Skip to main content

Lola Bats' day out

My father's mom, Lola Batangas (Bats, for short), turned 96 last April. Despite the advanced age, she prefers to remain active even if she's being relegated to a wheelchair lately. For instance, she takes tours whenever possible and if she feels up for it, we visit the farm in Batangas.

The opportunity to take the two-hour trip came up when she was deemed healthy enough by one of my aunts, a doctor. Our first stop was lunch at the Lipa Grill, a popular restaurant along the highway to the Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church.


After taking our fill of sinampalukang manok, pinakbet (bagoong on the side), and fruit shakes, it was time to continue with the trip. However, since I was with Lola Bats, I had to take a slower pace than what I'd normally do; after all, this was a leisurely trip with an elder. Lola Bats must not feel rushed and tense.

Several minutes later, we reached her old home; the home I used to spend lots of hours with my grandparents as a toddler and several summer vacations as a school-age child.


It has always amazed me that despite Lola Bats' long stay in Manila, she could get news and information about people in the farm. She's more updated than I am! Her friends dropped by to visit who must be one of the oldest people in the barrio that afternoon. Sadly, though, most of her contemporaries have already moved on. Most of the people Lola Bats looked for had been dead for more than a year.

While Lola Bats enjoyed catching up with her friends, Aling Mary and I went to the public market to buy fresh fruit and vegetables (her special request). It's the first time I'd been to the town's public market ever; though Padre Garcia is known as the cattle capital of the Philippines, I didn't see one cattle auction (probably because my timing was off).


Lola Bats seemed to have enjoyed her trip very much that afternoon; however, the road trip wasn't over yet. We were still going to Alitagtag town, about an hour away. So she had to say good bye to her friends for the time being. Hopefully she'd be healthier next year so we can do this long trip more often.


She's one happy grandma!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in Bagu
4 comments
Read more

How MALDI-TOF-MS makes mycobacterium diagnosis faster and more accurate

The laboratory I work in has plenty of instruments that help us characterise and identify microorganisms causing diseases in patients. One of my current projects is to validate an instrument called "matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometer" (MALDI-TOF-MS) in identifying members of the Mycobacterium  species. Many of these organisms are opportunistic, meaning they only cause illnesses in people whose immune systems are not strong enough to fight infections. Mycobacterium leprae  is known for causing leprosy, but we cannot grow this bacterium in culture media, so we cannot isolate it. Mycobacterium tuberculosis  complex, on the other hand, is a group of several species of Mycobacterium  that causes tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a disease that killed 1.6 million people in 2021 alone. It is a leading cause of death globally, second only to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Identifying the Mycobacterium species that has infected a patient is
Post a Comment
Read more

a crash course on traditional Filipino houses

On Dr Jose Rizal's birthday this year, I was back in historic Manila with Ate Bing, Ate Mary , and Manuel . But instead of visiting him, we opted to soak up on Philippine culture. Our first stop: the Cultural Center of the Philippines ' (CCP) Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino .  Aside from the musical instruments, I noticed the dioramas about Filipino homes. Filipinos living by the sea (the 'sea gypsies', Sama Dilaut or Badjao ) have boathouses; those who live in the mountains, like the Bagobos , have developed interconnected houses in the trees; Filipinos who live along the path of the strongest typhoon winds, such as the Ivatans , have developed houses of thick limestone walls; and people who live in calmer conditions used bamboo and nipa to construct their houses, like the lowlanders and the Agtas . Sama Dilaut 'lepa' and houses on stilts (in the background) Ivatan limestone house nipa hut Ifugao 'fale' Maranao '
Post a Comment
Read more