When we were offered a chance to get out of town we pounced. Manila has many great things to offer but it is still a big city, and coming from a big city all we wanted was some open space. A family member of Mark’s (Tiffany’s main squeeze who often subs as our cameraman) suggested an overnight in Urdaneta, a sleepy town 115 miles (or four hours!) north of Manila in the Pangasinan Province. Much of the road from Manila to Urdaneta is paved – or being paved – and quite congested but yet farmers were harvesting rice and much of it was being dried on the road with tree branches flanking the edges to warn passing vehicles. I loved this! A little farmer-versus-the man rebellion. Road or no road, my rice has to go to market so go around!
Urdaneta is not a sleepy town anymore. Motorist, tricycles, pedestrians, freight trucks, resorts, restaurants, markets and… a mall. NO! THE MALL EPIDEMIC HAS SPREAD TO URDANETA! Now Manila is covered in malls, as a lot of big cities are, but what used to be the beautiful Urdaneta town plaza, often used for gatherings and celebrations, has been leveled and cemented into a giant mall. In fact, one of the very few remnants of yester-year in Urdaneta is a 150 year old Spanish style home across the street from the mall. The three elderly women who occupy it are sisters and it was their father who owned the land and commissioned the plaza that he eventually donated to the city that said thank you very much and with this plaza I will build a great mall. We got to visit this relic of another era for a wonderful afternoon. They, rather their maids, prepared a delectable meal of fresh fish, garlic rice and fruit (oh, the mangoes!) which was interrupted by a raid siren. After a concerned look around the table they explained that it was a leftover from World War II and is now used as the town’s clock tower, wailing every hour.
After lunch we took a walk around town and in returning to the house we stumbled upon a bonsai grove. We wandered in awe amongst the twenty-plus bonsai only a few minutes when Norberto “Roy” I del Prado III emerged from his home to greet us. An incredibly friendly man, he proudly showed us his award-winning work and answered many questions.
We were invited to a birthday party that night. It was a warm evening and after a couple of beers and some ghost stories on the porch with new friends we experienced one of the Philippines’ infamous blackouts. The kids shrieked but most of the adults remained seated and continued their conversations in the dark, a few stumbled around lighting candles which have permanent spots strategically placed throughout the house just for this occurrence.
The locals we encountered in Manila were friendly but nothing like the people we met in Urdanteta. Small town mentality, we were welcomed with open arms and any inquiries or needs that we had were not only answered or met but they were always followed with an offer to help: make the call, give us a ride, translate, even an offer to pay! A little taste of life in the province was just the reality check that we needed.
June 13, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Look at this….
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