Bogo

Huggybear's Stories

July 5-11 Edition

April 6, 2014

Sunday

I always keep in touch with close friends in Luzon even if I'm in the Visayas. This is my text to let them what I've been doing 

I took a photo of a cloud shaped like a penis the other day.

May 4, 2014

Sunday

A man of God will die for the glory of God. But will he lay down his life for mankind without the glory? I just finished Dan Brown's Angels & Demons. I first read it three years ago.

Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons"

Robert Langdon: Huggybear

Vittoria Vetra: Milla Jovovich

Camerlengo: Leonardo DiCaprio

Maximilian Kohler: Patrick Stewart

Olivetti: Steven Seagal

Cardinal Mortati: Anthony Hopkins

The Hassassin: Danny Nucci

Elias Rocher: Armand Assante

Chartrand: Joseph Gordon Lewis

Gunther Glick: Topher Grace

Chinita Macri: Tracie Thoms

Pantheon Docent: Roberto Benigni

May 11 2014

5:12 a.m., Sunday

Dawn is breaking. I'm in the North Bus Terminal in Cebu, going out to town.

I just got in the bus. I can appreciate the sense of imparmanence at terminals. There's something about being in place where everybody knows that everybody else will be gone anytime.

Daylight slowly comes. More people are coming into the terminal as the time has come for light to triumph over darkness. I'm in a yellow Ceres tourist bus going north. All the way. I'm going out of town again. Travel is a part of my soul. What could sweeter than freedom? It's a beautiful Sunday morning. It's going to be an unforgettable weekend.

May 11, 2014

Sunday

I had my first dream about a post-Apocalyptic world infested with the walking dead.

In most of my dreams, I exhibit paranormal powers and talk to the dead. I guess zombies are not so unusual. 

It turns out I'm a zombie hunter riding KITT, the talking Knight Rider car. I was explaining to a woman that I can only do this alone. I don't want passengers in my car and I don't want anybody pulling me down. I remember being curious as to how I kill the zombies. In the course of my scattered dream scenes, I discovered that I can generate fire from my hands. Cool! I mean, Hot! 

There's a scene where I'm driving down a deserted highway. Suddenly, a helicopter descended on me, lights blazing down like in one of those reality cop shows. The chopper, presumably, was not piloted by zombies. I vividly remember being indignant that they are targeting a maverick doing good instead of going after the real enemies. I opened the car roof window and stood, the car on self-driving mode. That was when I first knew about the pyro thing. I reached out. My hands blazed with blinding light.

Knight Rider

Original 80s TV Intro

(Part of Huggybear's Happy Childhood)

May 11, 2014

Sunday

I'm in Bago, a small city in the northern outskirts of Cebu island.

I got down from my bus bound for Hagnaya (where I'll take a ferry to Bantayan Island) on impulse.

My cam battery has died and I need to either buy a new batt or recharge. I left my charger in my rented room (I can't call it home) in Cebu City.  I'm a seasoned traveler and that's a humongous booboo. There's a Metro mall here in this little sea-side city but they don't have one with the right size. 

I went around the town market. I inquired in a cellphone accessories shop. The girl at the counter was nice but they don't charge. I asked where can I do it, and she pointed me to another cell shop. Even the lone customers, an elderly couple, told me where to go.

I immediately got lost. I found instead a small general merchandise stall. I asked the girl if they could charge. She agreed. I traveled because I'm a voyager. I went outside Cebu City because I'm really sick and tired of the consistent rudeness of the natives. I like the people of Bogo much better. I feel more comfortable here. It's not home because home is where the heart is. I won't say that my heart is here, but it's definitely not in the city.

In the large open air high-roofed terminal, I bought a Sprite in one of the stalls while walking around, waiting for my cam battery. The lady in a carinderia restaurant I went to was nice, and she pointed me to the next store because they don't have softdrinks. The lady whom I bought from was also nice. Gosh, the people here are so decent. I found two billiard pools in an open air stall near the sea. Nobody was playing. I like the small town feeling of this place.

July 3, 2014

Thursday

While on the bus going back with a dead camera battery, I was taking notes of the sights and wonders along the way. This is now the complete story.

We passed a long row of shops and restaurants made of nipa and bamboo walls with identical but elegant design. There is a pre-War train that stands as a historical marker on the town plaza.

On the distance, the white marble stairs leading to a Marian shrine glisten in the sun. On top of the seemingly thousand steps stands a large statue of Mary.

There was a triathlon going on. To give way to the race and bike routes, traffic was diverted into a light-colored dirt road along the highway with a 99 marker, which means we were ninety nine kilometers from the city. Further on were fields of sugar cane swaying in the countryside breeze.  

I saw a cow under a tree somewhere down the road. I've seen a couple of trees that were felled down from the Hainan typhoon. The highway coiled around the mountains. I was overjoyed as I watched the rolling hills stretch away, with coconut trees standing in formation in the horizon like immutable sentinels. There's a part of the landscape that reminded me of the famous round Chocolate Hills of Bohol. I felt a sense of Zen-like melancholy for bygone days upon seeing people cooking on wood stoves outside their houses under the trees. The road turned and I saw, right before my very eyes, the breathtaking grandeur of the majestic blue sea.