Again, it's one out of the many blogs that I failed to finish and on post in time.
This trip happened last Dec.28, 2006.
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Lonely Planet adventure.
I decided to take the Roro (Roll on and Roll Off) on my own. How was it? It was a humbling experience I must say.
I decided to go for an adventure when I made the decision to take the RoRo going to Boracay on my own. I left my boyfriend back in Manila who took the usual MBRS shipping line giving him a headache and a sleepless night on his way.
We both have our own share of horror stories. His of course is a different story.
Mine started when I decided to take the RoRo. I thought it was easy as 1-2-3: ride a bus going to Batangas port. Then ride the Roro going to Calapan, Mindoro. In Calapan, take anyjeep/van going to Roxas City Port (good 3 hour road trip). Then ride the Roro again that gets to Caticlan( another 5 hours of travel).
Easy right? No.
1.5 days to go before my scheduled departure (28th am) I was told that there is a bus liner that takes care of everything. All I needed to do was to get my ass at the bus station.
I had 2 options: go to Pasay or go to Cubao. Cubao was out of the question. I researched the net. Philtranco offers a trip all the way to Caticlan. They have 3 trips: 5:30am, 7:30pm and 8:30pm. Because everything was last minute, I had no time to buy a bus ticket with the days I have left. I had family errands to take care of and personal obligations. So I figured, might as well leave in the evening so that I have time to do my personal errands. The night before my scheduled trip I decided to call the bus station to verify the time. Unfortunately for me, nobody was picking up the frieking phone. I kept on calling whenever I had a free time on the day of my departure. Nobody answered the phone.
I decided to leave early just in case.
Horror story #1
Mine began when I carried 2 bottles of wine ( Red one and a champagne specially for the new year) + 9 bottles of snow spray (again specifically for the new year). I was left with no time at all to pass the cargo to my boyfriend and stuffed it all in inside my backpack. I am a newly inducted mountaineer. I felt pressured to pack all my beach items in a neat way. All in all, I had 14 kilos of stuff inside my bag. It wasn’t so bad really. I carried about 19 kilos on my way up to Mt. Pulag. The 14 kilos I had really was peanuts. I was wrong.
Horror Story #2:
I was at the bus station by 4:30p.m. As I got off the taxi, I saw how chaotic the place was. Big time.
Upon entering the station the security guard asked me where I was going…
Guard: San ka pupunta?
Ria: Caticlan
Guard: May ticket ka na?
Ria: Wala pa
Guard: Patay. Ubos na ang ticket. Mag chance passenger ka na lang.
Net, there was no decent dispatcher that I could talk to. The guard who I got to talk to near the departure area talked as if he was unsure of a Caticlan trip. I felt very uneasy. I could hardly move around in a cramped place with my heavy and bulky luggage. Fortunately there was a friendly old lady who looked after my bag. I went to the “cargo booking office”. Finally someone decent welcomed my questions. I learned that the bus going to Caticlan hasn’t arrived. It’s scheduled trip is at 1PM. Unfortunately to the passengers and fortunately for me the bus trip was delayed. However, there was no one who could give you the reason for such delay. Think. It was already 5:30pm then.
The security guards were kind enough to assure me that they will call me as soon as the bus arrives. And they did.
Guard: Miss, andyan na yung bus papuntang Iloilo. Pila ka na. Dali
Thought balloon ni Ria “Iloilo? I’m going to Caticlan! Oh what the heck…”
Horror story #3
I met a group of people around my age and a little over from Bacolod who were going to Iloilo. Yes, they assured me that the bus will go to Caticlan and that they were other chance passengers too.
I psyched myself that I will be sitting in the aisle for the entire trip. A man was kind enough to give up his seat for me. I refused at first but he wouldn’t allow me to sit in the aisle or stand. Later on I realized that you can't t sit along the aisle because each passenger had a box or two of home appliances and snacks.
Thank you mister stranger for giving me the seat. However, along the way the bus were picking up more people and one of them was an old man who owns my seat. Shit.
The old man, upon seeing me decided not take my seat and choose to sit on the arm chair. He was of course only able to do that for an hour. After grabbing dinner along the way, I offered my a portion of my chair to the old man which he gladly accepted.
So now imagine this: Ria seated in a two seater chair. On her right, who is seated beside a window, is a man about in his late 30s, medium built, with a 4 year old boy seated on his lap. And an old man on her right, slightly thin with half of his butt hanging from his chair.
"Ria count your blessings," I told myself. It was a good thing that they kid on my left was well behaved. He was asleep the entire trip.
Horror story #4 (last na ito)
This was how my day went:
4:30 pm - bus station (Pasay)
7:15ishpm - rode the bus and it leaft
10:00[m - we reached batangas (had dinner)
11:00pm - batangas pier
12 midnight - we boarded the ferry boat (got out of the bus)
2:30 am - reached caticlan pier
2.5 hours road trip going to roxas (3 hours of less).
5am ate breakfast at Roxas
7:30 am - reached Roxas pier.
Ito na ang horror story ko. We were just at the eatery from 5am -7:30am. Imagine my shock when i saw several buses waiting in line at the pier!!! There was a moment when we were told that we might not be able to ride the 8am ferry. (There were only 2 scheduled trips in a day: 8am and 3pm).
Putcha, kala ko di pa ako makakarating sa boracay.
Obvious ba, sobrang pagod na pagod ako. The entire trip wore me out. My bag was heavy. The waiting was long and suspense. We were three (3) seated in a 2 seater chair.
Never again will i do this on a holiday. Siguro I can do this again only if it were a regular day or I decide to bring a car or a bike.
Was the RoRo experience worth it? Like what i said, it was a humbling experience. I met a lot of people, not just my seatmates (my busmates) and they were very kind. Some are travellers too (like me) only they travelled in groups. While some are not the ones that I would encounter in my everyday life. The trip would have a little been easier if i didn't have too many things with me.
So totoo lang, ang bait talaga ng mga pinoy.
Special thanks to my boyfriend for allowing me take this trip on my own. I needed to learn, to commute on my own.
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