Captain Badette and the Seven Piñas (aka Tagaytay Trip with Mangoes)
I left the house at 11am Sunday to make sure that I get to our meeting place at Gateway on time. When I got there, I received a text message from Nikki saying that Mimay's got an emergency thing at the hospital and we'll just meet at 1pm. I decided to grab lunch and browse for books.
I went to the multi-level National Bookstore just outside the mall. Found Woody Allen's Mere Anarchy, 1035 pesos. Found some Jeanette Winterson, but none were less than 400 pesos. Could not find the Richard Bach and Antoine De Saint Exupery aviation novels I was looking for, so I just met up with Maita at Fully Booked when she arrived.
When I finally meet with them all, it turns out that I win the "smallest bag" award, but the prize was nothing but the Mangoes kidding around that my bag was probably light because I didn't bring any underwear. (In fact, I brought extra, and it's weird that they'd pick underwear because that's really small and would hardly make a difference if I brought 3 extra pairs).
I told them the question they should be asking is why are their bags heavy, and Angel told me it's because she brought extra clothes because "What if I don't want to wear pants, what if I want to wear a skirt, etc etc." I generally just bring the clothes I need and an extra shirt, so I guess that made a world of difference.
Scout told me to bring her camera, but when I got to Tagaytay I realized the batteries were almost dead. Luckily, Nikki had 4 AA batteries - just the ones I needed - and I have yet to repay her for this. The Mangoes were the ones who took full advantage of Scout's camera, and the photos are here. I'll add more links once their own pics are up.
Basically we watched a DVD, had dinner at a pizza/pasta place, went to Cafe Lupe for drinks, and then coffee'd at Starbucks.
At Cafe Lupe, some undoubtedly gay guy kept asking for Maita's name while she left for the bathroom. We basically ignored him, until he probably made eye contact with Soli, who replied "Bakit?!"
Then the undoubtedly gay guy replied in his undoubtedly gay voice "Kasi type ko sya!", with matching soft hand movements.
Right.
When Maita came back, the guy was really insistent, so she told him her name was "Christina".
Walking back to our room, we called the guy "Captain Badette".
I took a shower before going to bed and wrote a letter to my wife before I slept.
The following morning, we went to the Mahogany Market to pick up pasalubong for friends and family. I bought espasol, pastillas, dried mushrooms, tarragon and basil plants, and 1/4 kilo of kapeng barako.
Maita bought seven pineapples. I told her it would be like she'd be carrying home seven babies. She agreed, but added that the babies were two years old and that she was only carrying their heads.
On the bus going home, the pineapples rolled on the bus aisle and Soli dove in after them.
It's my first trip without my wife ever since we lived together, so I couldn't help but feel sentimental before I left and while I had some idle time to kill during the trip. Most of the pasalubong I bought were for her.
I also bought a pineapple from Maita.
I'm back home, but I have the rest of my self-imposed vacation week. I'm sitting in my office, but I'll go back to bed soon to read the rest of Winterson's Art and Lies, at the back of my mind I'm hoping to go back next year.
And when I do, I'll trek on that volcano.