San Antonio Here I Come!
But here was one chance I specifically wrote “go to San Antonio” at the end of my official itinerary. I did a convention in Calbayog, and this was like my nth assignment in the area – this time, I said “I won’t go home without visiting San Antonio first”. So, I did. I had to!
Why San Antonio? Well, envy. It is such a good word after all (at times) especially for the insatiable roamer. I have friends and family who had been to this island a number of times, and their pictures and reviews seemed all the more to have pressured me into “why don’t I go and see for myself”. Touted as one of the better places to go for an island/beach vacation in this part of the country, many say so. Thus, I had to go and see!
Going there
Ah, this was easy. Why? Because I have read about the island early on, and lately asked all possible live-sources I could bother, about details of getting my royal highness to the island! So it was like, I was already sure of the where, what, how, when, which, why, etc.
The grand plan was I would go alone, as usual. However, the day before ETD, two of my colleagues asked me to invite them (yes me ganun hehe), so I did! I instantly knew this was not going to be my usual kind of roam, but grander - “the more, the many-yer” hehe!
These were running in my mind (yes, I practice "mental rehearsal"):
1) Leave unnecessary things in Calbayog; 2) ride a Grand Tours van going to Allen; 3) get off at Victoria proper; 4) ride (originally “walk”) to the wharf (as I now had companionS who might not like the “walk” part); then 5) ride a commuter boat to San Antonio island.
All set but… when we arrived at the Grand Tours terminal, we chanced upon a friend who now lives in Allen. He just came via a series of connected rides from Tacloban, this was going to be his last segment (Calbayog-Allen) and he saw us. What a lucky chance!
He knows the island, and told us to stay at "Veranda". Whoa! But he is not hard to get hehe, so make the long story short, he went with us (5-year old son in tow). He just called home to ask for overnight and swimming clothes for the kid. These were handed to him at the Victoria wharf and he in turn handed things he brought from Tacloban!
Yep, he did not anymore go to his house just a trike ride away form this wharf. Imagine that, just to guide us! Call it true-blue waray-waray hospitality - a.k.a excited ha tururab!
Get off the van at this corner (some vans even go to the wharf about 400 meters away)
Take note folks: van fare from Calbayog to Victoria (P100 as of this writing) is the full fare from Calbayog to Allen. But don’t fret, as said above, the remaining distance is just a trike ride away. Besides, Grand Tours is a direct ‘city-to-city shuttle’ so you pay a point-to-point fare. They’re just kind enough to let you off before reaching their real destination. And these UV Express Vans (e.g., Grand Tours) are the fastest way to hop between towns!
Oh, there’s a notable semi-incident worth telling you my fellow commuting travelers. I observed this but my companions may not have even given a hoot about it. Here goes...
On arrival at the Victoria wharf (2 trikes, 4 adults 1 child), the ‘usual’ hoodlum-looking boatmen were quick to ask us where we were going and all that. Our friend (now guide) did the talking and haggling for all of us. But I was all ears, observing the goings-on...
One man (let's call him 'Boatman A') was quick to offer a “pakyaw” (special trip) for just us (4 adults, 1 child) at P400. The friend asked if there were no other passengers while pointing to 2 young ladies waiting. 'Boatman A' answered “ah mga estudyante yan” to which my friend replied “are they not passengers too?” Da! Silent-night si 'Boatman A'!
We discovered, it turns out, that in their internal rules (yes, there's such a thing here): a boat must have minimum of 13 passengers. Take note, MINIMUM. And at P30 regular fare, that would mean just P390 if we were going to take it “special”. Anyway, counting that there were only 6 of us adult passengers, we said we will just wait for more as we could see that other trikes were coming with more people (hoping they too were passengers). It was only noontime, okay? Like we had the whole day to wait, if need be!
Not even 10 minutes of waiting and there were more than 13 passengers waiting to get a ride. 'Boatman B' hollered “sige sakay” as he led us and the 2 girls to his boat. I boarded last. Then I heard 'Boatman C' shout to 'Boatman B' "adi pa iba" (more passengers here).
Eto na, 'Boatman A' told 'Boatman C' in a low voice that I still heard: “sira man mabayad san kulang” – he meant my group will anyway pay for the difference if the minimum of 13 passengers was not met. He was obviously not letting other passengers ride with us.
But that was not what we said, it was his offer. Our last word was "we will just wait for more passengers" which we did! Blood simmering a bit... what did I do? Without looking at any boatman, I went back, approached the 6 people waiting on the bench and said (in Tagalog) "pasahero kayo di ba? tara sakay na"! They happily did, 2 even with motorbikes!
As if on queue, once the two motorbikes were aboard (which was quick and the drivers loaded them on their own without assistance from other boatmen bumming around), my friends said "let's go"! Off we went. I glanced at 'Boatman A', naka-nganga! Silent-night!
As we sailed, one friend counted, there were 12 adult passengers on board – which meant we had to pay for one extra fare so boatman can collect his minimum 13 pax! We did. We paid P150 instead of what should have been just P120? Deal enough hehehe!
Here's a tip:
Don't get too excited crossing to the island if you want to play it light on the pocket. Wait for other passengers. This is a busy port since many people from the island come to mainland for school or work - daily! That translates to a lot of trips, crossing to and fro.
There are even folks from mainland who work at LGU San Antonio, the resorts or other businesses on the island. All of them cross the sea every single day. No need to be swift and bite that "pakyaw" proposal - unless you really are in a hurry or it is about nightfall.
In our case, because I dared, 'Boatman A' stood there dumbfounded watching us go with 11 other passengers. I did hope he would have realized his unfair ways - he not only tried to jump their next-boat-in-line system, he also tried to get one over us. An kolera!
Ah well, I am not that poor to be too finicky about a mere ten pesos for my entire group's convenience. I even *always* pay for seats 1 and 2 of any van ride, remember? But never let me discover that you are taking advantage of my being 'visitor'. And never on the big island of my birth nga mamereste ka, kay ba-a!
Anyway, it was a lovely 'less than half an hour' crossing to the island of San Antonio!
More stories coming...
For a chronology of this trip's stories, click these numbers:
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