I was accustomed to the distance from Ayala Mall to the airport. I was not staying near Ayala Mall this time! It turns out where I was staying was much further away! I offered an excessive tip if the taxi driver got me there in a hurry. This resulted in absolutely no hurrying whatsoever. At least he didn't slow down.
At the airport, I jumped out, grabbed my stuff, threw money at him and ran! I had to slow down for security twice, because that's how they roll in the Philippines! I went to my gate, saw the airplane, and realized I just might be able to get on. The lady there tried to call, but something was wrong, so she rushed 3 gates down and asked someone there to call on the radio. The radio wasn't working, so someone else came back to that gate, and attempted to call. Meanwhile, the door closed. Yes, my luck had run out.
Meanwhile, Ayengg, a T'boli lady who works at the hotel where I would be staying, was going to General Santos City to get me so I would not get lost. I contacted her and told her of my plight. She then told me of her plight. She did not have enough money to get back home! Now I had 2 challenges! Find the next available flight and get money to her so she can go home. I had no way to transfer money online, either!
I got a flight reserved that was taking off in about 2 hours. That gave me an hour and change to go back into town somewhere, wire her some travel money, then get back to the airport.
Now this is where I talk about how 5 minutes affected an entire day. I was going to be in T'boli around 3 or so. There were no more flights available to General Santos that day. There was a flight to Davao, which was much further away from T'boli, but was still on the same island. I booked that flight, but would not have confirmation for an hour or two through email. I decided that was good enough. I caught a taxi to the nearby money transfer company. Meanwhile, the branch where Ayengg was picking up the money was threatening to close. I had to fill out a form to get an account before I could transfer money. While this was going on, a taxi was waiting for me, meter ticking away the time.
Yup! Here I was, a 5 minute delay causing everything to go to crap. I work well under this kind of pressure! How well? About half as well as usual! Money got transferred just in time, so Ayengg was going to make it home, thankfully. I got back to my taxi and went back to the airport. I went in at the wrong gate with no ticket since I had no confirmation email yet. Someone directed me to the correct gate. I walked out into the blazing sun, hot and sweaty, and still at a fast pace because I had no idea "What Next."
Fortunately, everything from this point on went well. Mostly.
I got my boarding pass, got to the gate, and waited for a while. I looked up and realized it was almost time for the flight to take off, so I sort of panicked a little bit. My fears were alleviated when they called on the speaker that the flight was delayed. If only Cebu Pacific had been delayed, just 5 minutes.
I arrived in Davao to this welcoming site! It sure calmed my artificially induced stress I was having earlier. I asked around and found out that I would be getting to T'boli a bit late. I would probably miss the Miss T'boli pageant. Bummer! After two different busses and a van ride, I made it to T'boli! The Ses'long festival was in full swing, and LOUD! I kept telling the driver to stop and let me out because I wanted to walk the last few blocks and soak up all the energy, but he wouldn't stop until he got to the hotel.
I got out, paid my portion of the ride, then went inside, where Ayengg was waiting for me. She had the kitchen cook me dinner before they closed! I hadn't eaten since breakfast 12 hours earlier, so I scarfed! It was this big piece of chicken, rice, vegetables, and a very tasty gravy. I realized I was not up to heading out, so I checked in to my room and stood on the 3rd floor balcony, just listening to the sounds! Listen to the video below. Loud music coming from the streets mingled in an unkind way with loud music coming from the bar, yet it was a happy sound that resulted. I could feel the energy coming from the people, and tears welled up as I exclaimed quietly to myself about 40 times, "I'm here!" The energy was wonderful!
Now, before I came all the way out here, I made contact through Facebook with someone through the Ses'long Facebook page. He gave me ideas on when to be here. I eventually made contact with several different people. One of these people saw me on the balcony, sent a photo of me up there, and said, "I see you!" I went down to meet her, but by the time we finisehd talking, I met about 6 or 8 other family members. While this was going on, a van stopped, and a team from the festival stepped out. I recognized the first person I contacted and talked to him for a few minutes.
In short, I was being bombarded by the friendliness of the people here! It was positively exhilarating!
