BACK TO NATURE: It’s probably out of character for me, but I decided to be holy on Holy Week and what better way to be holy than to commune with nature. No drinking, no carousing, no pleasures of the flesh, no nighttime evil thoughts, just early to bed, early to rise and count Mother Nature’s offerings. So, Hundred Islands in Pangasinan seemed to be the perfect place to go in hopes that I would be a better person for all this fresh air and clean living. However, I did NOT become a better person for it.
* * *
Unprepared as usual and with no reservations for a hotel room during the busiest time of the year for the little pier town of Lucap, the jumping off point for the islands, I got in the car with an old Kano pal of mine and started off on the adventure. We spent our first night in Angeles City where we decided to go on an educational mission and see if it was still the wild, sinful, lustful town it had been in past years. It most assuredly has not changed a bit. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were so many wholesome-looking girls strolling on Fields Avenue, no doubt headed for church or maybe visiting parents or relatives at this holy time, all looking lovely, wearing professional makeup with jeweled eyelashes, sexy, revealing tank tops and low rise short, shorts or jeans exposing nubile belly buttons with glittering things hanging from them. I will admit that it did make it very hard to practice restraint and concentrate on clean living and other good thoughts. But we both brushed the devil off of our shoulders and managed to get evil thoughts out of our system, since we were there strictly as observers and doing research for the good of mankind. We also decided that it was not an appropriate place for two bashful, bobo Kanos to be in the night before Maundy Thursday. We ignored our lustful thoughts, controlled our few feelings of guilt, packed our bags and continued on to Pangasinan.
* * *
A friend in Angeles City gave me the phone number of a hotel in Lucap and strongly suggested we call ahead and make a reservation or we just might end up sleeping on the beach. I spoke to a pleasant girl on the phone named Luvy, from “Maxine’s by the Sea” resort in Lucap. “Yes,” she assured me. “ I have two single rooms for you and I will hold them until you arrive.” “Don’t worry!” Luvy assured me. “My word is my bond.” About an hour later, I received a text from Luvy. “Sorry” she said, “We just rented all our rooms. No more space for you.” I immediately called back and asked about all this “my word is my bond “ stuff to which I received a period of awkward silence and finally Luvy’s embarrassed voice: “unless you give a deposit of 50%, we cannot hold a room for you. “But,” I pleaded, “how can I leave a deposit if I am driving in the car right now, headed for your resort?” Long pause, no reply. “Sorry sir.” And then I heard the click of the phone closing down. So much for Luvy’s word is her bond story. We kept going, slowing down to witness the many passion parades, for which Pampanga is famous, with cross-bearing zealots dragging the huge wooden crosses down (or maybe up, as the case may be) the highway in the midday heat next to flagellants who were delightfully beating themselves bloody.
* * *
About 5 hours later, we arrived in Alaminos and then another 10 minutes drive to Lucap where we discovered there were no rooms available anywhere. Most of the local folk had even rented out rooms in their own homes to cash in on the Holy Week fever.
We drove back to Alaminos and were told there were no rooms available in the whole town except for a place called the Rose Inn, opposite the local cemetery, which we quickly discovered was a love motel, complete with the private doors that hide your car from prying eyes and guarantee your privacy for the few hours you might be there. The room boys looked at the two of us old fart Americans and the all-knowing grins on their faces were apparent.
|
|
“That’ll be P800 for the room, good until noon the next day, if you decide to stay that long.” “But we want two rooms,” I explained with a very embarrassed look on my face. You see,” I stuttered,”it’s not like you think.” We’re just a couple of guys who need a place to sleep for the night and we will go back to the Hundred Islands in the morning. There was only one room available, but if we waited someone surely would be finished with their short time business so we waited and sure enough, a garage door opened and a car with very dark windows rolled out and left. So, we finally got our rooms and discovered after we paid that the showers did not work, but management thoughtfully provided a bucket of water with a cup to pour on our tired bodies. The room did have TV, but mine didn’t work, but it looked good to have in the room. Good thing we were smart enough to bring our own pillows and some blankets because it came in handy to cover that 2 inch thick piece of foam that was called a mattress. Towels were provided and they were so thin that you could hold them up to the light and still read a book through them. But then, what good does it do to complain? It is better than sleeping in the urinals in the rest rooms of the bus station.
* * *
Morning came all too soon since Alaminos roosters like to wake up earlier than Makati roosters. We stopped at the local McDonalds for a cup of coffee and an Egg McMuffin. “What,?” I rudely shouted at the shy cashier when she meekly informed me that they did not serve coffee, only cold drinks and what’s more they did not have any breakfast dishes even though they were on the menu. No coffee at a McDonald’s? Hard to believe. Burgers and Cokes at 7 o’clock in the morning would surely set the pace for the day. Was it an omen of things to come? After checking all over Alaminos, we finally found a customer-friendly Cindy’s bakery whose unsmiling waitress very accommodatingly gave us a cup of hot water and a packet of Nescafe and said, “Do it yourself if you are that desperate for coffee.” We were truly desperate and did what we were told.
* * *
Back to Lucap and now to find a boatman who would take us to an island where we could at least get a swim and cool down after the ordeal. The boats that normally charged P500 pesos for your delivery and pick up to and from an island of your choice, were asking as much as P2000 for the 20 minute trip. We found a sympathetic young guy named Rolando, who was merciful enough to only charge us P1000 so we grabbed him and wouldn’t let him leave us alone until we were safely in the boat. I heard that some paid as high as P3000 or P4000 for one of the slightly larger boats. I will admit that the 100 Islands are beautiful and a “must see” for the Philippines. We were lucky to find a piece of sandy beach where we had about 7 inches of space for ourselves to lay down a towel and go for a swim. I have never seen so many people jammed into so many small islands in my entire life. When you normally can see only white sand on a piece of an island, we only saw people, wall to wall (or rock to rock, ) as the expression goes.
* * *
So, what is the point of all this? Okay. Here goes. If the Department of Tourism wants to promote those lovely islands (and they really are lovely and should be promoted) to foreigners and many Filipinos as well, they will have to greatly improve the infrastructure. There are not enough hotels and they are just not what most foreigners expect or up to the standard they are already used to at resorts in Thailand and other neighboring countries. Tourist facilities are lacking. Good restaurants are in short supply, parking spaces are not available during rush days, price controls should be put in place and until that happens, Hundred Islands is not ready to be a first class resort and is a long way away from attracting world tourism.
* * *
MURRAY’S COLUMN CAN ALSO BE READ ONLINE AT www.whatson-expat. com.ph |