Bantayan Island, Holy Week, 11-16 April 2006

Arrrival in Bantayan town port: 1pm, 11 April ’06. Finally, some land after a boring boat ride. We took a van going to Sta. Fe, the community where the beach is, van fare is just 20 pesos. It was a 10 minute ride. On the way there, I injured the ring finger of my right hand, I don’t know exactly how it happened but I suspect that I could have brushed it against the zipper of my backpack or it got completely caught in the zipper while I was zipping it. It was quite a bleeder and I had no band-aids in my first-aid pack. Arrival in Sta. Fe. We placed our bags in nanay azon’s house where we will be staying. I had to buy some first aid strips, and it was a good thing that the sari-sari store had the heavy duty Medicare plastic strips, works very well. And then we were introduced to the family of suon bebot, we were introduced to manong pito, who owned a lot at the beachfront, right smack at the center of the beach strip of Bantayan’s beach. Just beside it is a place frequented by skimboarders.. they offer free skimboarding lessons, sell cool shirts, and have space where people can pitch a tent, and you can even have a band perform. When we passed by, they were also playing our kind of music.. beach house. We were also introduced to kuya david, nanay azon, obet and jun-jun, it’s their house where we will be staying at. After the introduction, we had our late lunch. It comprised of dried fish (sap-sap) and I can’t remember what else. But the dried fish tasted really good coz I haven’t had them for quite a while. Next, tour of sta. fe. We had to see the beach… and when we saw it, it was an instant cure for all the travel fatigue. A kilometer of powdery white sand, and crystal clear water! Paradise! The other parts that suon bebot showed us were the school, the old houses, the market, and a boat that had just unloaded its catch.. a few fish and around 5 or 6 sting rays, 1 or 2 of the rays were even pregnant and baby rays were going out of it post-mortem. After the place was showed to us, we were free to do whatever we want. A swim at the beach was definitely at the top of my list, and that’s exactly what I did. I must have swum at least 200 meters, the water is so nice, crystal clear and you can have the beach all to yourself. After swimming, I freshened up back at nanay azon and kuya david’s house. They have an artisan well where you drop a bucket attached to a rope and get your fresh water from there for bathing. It’s pretty neat.

That night, I again took a walk. This time checking out the bar alley. There’s Marisqueira O Portugues where most of the foreigners were hanging out that night, and some local girls and waitresses getting friendly with the foreigners. And then there’s Hard Kock Café, very interesting name indeed. But the bar isn’t what the name implies, it’s just a regular bar. It’s fairly new and foreign-owned, I was told. Going back to the house, I got lost. I had to go around the place a couple more times to familiarize myself, otherwise I’d get lost every night. Interesting observation for that day: it was as if I had a beacon surgically attached to my back, coz when suon bebot’s family looked for me, the locals at the marketplace and at the bar alley were able to pinpoint my location at a precise time. They looked for an ilonggo in a red shirt and boom, precise coordinates and time were given by the locals. :)

Bantayan Island, Holy Week, 11-16 April 2006

Arrival in Bantayan town port: 1pm, 11 April ’06. Finally, some land after a boring boat ride. We took a van going to Sta. Fe, the community where the beach is, van fare is just 20 pesos. It was a 10 minute ride. On the way there, I injured the ring finger of my right hand, I don’t know exactly how it happened but I suspect that I could have brushed it against the zipper of my backpack or it got completely caught in the zipper while I was zipping it. It was quite a bleeder and I had no band-aids in my first-aid pack. Arrival in Sta. Fe. We placed our bags in nanay azon’s house where we will be staying. I had to buy some first aid strips, and it was a good thing that the sari-sari store had the heavy duty Medicare plastic strips, works very well. And then we were introduced to the family of suon bebot, we were introduced to manong pito, who owned a lot at the beachfront, right smack at the center of the beach strip of Bantayan’s beach. Just beside it is a place frequented by skimboarders.. they offer free skimboarding lessons, sell cool shirts, and have space where people can pitch a tent, and you can even have a band perform. When we passed by, they were also playing our kind of music.. beach house. We were also introduced to kuya david, nanay azon, obet and jun-jun, it’s their house where we will be staying at. After the introduction, we had our late lunch. It comprised of dried fish (sap-sap) and I can’t remember what else. But the dried fish tasted really good coz I haven’t had them for quite a while. Next, tour of sta. fe. We had to see the beach… and when we saw it, it was an instant cure for all the travel fatigue. A kilometer of powdery white sand, and crystal clear water! Paradise! The other parts that suon bebot showed us were the school, the old houses, the market, and a boat that had just unloaded its catch.. a few fish and around 5 or 6 sting rays, 1 or 2 of the rays were even pregnant and baby rays were going out of it post-mortem. After the place was showed to us, we were free to do whatever we want. A swim at the beach was definitely at the top of my list, and that’s exactly what I did. I must have swum at least 200 meters, the water is so nice, crystal clear and you can have the beach all to yourself. After swimming, I freshened up back at nanay azon and kuya david’s house. They have an artisan well where you drop a bucket attached to a rope and get your fresh water from there for bathing. It’s pretty neat.

That night, I again took a walk. This time checking out the bar alley. There’s Marisqueira O Portugues where most of the foreigners were hanging out that night, and some local girls and waitresses getting friendly with the foreigners. And then there’s Hard Kock Café, very interesting name indeed. But the bar isn’t what the name implies, it’s just a regular bar. It’s fairly new and foreign-owned, I was told. Going back to the house, I got lost. I had to go around the place a couple more times to familiarize myself, otherwise I’d get lost every night. Interesting observation for that day: it was as if I had a beacon surgically attached to my back, coz when suon bebot’s family looked for me, the locals at the marketplace and at the bar alley were able to pinpoint my location at a precise time. They looked for an ilonggo in a red shirt and boom, precise coordinates and time were given by the locals. :)

Bantayan Island, Holy Week, 11-16 April 2006

Day 1 (11 April ’06)

Hello! My name is Jake Hofileña. My brother, Stanley Hofileña, and I went to Bantayan together with suon bebot and suon aj for this year’s Easter Holiday. Bus departure from Bacolod was around 5am, 11 April ‘06, had to brace ourselves for 2 hours of travel to the port city of Cadiz. The bus was small but pretty quick, and it was pretty cheap, bus fare was only 35 pesos. Arrival in Cadiz: 7am. We took a tricycle to their port. And then we saw the boat we were gonna take.. it looked like it came from the junkyard. Boat fare: 202 pesos. And then more bad news, the boat doesn’t leave until 9am, 2 hours of waiting. The boat finally left at exactly 9am. More waiting during the boat trip, we were told it was going to be 3 hours but it was actually 4 hours. Good thing my brother and I each had mp3 players to keep ourselves amused, that is if you can’t stomach the crap they are showing on the boat video entertainment. I found it impossible to relax on the boat, the seats are hard and rusty, and it’s pretty crowded. Don’t touch anything if you haven’t had your tetanus shots. In the meantime, I did some advanced sun-worshipping during the boat ride, put on some Nivea sunblock SPF 50, super strong for extra protection, went to the deck of the boat, and just enjoyed the sun and the wind on my face while listening to my own music. :)

Boredom

I had nothing to do today. So, out of boredom, i stiched my sandals with Panacryl absorbable sutures.
I also removed some ticks from the labradors and fed them so some large red ants... making my own national geographic episode.

Unfortunate

a boy in his teens rang the doorbell today asking for food. normally, i'd ignore these kids without second thought, coz mostly they're the ones that ask for money that they'd spend on drugs. but this time, the boy was asking for food instead of money, so i really had to see for myself. i gave him a bag of banana chips, a can of vienna sausage, and noodles. on further investigation, the boy came from manapla (50 km from where i live), he was sent here to buy medicine for his mother who has lung cancer that has distant metastasis. he lost his wallet along the way, and is now unable to buy the medicine, let alone food for himself. it was really tragic. after i gave him the food, he left and i was left thinking how he'll even be able to get back to his mother.

Last Duty Syndrome

31 march 2006

it's my last 24hour duty in the department of obstetrics and gynecology. i've been benign for the entire 2-month rotation except for one occasion. but this day shaped into one toxic day. the patient we admitted was pregnant, but preterm (31 weeks by LMP), in preterm labor, and a gravidocardiac. patient was known to have Lutembacher Syndrome (Mitral Stenosis and Atrial Septal Defect), so we were quite careful. UTZ was done, results showed the fetus to be 34 weeks old. but then she begins to congest, starts to have difficulty breathing, and physical exam showed rales mid to lower lung fields. hmm, patient continues to go into labor and we weren't able to control the contractions. so a decision was made to deliver the baby, but we had to monitor the patient's CVP to ascertain how much fluids is allowed to be given. during the CVP line creation, there were lots of difficulty. it was awful seeing the patient in pain, and crying. i thought i'm already cold and unemotional but this time i really felt bad for the patient. she never complained, she just asked 'what are you doing to me?' after it was taking quite a while to create the line, and she was already crying. it was awful. but finally the line was created. after a while, she delivered her baby. it was 35 weeks by ballards score. patient was then placed in the icu, but it was a good thing that there were no complications afterwards. i slept at 6 a.m. that day, and woke up 7:30 a.m. -- Last Duty Syndrome! my groupmate told me that i had to save the best for last. the following day, the baby was already able to feed. very good news indeed.