Gala Pinoy Redux

The chips were laid on the table. The cards were dealt. And each of us 4 players was either trying to look serious or nonchalant. We were, after all, playing poker where one has to try selling the value of their cards through bets, bluffs and facial expressions or the lack of it. But instead of being in a smoky casino, we were by the sea, breathing in salty air and listening to the rustling of the palm trees around us.

We were along the coast of the Balayan Bay, in a family resort called Blue Dolphin. True to its name, we were surrounded by walls and decorations in various shades of blue, which far from resembling a depressing feeling, actually made me feel calmer and more relaxed.

Except when we were playing poker, which electrified the rather tranquil atmosphere of the resort. Marc and I were poor bluffers because we laughed and bragged about values of cards we never have. Ferdz and Nina, meanwhile, were a little more difficult to read. They looked at their cards, bet and there was no telling exactly what we were up against when playing with them. So it wasn’t really surprising that they managed to win several rounds of the game.

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It was without a doubt the dirtiest cab I’ve ever taken. In the passenger seat, just to my left leg was a thermos bottle. On the dash was a mish-mash of stuff that included a half-eaten piece of chicken leg, rice on a plastic container, and a visor.

These things didn’t bother me, however. I actually found the entire atmosphere in the cab pretty interesting. But these things weren’t even the most interesting part of the cab, nor the trip.
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I vaguely remember watching, “The Sound of Music” a couple of times as a kid. But as I got older, only two things about it were ever retained in my head: Julie Andrews who played Fraulein Maria and the catchy songs, the type of which never really goes away once you hear them (cue: “Doe a deer, a female deer. I’m pretty sure you know what comes next).

Beyond those things, however, I never really bothered watching the movie again. And then one day, I received an e-mail from my sister, addressed to everyone in the family, “want to watch the Sound of Music?” Apparently, Resorts World Manila (RWM) was running the musical at the Newport Performing Arts Theater. And the e-mail got ecstatic replies from my mother and my other sister.

Meanwhile, I, cynical as ever, simply said, okay, why watch a version of this, when I have perfect one (no matter how hazy) of it in my head?

But lo and behold, complimentary tickets almost literally fell on my lap, courtesy of a good friend who works at RWM. The entire family was of course happy and excited. We trooped to the theater, and in my head was still the question of whether it was worthy of the one popularized by Julie Andrews. I had to find out for myself.
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“Okay, Guiuan, what do you have in store for me this time?” I asked myself as I woke up to the sound of waves at the ABC beach in Guiuan’s Calicoan Island.

It’s my first time to be in Calicoan, but I’ve been to Guiuan so many that I couldn’t possibly come up with creative stuff to write about it.

It was great then that an old friend, Ms. Janet Israel, was our tour guide for that day. And while I try as much as I can from packaged tours and tour guides for most of my trips, this one was a welcome exception. It was probably because I knew our guide, or maybe because I needed to write down as many the facts and details I could for the article I was going to write once the trip is over.
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I took up journalism in college, without the intention of working for a magazine or a newspaper. I simply wanted to write. So I put away most of the stuff I learned there in my mental locker and pull them out later on when I needed them. Like how to write a lead paragraph, spelling out numbers one to nine, yada yada yada.

But the trip to Samar was like a refresher course on my journ 101 and featuring writing days. I had to dig into whatever stuff I could still remember and put them to use again. And most of the digging happened when on our trip to the Lulugayan Falls.

Why am I telling you these things?
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