I'm back!!!

On travelling, self-importance and truth

Yup, again! And nope, this is not the same blog as the one below it =) I'm afraid my future blogs from now on will be sporting similar titles since I'm definitely back at travelling again. Two of my projects are well on their way. One is in South Cotabato while the other involves the Legazpi LGU in Luzon. While the latter would not take me to Legazpi sometime soon, I would definitely be visiting Manila for perhaps a couple of times, sometime in the next six months. Hmm... not bad at all. But I doubt these trips would allow me the opportunity for personal travels. My schedules there fall on a weekend. This means by the time I'm through with work, I would have to fly back again home to tackle work back in the office... Hohum.

I had been reading my past entries here awhile back and I was amused at the ones that conveyed my moments of being at a stand still. I remember feeling really restless at that time, not getting used to being grounded for a long time. Yet now, here I am, just gotten in from a very nice trip spent just a few days ago; finishing some work concerns to travel again tomorrow night for a weeklong activity over at the northern portion of Mindanao. Yup, travelling again tomorrow. It seemed that the time spent in being "motionless" did not happen at all.

Last week's trip -- of a personal, leisure kind -- was really something. It was fun, satisfying, and a lot had happened that had me in a "pensive" mood. Only, all the moving about did not give me the opportunity to pen down my thoughts though my journal was definitely a constant companion then.

Self-importance. Something happened during my trip last weekend that once again gave me a peek at human nature and how each one of us really had different conditions, circumstances, truths that we had to contend with in our lifetime. The incident drove home the point that each one of us really has this "unique" "set of dramas" that we have to live, fulfill and go through, for us to arrive at our future selves -- whatever that may be. By "set of dramas" I mean associating life with a great set or stage wherein each one of us is the main actor in our own play. I am not referring at all to man's tendency for pettiness or on our penchant for blowing everything up to feed our illusion of grandeur...

As usual, having the opportunity of enjoying a long weekend, the group decided to take advantage of it by visiting a place we've never been to yet. Despite the seeming "unsureness" of it all, we went ahead with the trip just the same. Indeed, we encountered a few "glitches" along the way but they were hardly unexpected in a trip such as that. What's really weird, however, was this incident we had when we arrived at one of the places we visited. There was this man we met there. Their place had been featured in some travel shows and magazines. My expectation was that the locals there are probably used to seeing "tourists" already and therefore having new faces show up one day is no longer such a big deal for most of them. When we got quite the opposite reception, I was really caught off guard. I could not understand what all the fuss was for. My usual patient and understanding self suddenly had to keep a tight rein on the irritation I was feeling.

This man asked us a torrent of questions as to why we where there, had we paid courtesy to the mayor, what we were doing at their place on a holy week yet, etc., etc. I did not understand the questions at all. Or more appropriately, why they were being asked. We are supposed to be in a place hailed in some travelogue or the other as a "must-see" haven and should be on the list of any local traveller. And we were just there to see the place, nothing more. And looking at ourselves, I don't think we look like some terrorists of sorts or of any dubious character. The most unfortunate part is that he really lingered with us up until we were getting ready to settle for the night. His narrations were long and exaggerated that my irritation grew by the minute. Then it all sank in. This man is just throwing his weight around so he would be made to feel that he is important. My irritation disolved like a puff of smoke when I had this realization. It was replaced by pity. I was thinking at that time, that this man will be going home that night feeling good about himself for doing something that is out of ordinary from his usual, daily routine. And how I pity him. I felt sorry that he would have to go through such lengths -- short of almost harrassing us -- just so he would be able to feel good about himself. I began to wonder about his own set of circumstances, what his life is like, what constitutes his daily routine. I wondered whether he had a life outside of his life there in some obscure town in the middle of nowhere... Then I looked at myself, my opportunities for travels and going other places... And once again I began counting my blessings...

I remember feeling the same way when I was at the peak of Taal two years ago. I even wrote in my journal then. I was talking to this local there who was really trying to convince me to rent their horse in going back down. I had stubbornly walked all the way up, refusing the offered horse to me unlike the other tourists -- Koreans -- there who were with me in going up. They all saddled up for the ascent. I stood my ground and walked. In going down though, I relented and rented a horse when the lady local there (whose name I unfortunately forgot) explained to me that it's the only source of income they had aside from fishing in the lake. I also realized then that their lives just constitute being where they are and doing their daily routine.

I am indeed blessed. Truly, wondrously blessed.