Tuesday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out towards Robinson’s to catch a Jeepney to Santa Ana in Mandaluyong. I ended up sitting behind the driver on this trip, which was fun as I helped other passengers pass the money to the driver, letting him know where they were going and passing back their change. Jeepneys operate on the honour system, not only with the paying the fares but also the other riders that pass the money to and from the driver. It is the neatest thing and I now want to go everywhere in Jeepneys rather than a taxi or Grab cab (Uber).
We made it to our stop Santa Ana and walked the last few blocks to our destination. I also found where I had taken a picture of the only stop sign that I had sen when I was here on my last visit.
Along we way we stopped and picked up a couple of roasted chickens and some roast pork before arriving at F’s cousin’s house. They live at the end of a dead end street and there are several separate family dwellings that are together with a small central compound. It is very family-oriented and our lunch was composed of food from each of the family members (hence the reason we brought chicken and pork with us).
After we ate, we sat and talked. My Tagalog isn’t very good but thankfully everyone spoke English so I wasn’t left out of the conversation. After the sun went down we headed to Aglipay Street to grab some dessert – puto bumbong and bibingka and then headed back to the compound where the guitars came out and we started singing. We also had some BBQ sticks of betamax (dried blood), isaw (small pig intestine), tenga (pig’s ear) and also some chicharron (pork rinds) which all went well with the San Mig beer. There is a Tagalog word, pulutan, which translates loosely as beer-drinking food. All of these, including the adobo peanuts are definitely pulutan.
By about ten o’clock we were getting tired and got ready to head back to the hotel. We got a Grab cab which dropped us off a few blocks from the hotel as Roxas was still closed.
We were tired and hot but happy after a day with the family.
I wish I could accurately portray what a Filipino family gathering is like. The kids running around playing; the men sitting and chatting while drinking San Mig; the women bringing copious amounts of food out to share; everyone joking and telling stories of “remember when”. I felt honoured to be included and to share in the festivities. Some of my favourite memories from my last visit were made in Santa Ana and I was so glad that we could do it again on this visit.
Thank you for reading and I will talk to you soon.
L
it was moment to be remembered for a lifetime