stuck in the middle

This morning, I got a call from my mother, in Gubat:

     "Did you see the news? Nag-erupt na ang Bulusan!"

     "I'm doing the shopping, ma. Hasn't it been erupting for the past few months na?"

     "Well, yes, but it BLEW UP!"

     "WHAT?! Crap! Does this mean our flight this Wednesday's cancelled?"

     "Don't worry, the wind's blowing the other way -- but WE CAN SEE THE MUSHROOM CLOUD FROM HERE!"

     "WHAT?!"

     "Ooooh! Tita Betsy took pictures!"

(Oh, that's right. Because I got dragooned into it by well-meaning friends.)


Hotlinked like whoa. Credit http://boracayphillipineisland.blogspot.com
I'm really not too crazy about Boracay. Everyone and their second cousin's neighbor's dog goes there for the beaches, which really does not bode well for the state of said beaches, to be honest. Give me Rizal Beach in my mother's family hometown of Gubat, Sorsogon with its mainly local (read: family) habitués, or Honda Bay in Palawan, which is utterly utterly gorgeous and I'd go there in a heartbeat if not for my lunatic uncle who's parked himself there a couple of years ago and shows no signs of budging one inch.

Thing is, I'm not really going for the beach. I shall be (wo)manfully enduring the sand that stubbornly clings to one's toes and the sticky residue salt water leaves on the skin, and dumping gallons of conditioner on my hair each night to save it from looking like fodder for the local Wicker Man, because the photographs will be EPIC I like my friends and they really are a bunch of certifiable hooligans who definitely know how to have a good time.

Well, good night. Early drive to the airport tomorrow. Back on Tuesday night.

I'm off for the next few days -- family reunion in Tacloban, Leyte. I personally prefer not to go at all, but there is absolutely no way I am letting my mother toddle around in the wilds of Leyte all by herself. She might get lost. Or set something on fire. Possibly both.

I'll be back to play catch-up on Sunday. Tootles!