Back and Forth, Again and Again

The year is ending and we've gone back and forth Manila several times.  It's just a one-hour flight from Puerto to Manila, and we just have to be at the Puerto Princesa Airport an hour before take off. So, it takes two hours, which is pretty much the travel time when stuck in traffic in Manila.  With the plane fare promos, the cost is sometimes just like taking a road trip to Batangas. 

Nacho said,"Let's tell everybody to move here." We miss our families so!

And Rene and I are supplementing a lot to make sure they're learning as much as the other kids in the city.

But we don't want to move back (just yet).  The kids still need their wide open spaces, critters in the garden, grand sunrises and freezing cold waterfalls.   It's our gift to them, this wild weekend adventure-filled childhood ride. 

Sunday is Market Day in San Jose, Puerto Princesa

I love Sundays.

I wake up early, leave the rest of the snoring family at home, get my styrofoam cooler and some cloth bags and drive ten minutes to the public market.

The best part is walking along the rows of small nipa sheds where the produce is laid out on sacks on the ground, or on small tables.

My loot --- dragon fruit, guyabano, mangoes, avocados, bananas, red peppers!

The staples...Garlic, onions and tomatoes...

Dilis breakfast with fresh papaya... 

And some plants to take care of for E & N...

Wait till I tell you about the seafood.  Next time.

Long Time, No Cook!

At last, I have a stove and an oven that can simultaneously roast six chickens, bake three cakes, and cook four pyrex dishes of lasagna. I always dreamed of having my very own stove like this (and have the time to use it!) since college.  Mama happily funded my wish and bid me to bake away! 

And Citiappliance even gave me two gift certificates for Elmer's Pares, where we took home some pork barbecue for lunch! 

Table for Six

Our first purchase:

The New Market at San Jose has one row of furniture shops selling dining sets, bedroom sets, living room sets - made from rattan, ipil, kamagong and common wood.  We chose a nice 6-seater dining room set made of ipil, and got an extra shelf for a good bargain.  All pieces were amazingly loaded and tied on to a tricycle which followed our car to the house. 

Now, off to find a good stove. Can't wait.

Home Sweet Home in February

What happened to the sprawling 1000 square meter property with a two-storey six-room house we saw previously? Ha!  Rene was concerned that it might be pitch black at night, and with it being located quite far from the main road, we might be isolated and helpless during an emergency.  Emergencies will include break-ins, accidents and wild animals like the small cobra that was caught last night around here.

Also, the caretaker is a "manghuhula", "manghihilot" and an "albulario" and Mama was concerned that it might be a bit too spooky for comfort.
 
But tomorrow, February 25, I am meeting with a very nice old lady.  She is a widow, has grandchildren, and does not look like she is well into her 70's.  I am meeting her to give her two month's deposit for the rent of a small house and lot that Rene found last week.  He feels more comfortable with this one, and to him, feels just like our home in Manila.

The property is located in a small, quiet, gated, guarded subdivision that even has a small chapel in it. It has friendly neighbors and cute houses all around.  Very simple and homey.  There is public transport that passes in front of the main gate.  It is ten minutes to the market, ten minutes to the church, and fifteen minutes to the kids' school and Rene's workplace.  And the best part is that we have the first option to purchase the house as tenants - That little detail in our wish list was left out in the previous property we saw.

The small 100 square meter bungalow sits on a 300 square meter lot with a calamansi tree, a kasuy tree, a guava tree and a malunggay tree.  The bungalow has a two bedrooms, a spacious kitchen, and a good-sized living area. 

Our big house with the Arts &Crafts Room, Music Room, and Elise's Studio Unit shall have to wait.  Now, it's just time to give the kids their own private spaces, for me to have my heart's desire of a proper kitchen and cook nutritious meals for my family, have a small home office, and host grandparents, uncles, aunts, little cousins and babies from Manila for weeks at a time, and not just a few days.

We're getting settled.

OUR HOUSE

I excitedly explored a nearby road where I heard there were some houses and apartments for rent.  I got the tip from the owners of the car wash place we go to weekly.   The road was not cemented yet, so I drove slowly.  After months of checking out houses, apartments and pads, I was slowly getting discouraged. Some were so expensive and were aimed to be rented out to expats and foreigners.

And others were like this, needing much repair and had holes in the wall and roofs.  I shuddered at the thought of all the little animals that could com into the house.  More than twice, I've seen huge monitor lizards crossing the road. There are also scorpions and some scary looking bugs.   

I slowly muttered a prayer to St. Joseph, and asked him to help us find a good home, and I chanced upon this:

There was a tall red gate along the road, and another tall red gate about 300 meters away.  I rapped at the gate with a stone and shouted, "Tao Po!!!!"  ("Someone is here!")  Three barking dogs appeared,  jumping up and down.  A little later, a tanned man with Japanese features came out without a shirt and cheerfully acknowledged my presence.  His grown-up kids own the huge property and are all live elsewhere.  He takes care of the several houses being rented out within it.  He showed me some small one-bedroom duplex houses and an old two-bedroom house, then mentioned that he was finishing up the repair of one big house.  I asked to see it anyway. 

He led me to a red gate, and told me to back up and drive backwards to another red gate.  It opened up to a 1,000 square meter property with a house that looked more like an office building. 

It had almost everything we had in the wish list we made last November! It was not a bungalow type and the deal is not Lease To Own.  But it had a huge garden and lots of fruit trees - two santol trees, two mango trees, several papaya and banana trees, a few malunggay trees and even some cashew trees.

The front lawn was once covered with bermuda grass, but there were eggplant and sweet potato vines crawling all over the place.  It would be fun to clean up and shove the vines over to one side to let the grass breathe once again.   

And guess what, when I entered the house, the layout of the house was almost exactly like what Elise drew a few months after we arrrived in Puerto!


I closed my eyes and was lost in my daydream.  The kitchen opens up to the garden, and I see Elise and Nacho playing in the tree house across the other tree with a tire swing.  I am baking with my brand new oven, grilling fresh seafood in the garden, arranging a small gathering on picnic tables in the garden under the shade of the two mango trees.  I suddenly have a green thumb and am tending tomatoes, herbs, green onions and stemming roses!  I am composting and recycling. I am having playgroups with other mothers and holding cooking, art and reading classes for kids.  I am painting the walls, having shelves made, choosing curtains....

I got pulled back into reality when he told me that the repairs would take a few months.  The rate was good, for such a big property.  Yes, we can wait.  We'll be busy anyway, with the kids' classes ending in two months, then off to Manila for the entire summer, then back here again..... June would be perfect.

And so today, at 4:00p.m., in one hour, I will bring Rene and the kids to see the house.