARD. I could barely keep my breathe. One guy in the front, one guy in the back. Front guy using a long knife to make the way. Nice ascending; full of vegetation, full of little animals, full of peace. It’s a pity that none of the guides speak English… They seem to have a good knowledge of the area… but don’t understand my questions… pity… I can see from here how much sulfur the crater is releasing… It looks like one of these steal industries, spitting out their shit into the sky… impressive! I think this may be half of the way up, around 1200m high. Vegetation fades down right now… I guess that happens from the “1000 meters limit”. Guides do NOT want to go up ANY more; they just point the peak while saying: “no more, danger”. I guess the danger now is within these sulfur brown clouds which float some hundred of meters above us… Anyway, no more hiking UP the volcano for this time… Maybe next? Uf, seems like some equipment is MANDATORY, including mask, breathing tanks, boots and suit… Next time another volcano will be attempted; this is the highest and riskiest. It is actually one of the most active volcanoes nowadays… Too much for beginners, probably… I am just leaving NOW this little village called ‘Tabaco’. I got some problems, but I am thinking really positively now. I learnt a lot! That’s the story: I took an overnight bus from Manila to Legaspi. Legaspi seems to be big, a little more “cosmopolitan” than Tabaco, let’s say… By mistake, I went down in Tabaco. What scares me now is that it is really easy to have this mistake according to the chaotic traveling system, where unknown agendas are usual… Anyway, that’s another subject… So, I arrive to Tobaco. I am the only non-Filipino person for the last… 15 hours. Immediately bunches of people jump into me offering ANYTHING: luggage transportation, food, drink, jewelry, passenger transportation… ANY! I refuse and go to book my return ticket. The woman from the office makes - after a while of negotiation - me to “hire” one of the bus station guards as travel guide. Why? My adventure travel book says that a guide for Mayon volcano is required… Ok, I hire him… with a friend… that’s common here. They take me to the “trekking point” of the volcano. Ok, I take my walk… Wonderful! They are waiting for me to go down… We ride a motorbike down the hill… And then comes it all. They wait for me to pay… I give them the 50 pesos remaining to complete the 100 pesos which I THOUGHT were the total… They do not agree. The problem is that I feel fucking harassed… I feel like if this couple of guys might do whatever with me. I know that AT LEAST one of them owns a gun, because he is security guard. I feel weak, alone… I know I am at the losing part… I know I have to pay. And I do pay. I pay 200 pesos more. I leave. I am pissed. I feel like this stupid-harmless rebel who thinks that knows it all… It is a good therapy for proud-eating, I think at least… Then look for a place to have lunch. I am tired. I am hungry. I am pissed. I am nervous. I am AFRAID. I am not sure if these guys are already satisfied or not… I realize then where the Hell I am: in the middle of nowhere. A security guard and his friend want money from me. Does not sound so nice… I make a plan: go to Legaspi for taking the bus to Manila, bypassing Tabaco station. The guys know that I am leaving at 7pm from there… Just in the moment I start going to the Jolybee (Filipino version of McDonald’s) security guard for asking information I see him talking to one of the harassers… FUCK! I finish my nasty burger and decide to face them. They are waiting for me outside. - What is EXACTLY what you need? - 200 pesos more - Is that all? - 200 pesos - Here you have - I give the money to them. - Thanks sir! Sir… - offering his hand to shake… - I don’t want your hand - and I leave

Back from the beach. Feeling calmer now, much better. Actually, as soon as I was interrupted writing - last time - everything begun to look much better… Now I am lying on my bed. I have just seen the Six Nations rugby match. Great! France won. They played MUCH better, actually. That could be another feature that makes rugby such a “romantic” sport. Seriously! First thing immediately after I opened my place door was to check email. I knew there was going to be something from Stephany… And, yeah, a pair of deep-really-Stephany messages were waiting for me. They made me come back to my mental quasi-balance, which is always nice… I’ll use some of my time to reply her, and continue with my anti-laziness therapy. First step is to start emailing more often… Seriously, I am thinking in such way now… My snob weekend is over. There is now a lovely free day calling me. Like the Blue Bus. Well, more physically… not so psycho-actively… Anyway, Tuesday… FREE. Seems to be a perfect occasion for starting knowing the Philippines in a more real way. That is, getting rid of the snob mood. My options are few: boat or bus. Biggest problem: information gathering. I’ll try to do it tomorrow. I need a brighter lamp for my bed; I am going blind here…