Fun Bus Ride: Calbayog To Allen

Wonderful ride! Even with sporadic rain along the way. And oh boy, did I salivate to get off my bus quite a number of times. Then again, I already paid my fare. And I was lugging a pesky almost empty “maleta” aside from my usual backpack. Thus I contented my self with ticking off places with “next time”!

My Fellow Passengers
I knew the almost-two-hours ride from Calbayog to the RORO wharf in Allen would have been via scenic parts of the Maharlika HIghway, but it was raining on and off so I busied myself scribbling things about my previous days’ activities – many of which you have already read in the previous posts. Other times, I amused my self listening to the conversations and lively banter amongst my co-passengers, many of them having come from Guiuan, some from Borongan and other towns in that area, all on their way to the metropolis.

I mused at the distinctive language variations – even if all of these are considered Waray-waray. I was either smiling or grinning at the tonal differences coming from various speakers. I should have taken linguistics in college hehe. I am always amused at the nuances of various spoken words, and in fact I already know many of them. Like waray-waray for instance. The Guiuan variety sounds like Tacloban, the Borongan sing-song is sweet and lively where the expression “atara” is used in many ways many times, the Catbalogan intonation ends almost every word with a high pitch as if questioning or debating, while the Calbayog version is peppered with a lot of “s” replacing the “h” and so on. Amusing!

Oh, many of my co-passengers were getting back to the metropolis from their summer breaks while some were on the way there for theirs. I liked the pack of probably 8 or 9 golden boys and girls, very obviously balikbayans who went home for even more fun obviously an alumni homecoming. They are from the Eastern Samar side of the island - “estehanons” as they are commonly referred to by the warays. Aside from them being classmates or schoolmates of yesteryears, thus the banter, I have observed through the years that “estehanons” can’t seem to settle straight on any topic without a joke or two slinging by. Through the years, I have observed, estehanons are the fun-lovingest amongst the warays. They even requested the conductor to stop that violent movie so they could hear each others’ banter!

Not a boring ride after all. In fact, never a dull moment!

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