6/03/2014

Nagsaza 2014, pt. 1: Leaving MNL

NP: The 1975, Chocolate

Hourlies

6:00 PM: got off work. trudged off to nearby convenience store to buy some needed things. 

6:30 PM: left supermarket with a ton of canned food, chips, bread and candies. Went back to my desk to breathe a bit and to get my things. Off to nagzasa, beybeh!


6:40 PM: couldn't find a taxi. 


7:40 PM: still no go. 


8:00 PM: FINALLY. Arrived at the meet-up place later than expected - met up with Shan and Jani, both with luggages the size of ships. Shan left to do some errands and entrusted her things to us. 


8:30 PM: Left the meet-up place. Cabs weren't willing to ferry us to the bus station because, in their words, "malapit lang". Jani and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and with metaphysical curses directed at the universe, started trudging to the Victory Liner bus station. 


... in all fairness, it might have been just a kilometer and a half, but we were saddled with all our food - 2 kilos of hotdogs, tons of canned things and other stuff, just to name a few. 

9:00 PM: reached the bus station. lost our minds there for a bit. "JESUSFCHRIST how long does the line go fuck" was the common refrain. 


11:10 PM: by now, the others - Shan, Fess, Jani and Bren had caught up to us at the station. News had begun to spread - no other bus was bound for San Antonio. The next one would be at around 5 in the morning. Our only chance was to catch an Olongapo bus and ride another bus from the Olongapo station to Iba, Sta Cruz. 


I was in line and probably just a dozen more people shy of reaching the counter when this conductor guy in an official-looking reflector vest shouted to my right "O, chance passenger! chance passenger para sa olongapo!" 


"Kuya, pwede pa ba lima? Lima, makakaupo?" I shouted back. "Oo, pwede pa! Chance passenger na!" He said, waving his arms. "Makakaupo!"


Jani was with me at the line at the time. I gave her a quick glance and rushed back to where the others were waiting, full of adrenaline and the news.


"Tara, tara na! Chance passenger na daw pa olongapo, makakasakay na tayo kahit wala pang ticket!" I was frantically grabbing luggages and grocery bags here and there. "Tara!" I think it took half a second to sink in, but suddenly hands were darting everywhere, fumbling with bag handles and bottles and chips. 


So there we were - half lugging, half running to get to the queue where the passengers embarked on the bus. I don't remember feeling anything remotely close to "the infinite" Charlie (perks) mentioned in the books. I mostly remember feeling panicky and amazed at this ridiculous turn of events but man, looking back at it now, I guess this was how we would spend the rest of the trip - panicky, amazed, and mostly running to where we wanted to go.


Part 2.

No comments:

Post a Comment