After a very busy day of church hopping, I really had a great night’s sleep at Alona Grove. No matter how hot is was, I still managed to sleep like a log. This is the day I will be leaving Bohol, marking the end of my vacation. The man at Alona Grove said that they will be willing to send me to the airport for a fee. I guess it was okay, since I do not want to carry my gear with me on a motorcycle taxi. But this morning, the guy isn’t there yet.
While waiting for my driver, I went to Trudi’s for some breakfast. I had a typical Filipino breakfast of Tosilog – tocino (cured pork), sinangag (garlic rice) and itlog (egg). The meal was not really very satisfying since it was a little too small for me. I sat there sipping my cup of Milo while looking at the beach and thinking how much I will be missing this place. Work was already looming over the horizon, this early, I was already getting depressed.
Eventually, my driver found me sitting there and told me that we are ready to leave. I took my stuff and loaded it into the van we were going to use. The driver said that the van was his brother’s, who was working abroad. Both of them have a stake in this resort in Alona, he told me that they used to have a dive shop right by the beach but a fire somehow caused them to lose ownership of the beach front property (don’t ask how). He is an Ilocano who managed to find his way into Panglao and set up a business here.
He then told me that they were going to fetch someone from the airport. And since they were going there, I might as well go with them. I then realized that had I known this, I could have asked for a discount since there were along the way anyway! Anyway, it was their way of earning a little more. Then again, a habal-habal could have used that transportation fare more than my driver.
Not before long, we got back to Tagbilaran City as he headed into the airport, there was a large traffic jam entering the airport. It was like we were going to the market. There were so many people and the place was really small. The driver managed to enter the airport complex but I needed to leave or I might miss my flight. The Tagbilaran domestic airport terminal was tiny and not really well maintained. After checking in, we were all herded into the waiting area for for departing passengers.
The departure area was so crowded, a lot of people were already standing because of lack of seats. There was a small band playing live music to entertain the people while waiting. They were a campy bunch and not really very good. But what can I do? I was only too glad to see that we are ready for boarding, with a heavy heart I boarded the plane and said farewell to Bohol.
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