To those of you who are curious as to my whereabouts for the past weeks - my whole family went on a grand vacation! Yipee! This is a first for us after more than 20 years. Between school, duties and our business, this is the first time in years that we were able to pack our bags and go. We wanted to go visit Hongkong Disneyland with some relatives but because of our tight schedules, we didn't push thru with the trip. Then my Papa suddenly said, "Let's go to Agusan!". I didn't know if he was serious then but fast forward 3 months before our May holiday, I found myself looking at hotels and checking airline/boat schdules online, Papa was indeed serious!

Agusan del Norte is my father's hometown and my brother and I haven't had a single vacation there in 21 years, not even to attend both my grandparents' funeral several years ago. I know it was remiss of us but we didn't have any money then so we didn't have any choice. So imagine our excitement at the prospect of visiting the place.

My memories of our last trip to Agusan were vague. All I remember was my 80 year old grandfather groping with thread and needle (because he was half-blind already) to make a pouch for his money while asking me in English how I am. During World War II, my grandfather was educated by several Americans and proceeded to graduate in highschool then on to a Certificate in Teaching. He didn't know how to speak Tagalog, I didn't know how to speak Bisaya so we were left with English. It wasn't really difficult for me because Lolo mostly kept to himself. He was happiest tending to his plants. My grandmother was also a teacher but knew how to speak Tagalog so communicating with her wasn't a problem. Another memory was us eating buko fresh from the coconut tree with spoons fashioned from coconut husk. Yummy!



Papa was determined to make us experience it all. He wanted to show us a glimpse of his childhood and college days in Cebu now that my brother and I are both adults. He also wanted to re-introduce us to his relatives, at the same time introduce my sister-in-law and show off our Tricia.

We had so much fun! It was nice to see my Papa's sisters and a myriad relatives after so many years. I felt very welcome, it was like coming home. Everyone was so accomodating and helpful. I was once again reminded of how simple life is in the province. After the hustle and bustle of Manila, laid back Agusan was a welcome change for all of us.



We only stayed in Agusan for 5 days and everyone was reluctant to come back to Manila. While on our way to the airport and again while waiting for our flight, we made a promise not to be strangers again to this place which gave us 5 days of bliss.

And so I say... Agusan, see you in 2008!