All Smiles

I'm fascinated by how most Filipinos still managed to smile amid adversities and challenges that we experience everyday.

Life is getting harder as time passes by. Jobs are getting scarce, money is hard to find, casulaties are everywhere yet we still have the courage to show big smiles with our friends or even to strangers that we feel to share our positive outlook in life.

I've been dealing with numerous foreign citizens, most of them are colleagues and some are long time friends. They feel weird everytime they see Filipinos laughing while chatting with friends on the streets and still have time to sit back and relax on coffee shops and restaurants. As for most them, we should be thinking of other ways to keep our lives better, either by looking for a better paying job, keeping up with debts and dealing with national issues.

If you will ask me, my logical side will say they're correct. We should have been a little more proactive in looking for possible ways to live better and more comfortable other than being contented on what we currently have. We should have the initiative to do our own small ways for a progressive nation building. We should be working harder than what we do to keep up with other countries who leave us behind economic progression.


But if you will ask my practical side, I think, there's nothing much that we could do. I'm not saying that we can't do anything at all to correct what we've done wrong in the past. I just would like to justify that if we need reforms, this should start with revising the current system. If we will live with the system that we're used to, regardless of how we work hard, it will just be worthless, as if like we're saving money in a pocket with a hole.

We Filipinos love to smile, to laugh and to show the world that we are still contented though life is harsh. This is our own way to at least forget our miseries, our failures and misfortunes. This shows our appreciation to life and it's blessings however small. This is who we are. This is the Filipino trademark.

My Sagada misadventure

I was about to go to Sagada in Mountain Province to spend my weekend there. Everything were set. My holiday, my itenerary, my long journey and the adventure ahead, I was so excited.



Aboard Victory Liner at around 7 in the morning Saturday (October 4), I patiently waited for the bus to arrive in Baguio and looking forward for another 6 hours travel from there to Sagada. Prior to these, I've constantly visited alot of travel blogs about Sagada and the route to go there from Baguio City. As per what I;ve read, I would need to reach Baguio City at before 1pm the latest and get a Lizardo Bus which will leave to Sagada at 1pm.



At around 12:40pm which I was very happy because, usually Victory Liner arrives in Baguio few minutes late but this time, the travel was smooth and fast. I took a cab to Dangwa and asked the driver to take me there as fast as he could so I could catch the bus before it leaves. He did what I said so I gave him a little tip for doing a great job! To my disappointment, no more bus will leave to Sagada that day until the following morning which is Sunday. The last bust already left at 10am. The travel blog I've read may have not updated the information. I was so furious!

I cannot leave Baguio to Sagada on a Sunday because if that's the case, I won't be able to attend a company gathering on Monday afternoon as planned. Due to tight schedule, though there is still hope to get to Sagada the following morning, I didn't push it anymore. I just stayed in Baguio with, embarassed and frustrated.

I immediately changed plan and got a hotel room to stay. Good thing, I know my way to Baguio for an affordable yet comfortable accomodation. I checked in at around 2:30pm. I just laid myself on the bed to rest my tired body for a moment and lingered my changed itenerary over my head. At around 3:00pm, guess what? It rained!



It actually didn't just rained, it poured! "What a weekend!", I just murmured! Instead of taking a cab again to go somewhere else, I just stayed in the hotel and got myself for a late lunch! I just spent it rest of Saturday sleeping. I travelled this long just to sleep? I need a life, c'mon! The rain didn't stop until around 2:00 in the morning on Sunday.

The next morning, I woke up at around 7:00. I took a quick breakfast over the cafe down at the hotel lobby and got myself to go. I decided not to go too far for I needed to check out at 12:00 nn for Manila so I could have time to still sleep before going to work. I strolled the very famous Burnham Park, the Baguio City Market, Session Rd for the ukay-ukay and that's it, nothing Special!



I came back to the hotel at 11:00 in the morning to get a nice bath and fixed myself to leave. With a bagful of Baguio-identified products, I took a cab and headed to the bus station again! Nice weekend? Yeah right!