The Undercurrent

it was supposed to be a vacation with sidetrip meetings with big time environmentalist.. relaxing was the idea..to invigorate the mind and add new inputs…what happened on my first day (the time i was writing this blog) was a nightmare that will forever be etched in the annals of my life history.  . . here’s a detailed account of what happened and you decide if it was one lucky day for me. . .

i woke up excited about the trip… meeting the vice president on field operations of the World Wildlife Foundation and some top scientists of the UP Marine Science Institure for some discussions regarding sea turtle conservation was something to be excited about. . . it was a sunny morning, in cagayan de oro city… i still reported to work in the morning as my flight was scheduled in the afternoon as there were no more earlier flights available. . . everything was bright and sunny in the morning. . .nothing to give me a hint of the dramatic turn of events that was about to happen. . . it all started as noon passed by, so did my luck… rain clouds started to form creating a gloomy atmosphere as the afternoon went by…and as if a dark cloud of "kamalasan", followed me all day… my 2:55 flight has been delayed 2 times..first, it was said that our ETD would be at 4:50 due to some technical problems and so the plane had to be switched. . . than the 4:50 ETD was again recheduled to 5:40 and boarding at 5:25…but what actually happened was we boarded the plane at about 5:40 and the plane took off at 6pm, 3 hours and 5 mins delayed. . .so as not to hear too much grumble, we were given free snacks as PAL probably believed that a full stomach has less to grumble about. . . the plane landed at 7:20pm…you’d say not that bad (if you landed in cagayan but if you landed in manila, that is bad)! ! ! my second misfortune than happened. . .as the luggage were about to be picked up, it took about 30 mins before everyone of my passengermates had theirs. . . all except for me. . . for some stroke of bad luck, my bag was placed in a separate cargo bin and had not been placed with those of my passengermates. . . and so i had to wait for the next bin to be loaded, which was suppose to be from another flight. . .so it took me about an hour before i located my bag. . . and thats not it. . . the person i expected to pick me up was not there for reasons only she could know. . .  our last conversation had been clear as crystal that i am going to take the last flight out of CDO thursday and she told me she’ll be there for me, yet nobody was there waiting for me. . .and i am not used to a big city like manila were human "predators" (more like opportunists) are everywhere preying on new specimens. . . so plan B, try to call in the colleagues, but no one of my batchmates can pick me up coz they all work graveyard duties. . . and some marine bio colleagues of mine got stranded somewhere in pangasinan due to rain. . . prior to my coming here, they told me they could pick me up if no one will as there field work was expected to end thursday morning. . .but it was almost 9pm yet they haven’t reached manila yet. . .good thing my great buddy JR was able to contact his friend to assist me in my needs should i have any, and needs i had a lot that time… i was hungry and tired. . . and i thought that my kamalasan finally ended with someone making sure i wouldn’t end somewhere in the banketa or sidewalk and be arrested by the MMDA for sleeping on it. . .i thought wrong. .

it was raining, not really hard, but enough to soak your socks inside your shoes and make a squishy sound everytime you walk and to wet your arms, head and shoulders,not to mention your bags, but not really give you a bath. . . and the worse is yet to come. . . of all the possible places that i could stay, all were fully booked for the night. . . i was soaking wet from the continuous downpour looking for a place in UP and its nearby vicinity and all had to be filled up for the night, even the dorms outside UP such as those in DA, bureau of soils. . .it was past midnight already and we haven’t found a place to stay… with all the rain and the "tamili" na mga taxi na dili magpasakay basta duol ra. . .so i decided to eat in the 24hour McDO near Philcoa. . .i ordered a double cheeseburger as i was famished and i was told it’d take 5 mins…ok i was hungry, but i can wait for another 5 mins for a good meal. . .but the 5 mins turned to 20 as the crew had forgotten that i had an order. . . my double cheeseburger was left at the counter and no one delivered it to me. . . D A M N E D ! ! !  pati sa pagkaon, malas japun. . .and you think that ended there? its exactly 5:21am as i typed the time and the rain outside seemed to get stronger… im in a 24hour internet cafe…obviously not getting any sleep. . .and i still have 3 more days here. . . what awaits me? ? ? if it rains, it pours as they say. . . kung malas ka, malas jud ka! !!