Monday, July 17, 2006

Got Milk?

My granddaddy does. I just got this old, old newspaper ad for milk, featuring my dad's dad, Bernard L. Davis, a neighborly man who originally hailed from a dairy farm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This ad provides a clue as to where my father, Bernard E. Davis, might have inherited some of his love for all things dairy. Perhaps it also suggests why travelling with an emergency plastic spoon in his pocket for icecream became a necessity for Dad this summer, during our trip to the Philippines.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Mother and Daughter Chronicles
Days 13-17, "Hell on Wheels: In the Mountain Province"

A picture of the 1,000 peso bill, which shows an image of our destination: 2,000-year-old rice terraces in Banaue Village, Mountain Province, Luzon Island, the Philippines.

The following is our longest blog to date about the three-day overland drive that Mom ("H"), Dad ("B") and I ("AM") took from Manila to a mountain village called Banaue on the first day (9 hours); then to Sagada on the second day (6 hours); and finally to Baguio (8 hours) on the third day. The drive was treacherous, tedious, sweltering, bumpy, rocky, and slow. Time crept by in our van by the millionth of the second. We spent so many hours travelling slowly over dusty, rocky roads up in the mountain provinces of the Philippines that I thought I should eventually try to write a short excerpt here on my blog attempting to convey the slow, painstaking tedia of the whole experience. To put it mildly, Mom, Dad and I were pretty miserable, especially by the third day. The following are my notes of our dialogue about the experience after having a day of rest here in Baguio City. Fortunately, we were able to talk humorously about this hellish experience - truly an experience of a lifetime, which none of us ever hopes to repeat.

AM: Okay, so we took our flight (from Bacolod) to Manila.
H: We were met by our tour guide and started our long long long lonnnnnnnnnnng, rocky, drive to Banaue. Did we see the rice fields that day?
AM: No…the second day. Remember when we got there we had those massages. Tell me about that.

A common scene from the window of our van: Filipino man riding his carabou

H: We stayed in a fairly nice lodge where we had our massages. It was my very first massage. I didn’t realize that I had muscles that she worked on. Let’s see. She pushed and pulled and pushed and pulled on every muscle in my fingers, my toenails (AM: laughing at Mom) my ears… my chin, my neck (Mom is gesturing to each part of her body as she lists them.)
What else? (Mom pauses and looks at me with a questioning face.) It hurt, but at the same time it felt good. It only cost six dollars for a whole hour of pain but yet relaxation! For six dollars an hour, it was well worth it. But I don’t think I am going to pay $40 or $50 for another one in the United States. Maybe I’ll wait ‘til I go to Russia. Maybe they’ll have a massage in Russia for the same price.

AM: I’m going to write here later why I thought we needed the massages so badly.
H: Well, we sat in the car, and the road was rocky. I mean it wasn’t a dirt road; it was ROCKY! It was an unpaved road. It was a rocky road. They had large rocks that the car had to go on. And our vehicle didn’t have a good suspension (system). Ann Marie kept telling me to move over.
(H is smiling mischievously. She makes AM laugh loudly)
H: Cause I was sliding onto her all of the time! She was being squashed (both laughing) by me and Bernie. [Note: I was sitting in the middle, between Mom and Dad.]

The long, winding, never-ending road - 10 miles per hour - hour after hour.

AM: I think I’m gonna have tears in my eyes right now (laughing so hard)… So how many hours was that trip?
[Bernie, my dad, joins the conversation] B: Well I think we drove nine hours elapsed the first day, then 6 the second day, and then 8 the last day.
AM: I know. It was a truly painful experience.

H: But we finally saw the terraces. And Bernie commented that “wasn’t the long trip worth it?”
B: What?
H: (Re-explaining.) You were in so much awe of the rice terraces that you said the trip was worth it!
B: Yeah… I think it was worth it.
H: I guess after the fact it was.
B: It was pretty impressive. I learned that terraces are not only used for rice but for other vegetables in other areas.

Mom, Dad, me, and our local guide, Helen at Banaue Terraces

AM: I know when I had the massage I said then it was worth it to, but you (Mom) responded that you “wouldn’t go that far”
(long pause) Okay, tell us about the health of everyone.
H: I have a cold I can’t get rid of. I’m taking so many medications that Ann Marie thought that I was dead last night!

[AM laughs hard. B even looks up with a small wry smile.]
H: Because I was finally able to sleep and didn’t cough and didn’t make a sound.
AM: That was last night, right?! Yeah, I was worried that you were mixing your medicines. And I hadn’t heard from you all night. Unlike the previous nights when you were coughing up a storm.

H: But we’re skipping some days. (pause). The old lady who showed us the terraces. I gave her a big tip, I think she was very surprised. I should have given her 100 pesos, but I gave 300. Our other guide (Jerry, our driver) was surprised I gave her so much money. I should have given her 50 pesos. (pause) I gave her 300 pesos can you imagine that?
AM: I think that’s great. It’s only $6.
H: Yeah, but for a tip, that’s pretty good.

Mom holds some blades of rice on the terraces

AM: Okay, well what did she do with us?
H: She took us to several terraces and walked us through the terraces. She guided us very carefully so we wouldn’t slip and slide. And she took us up to the mountains to see an old house. An old native hut. With … (pause)
[B exits]
H: We met a very old lady who was helped by a young boy (to walk) to a viewpoint. Where a house had just burned down a couple of weeks ago. She was dressed in her native clothes. And gladly posed for pictures.

AM: I thought it was amazing that she was so old. She said that she had been
a young lady already during World War II.
H: That’s right.
[B comes back.]
AM: Hey Dad, what were your impressions of that lady we saw in native dress?
B: Oh my! (He laughs)

H: She was a character wasn’t she?
B: Yeah, it was amazing that she was still operating at 100 years old.
H: Very thin. Very frail.
B: She was getting right down on her haunches. She was very friendly. I’m not sure how much Enlgish she has… but she had a very friendly manner.

A local lady poses in native dress. We estimate she is about 100 years of age

H: Now we learned from Belay (our other tour guide, Jerry’s wife) – no, it was another guy who told us. We learned that old people depend on their children for support. The government doesn’t have any benefits. Maybe that it is why they have so many children. See the government doesn’t give them anything.
(Mom bursts into a round a coughing)

AM: Okay, what else is very memorable about that trip?
H: The second night we slept in a –what do you call it – a boy scout cabin. (Asking Dad) What did you think of that cabin?
B: Oh! (small laugh) It was very minimal.

H: I don’t think they had mattresses did they? But we were so tired.
B: It was just barely enough to get buy. It was protection from the rain. But it was very rudimentary. Of course, you (looking at AM) took a shower. It looked nearly impossible to me to clean up. They didn’t give us any towels, and the pillows were not adequate.
H: I guess we don’t know how to rough it.
B: It had light … electricity. It had water. It had a flush toilet.

H: That’s one interesting thing about toilets. Every time you go to the bathroom you have to flush it down with a bucket of water that was collected.
B: Yeah, wasn’t that interesting? Very common. Sometimes (the bucket was) auxiliary. But…

H: But the ride to Baguio was rainy. The roads were rocky and windy and steep!! Dad was surprised that I didn’t get motion sickness like I normally do. But I don’t know why I didn’t get motion sickness like I normally do.
Don’t know why. I guess I was blessed. Can you imagine if I had gotten motion sickness and Jerry (our driver) would have had to stop every thirty mintues?! I guess I was blessed on this trip.
AM: Yep, that is a very glass-is-half-full way to look at things. Considering how strenuous the trip was.

Our driver, Jerry, and his wife, our guide, Belay

H: Yeah, that is really amazing how I didn’t get car sick. Huh Bernie?
B: Yeah. I thought it was amazing that you would be willing to ride on such a road. But I guess you didn’t have a choice. You wouldn’t let me drive on such a road back at home. You won’t even let me drive on two-lane roads.
H: Yeah, I would have demanded to drive. Yeah, I usually drive to Snowshoe (Mom and Dad's favorite vacation spot in West Virginia) because of the little winding roads.
B: She would rather go on the interstate rather than on two-lane roads. Sometimes I like to go on a back road.
H: I would rather go on the freeway than a two-lane road. (She says with disdain)

AM: Okay what else about the trip?
H: Well Jerry was very conscience about our needing to go to the bathroom.
B: Yeah.
H: So, he made sure to check the bathrooms before we went. Sometimes he skipped several places because it seemed unsanitary.
B: I wonder how many times those two have made the trips.
H: She says they have done the trip several times.
B: It seems if he’s done it several times, he should probably know where all the clean bathrooms are.
H: I don’t think he’s ever had people who have to go to the bathroom as much as you two did. (AM laughing a lot now). I mean you two… ! I mean, they didn’ t go to the bathroom half as much as you two did. (long pause)

H: (Continues) Thank goodness for my sleeping pills and Nyquil. It helped me with my sleep
AM: That’s why I started to worry if you were dead.
H: Yeah, because I took sleeping pills, and that medication she gave me
AM: And Nyquil.
H: Now I have my antibiotics. So now I’m taking (that too)!

AM: Okay, so let’s talk about today.
H: Today. Started out beautiful. Beautiful sunny day. First we visited the Philippine Military Academy.
B: The P – M – A. (pause) The Philippine Military Academy.
H: Then we visited -
B: We drove to Camp John Hay.

H: No, we visited all the tanks first. What did she call all those old tanks?
AM: relics.
H: Machine guns and tanks.
B: Mortars, howitzers, and armored personnel carriers.
H: There were three military men casually guarding the area. What else? (coughing) Then we went to the museum. And souvenir store.
AM: Yeah, I got a T-shirt for my friend in the Navy – who went to the Naval Academy.

H: Okay, (long pause) we were there between classes and saw lots of young military men running to their next class. Saw three women! According to Belay (our tour guide), there are more women who are applying to go into the military academy (now).
AM: I read that they first started to let women join the military in the Philippines in 1993.

H: Hmm. Then Ann Marie and Dad climbed a tree house.
AM: Yeah, it was a tree house made out of cement. (B laughs a little.)
H: In the souvenir shop, we met a Filipino family from Baltimore, MD.
AM: What did we do after the military academy?
H: What did we do?

B: We drove through Camp John Hay, and then we saw the mansion where the president stays when she is here (in Baguio). And then we went to the market for…
H: We bought several silver souvenir pieces.

AM: Anything else?
H: Oh! (she says remembering with surprise) That I and Dad wore the native costumes and had our pictures taken behind mountainous scenery. We paid a little old lady vendor to pose with us in her costume. Ann Marie met a homosexual. (AM bursts out laughing- she thinks Mom has a hilarious way of saying things so abrubptly.)
B: What?
H: A homosexual. You didn’t see that?! There was a homosexual guy posing as a woman. He was funny! He acted like a girl. He dressed like a girl.
B: I must have been ahead of you. Just like a woman, huh?
H: Yeah.
B: A cross dresser.
H: I didn’t notice him at first. Ann Marie noticed him!! What was he a salesperson?
AM: Yeah! (smiling still)
H: We didn’t buy anything from him.

AM: okay…
H: Then we went to the mall to have chicken for lunch.
AM: Yeah, Belay said that that was supposed to be the best chicken in the Philippines.
H: Well she’s been through the Philippines so she should know…. (pause) We had leche flan, that was very rich. With lots of calories.

AM: Okay, we can’t go without mentioning your church.
H: Yeah. We wanted to see the Grotto of lords … or what was it? With how many steps?
AM: 300 steps or something.
H: But it started pouring. So we went back to the hotel and said our good-byes to our guides. They are heading back to Manila tomorrow. We were asked too by the travel agent to return to Manila with them tomorrow, but I refused to sit in that car for six more hours! Our plane reservation was cancelled.

AM: So we have to stay here an extra day.
H: So we decided to stay an extra day in Baguio rather than ride in that car for another 6 hours. And hopefully we can fly back to Manila on the following day.

AM: Okay, let me back up a second. Why did you want to see that church so bad?
H: I wanted to see the Grotto Sooooooo badly because I remember when my mother took me there when I was little. That was our main reason for coming to Bagiuo. But sadly it was raining too hard. So hopefully we can do it tomorrow. They say the mornings our better for touring because the rain usually starts here in the afternoon.
AM: Yeah, it’s rainy season now huh?

H: Yeah. I would not have gone to Baguio it weren’t for the church.
(pauses) And this will probably be my last trip to Baguio!
AM: (Laughing again. She knows Mom is referring to that awful three-day, twenty-three-hour car ride.) What was it 9 hours plus 6 plus 8? 23 hours?
H: Yeah. Of sitting in the car.

AM: Okay that’s enough for today.
H: What do you think? We’ve been sitting here a long time?
AM: Yeah, I think we have written about 12 pages. I think we are all caught up now.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Mother and Daughter Chronicles
Days 9-12: "From Dumaguete via Cebu to Bacolod"

A picture of our Franco relatives. From right to left: Baby, Helen, Carmen, Santiago, Ann Marie, and Bernie:

Mom and I sat down last night for a long catch-up session. We had gotten pretty far behind on our journal entries. The last week has been so busy - and Dad, Mom, and I all caught colds, which made us super tired every evening. The following are our recollections from days 9-12 - our travels in Bacolod. My dad ("B" - for Bernie) joined our conversation from time to time below, as he wrote postcards. We were all sitting at a table in the dining room of our hotel, the "Prince Hotel," while it poured last night in Baguio City.

AM: Let’s start from when we took the night boat from Dumaguete to Cebu.
H: Was Terri with us?
AM: No, we left Auntie Terri at Dumaguete. She and Uncle Morris were going to visit Uncle Frank and Aunt Mabel.
H: Our night trip was not bad, right? At least for me. I took my sleeping pill and slept through most of the night.
AM: It was awful for me because my bunk was right next to a man who snored like a freight train. He was so loud that I had to move to a different part of the ship and sleep over there.
H: Worse than Dad, (laughing) huh?
AM: Yeah. Totally.
H: Okay, Rufo and Val, Rufo’s relative, met us at the dock early in the morning, about 5 am in the morning.
AM: Yeah, we arrived at 4:30 am.
H: Rufo gave us a tour of Cebu. First we saw the cross of Magellan.
B: I got most of this (the details about what we did) in my e-mails. We went to McDonald’s first.
AM: Oh, that’s right, then we went sightseeing.
H: Where did we go after the Magellan cross, Bernie?
AM: We went to the church. It was dedicated to the patron saint of Cebu.
B: Basilica of Saint Nino?
H: Then we went to see the statue of the warrior, Lapu-Lapu, who killed Magellan.

Lapu Lapu. A native Filipino warrior and national hero for having killed Magellan.

B: I think the place was called Magellan Shrine.
H: It was a huge statue of a good-looking Filipino. Then we walked around the village there where we saw a variety of fish and squid… Well, I was fascinated with the Lapu-Lapu fish. I wanted to taste it.
AM: Why is that?
H: It was a colorful fish. I wanted to see how it tasted. So we ordered only one fish for four people (giggles). We were thirsty so Rufo suggested Tanduay rum. We got 5-year Tanduay rum.
AM: What did you think about that?
H: Rum was delicious!
(B Grunts.)
H: Dad didn’t like it. We each had one shot of run. So we had the entire bottle left, which I am now carrying around the Philippines. If you come to Lynchburg, I’ll share my Tanduay rum with you. We may buy another bottle for our Japanese hosts in Hayama.

Below is a picture of our rum shots with Dad's mango shake.

AM: So let’s move on to Bacolod.
H: So it was time to fly to Bacolod (City on Negros Island). After we checked in (to the airport in Cebu), we had lunch.
B: That is where I had a funny hamburg.
AM: Why was it funny?
B: Philippine Hamburger.
H: It wasn’t beef.
B: It didn’t seem like beef.
AM: Okay, what else?

H: (When we got to Bacolod) Santiago and Carmen met us at the airport. Then they took us to the nice hotel.
AM: Then what? After we checked in.
H: Then we met the sister, Baby. And we went with them to have tea. Then they took us back to the hotel because they thought we were tired. Then we had dinner with Santiago and a whole bunch of Francos at Baby’s house.
AM: What were your impressions after the first day (in Bacolod)?
H: (Hesitates a while) There were so many Francos that I was confused about who was who. We met a brother-in-law named Javier Lacson. His wife (Terri) joined us later that evening. Bernie, what do you remember about our first evening with the Francos?
B: It was very nice. It was at the home of Baby and Nick. I can remember most of the people – I can remember the adults. It was a Spanish style of cooking.
AM: What was Spanish about it?
B: Oh I don’t know.
AM: Okay, so what did we do the next day in Bacolod?
B: We went four places. First we went to the community where he works. Then we went to the historic house. Then we went to dinner at the Japanese place.

Santiago showed us the blackboard he uses to communicates with the mute and deaf of the community where he volunteers

AM: We went to …
B: We went to a place that sold local gifts, and then we went to the museum.
H: We went to the museum with Baby. (After) It was getting late, so they took us to the hotel to rest. And then we went to Santiago’s place for dinner. And then we met *more* Francos.
B: It was pretty much the same people. It was the first night we met Vicky.
H: I think Santiago’s house was more of a hacienda. It was more open. He had three different families living with him. He had Vicky and her family (two girls) and then Santiago has an adopted girl.
AM: Okay (We dispute here a bit about who was who and what we did on what day. I’ve deleted a lot of our disputes because it really is rather tedious.)
H: When did Santiago tell us about hearing about Mom?
AM: It was the last night.
H: Well what happened on the second (day) Dad? (B recaps the above – that we went to four different places.)
H: Javier and his wife were with us the first two nights.

AM: Okay what did we do on the third day there?
H: We went to the market.
B: We looked at the squatter villages, and then we went to a mall, then to a market, and then to a coffee shop.
AM: Mom, what do you remember most about that day?
H: I remember Carmen bargaining with the sales people over different products we purchased.
B: Oh, when you bought the baskets at the market.
H: And I think Santiago would feel sorry for the sales people. (B laughs) Because Carmen kept lowering the price. And he wanted to say “Oh, enough! Just pay the price!” Then we went to a coffee shop, and then we went home to take a nap. A Siesta!!
AM: Okay…
H: Uh… then we had dinner at Pinky’s house. She had a beautiful house. With two maids serving us dinner. And then Santiago told us about learning about Mom from Dr. Labra. We wanted to meet Dr. Labra but he wasn’t available. Santiago remembered Mom really well (from having seen her when he was only four years old, more than sixty years ago), and (when he finally spoke to her on the phone) Mom recollected all the different individuals whom Santiago knew also.
AM: This is when they spoke on the phone for the first time after sixty years, right?
H: Yeah
AM: So Santiago knew she was telling the truth.
H: Santiago remembers Mom, but the rest of the family did not, because they were too young.
AM: Wait a minute, what about Joe and Ines, they’re older (than Santiago)?
H: (Santiago said that) Joe didn’t believe Santiago at first. Okay (pauses) Santiago wished that Mom had had more courage when the Franco’s moved to Manila. Mom was living close to them
AM: When was this?
H: Years later, Santiago said he was a teenager. (This was right before WWII).

AM: Why did he think Grandma needed courage?
H: So she could meet her family. But Mom was afraid of her father. Santiago thinks Mom should have ignored her father. And that her father (also Santiago’s father) would have supported Mom. But Mom was afraid of her father. (Long pause) But now he’s glad that they finally got together and that he was able to meet the rest of her family.

Here is a picture of the entire family at Pinky's house.

AM: After how many years did they finally reunite?
H: After 60 years. (Pauses) Santiago says that Jimmy (H’s youngest brother) looks like Santiago.
B: (Mumbling. He is barely audible.) Fifty. Must be about 47 years.
H: And that he thinks that I look like Carmen – Camenlita – who died at the age of 39. Because she is younger than Carmen (Santiago’s wife). (Carmenlita) died at a very young age and left two orphans to be raised by Santiago and the rest of the family.
(Mom is looking at the screen now, questioning Dad’s calculations.)
AM: Okay, what next?
H: Charlie, one of the orphans, also died at a young age, 2 years ago. He was in his early fifties.
AM: I got the impression that he was younger but…
H: Let’s say forties. AM: Okay
H: (sighs) We took several pictures before we left for our hotel. It was a very – what do you call it? – informative, heart-warming evening.
AM: What was heart-warming (about it)? [No response] Dad, tell me your impressions!
B: Very warm, hospitable, and very friendly. They are very close-knit family.
H: Yeah, very close-knit family.
B: Spanish. A type of Spanish. Not uh… Well they are open, sincere. So I would say that they are not formal and not reserved. But dignified in a Spanish sort of way. They had some Spanish customs. The Spanish cooking, and the kissing on the cheek thing.
AM: What do you mean “the kissing on the check thing”? (Dad looks at me funny) I’m pretending I don’t know so I can get more details here.
B: Well, when you leave or when you meet, the men and women all kiss on the cheeks. It’s not the French way. They don’t really kiss each other on the cheek. Well, the man kisses the women on the cheek…. Which is a nice custom. (pause) I don’t know…
I think Santiago is really concerned – genuinely concerned – definitely concerned about the prospects for the poor class. Especially that society is polarizing all the time. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
H: And Carmen blames it all on the government.

Tenament housing in Bacolod City. Santiago and Carmen interview to find the poorest of the poorest deaf-mutes as applicants to the community where they volunteer.

B: Yeah, she blames it on the government… Well the government did something to then. I didn’t realize this but. Apparently they (the Filipino government) had the land reform and took away their plantation. I was surprised to hear all about that. He said it hurts, but there is nothing he can do about it.
[Now Mom and Dad discuss the financial situation of Santiago versus his cousin Javier Lacson, who has made “a killing” on some of his land, despite the fact that some of it was also taken away) which he had turned into real estate. The situation is quite complicated, and I am not able to type fast enough to keep up with their discussion. The three of us discuss what we heard, which is apparently all different because we were having conversations with different people at different times. I think it would be very informative and interesting if we could update this gap a little later.]

H: So the next day Santiago brought us to the airport, and we sad our goodbyes.
AM: What time was our flight? It was like at 7:15 or something.
H: Yeah…
AM: Okay, I’m going to make…
H: You better delete some of this!
AM: Yeah, I know.
H: It’s boring.