Cuenca visit - November 8

November 8 happens to be my mom's birthday, and therefore makes a great reason to plan a visit to her in Cuenca, Batangas. Not that I'll ever need an excuse to visit her and my sisters, but any two and a half hour trip out of the city will definitely need some planning and logistical considerations.

For example, the days leading to that particular day, a Saturday I might add, left me with a transportation concern. Normally, I'd bring our car to Cuenca... it would be the most comfortable manner I can think of. But that assumes that we'd not go beyond having five people on board. Six would really be pushing it, and it would hardly be comfortable (or wise) to overload the car's loading capacity for such a long trip.

So... here I was, considering having to bring my family - Barbie, Bryce and Bernice; Barbie's brother, Ben; our visiting extended family - Jogie; Fred (my friend) whom Barbie and i bumped into and mentioned his interest to join us in Cuenca (despite some difficulties with his call center work schedule) and Boy - my barber - and a special request from my mom, since he also cuts her - and my sister Bing's hair when they happen to go to Manila. That makes it eight people - and the kids are not exacly kids anymore, so definitely... the car wouldn't do.

Luckily, I could borrow my Dad's van - a regular sized High Ace which could easily fit a dozen people. So transport problem solved. The van would not be as comfortable (and maneuverable) as the car, but it will get the job done. Since I was the designated driver, it meant a little sacrifice to drive there, but I was willing to do it. This of course meant getting the van from my dad's place and fetching everyone in their respective places.

As plans go... nothing is final until the day itself - lucky for me it was not transportation specific. The van, as I was to find out, was tuned-up and ready to go, specifically for my use that day. Some people though - specifically Fred and Ben; due to work or school related reasons, could not come with us after all. Suddenly, the van was large for six people - but the car was still too small for us. So I proceeded to use the van (though had I known about our final count earlier, I would have tried getting a smaller vehicle). So I left the house at around 6:30, got the van and fetched Boy close to 8AM - which by that time meant that Barbie and the rest would have been ready to be fetched. I also got two boxes of Crispy Kremes for everyone.

I also had to bring along a few things... ones which my mom reminded me nto to forget by way of text messaging. Some books that Bing wanted to read (I left two of them behind in my rush to load stuff into the van), a few stuff mom wanted me to bring/return, and of course the gift my mom requested from me - an electric fan. I also dragged the cooler with ice and some drinks so we wouldn't get thirsty along the way.

So, there we were... on our way to Batangas, and I could say that the traffic was nto that heavy - though the repair works were still responsible for our slowing down and taking longer than usual. We also had a few stops - breakfast at the Jolibee/Shell stop-over, buying a cake for Ma at Lipa - the usual stuff.

We arrived in Cuenca by noon. Perfect timing for a lunch birthday celebration, and the first thing I noticed was another van parked inside our area - one that happened to be used by Francis (Chie) Torres - an uncle of mine; mom's cousin. He had brought his family, plus his elder sister (Tita Tessa), for the same reason - to celebrate Ma's birthday... and later report his visit to his mom (and my mom's aunt), Lola Nora. The things we do for our mothers... Anyway, this gave us the time to touch base with each other again, and Chie showed us a lot of pictures from their family's U.S. reunion.

The celebration was austere, simple, no frills - though the food was aplenty. Grilled tilapia; likewise with the pork... chopped for grilling, some eggplant were grilled as well, then mixed with chopped salted eggs and tomatoes... we hardly had space for desert. Sometime along the way, Boy finally got to do what he was brought there to do... and gave not just Ma and Bing a haircut, but he also cut Miguel's hair and trimmed Jogie's as well. Here's Ma and Bing sporting their new cut.

Since Barbie had other things to do (she was leaving for Singapore the next day, and had not yet had the time to pack), we opted to leave around 3PM (earlier would have been better - btu we had to wait for Boy to finish with his haircuts).

I then had to bring Jogie to Cavite, then brought the van back, then drop Boy off to the nearest bus station he could ride - and only then could we focus on Barbie getting her toiletries. All the while, I was trying to get back home by 8PM, but it was not to be... and Bryce missed his on-line war games that evening. Ah well... I tried, but too many things on the plate and all... We didn't even enjoy the stop over to Greenhills because most shops were already closing.

We eventually got home close to 9PM. Bubbbles - our pet dog, and at this particular day, our house guard, was of course happy to see us... and I was just glad I could finally rest and call this particular long day 'over and done'.