Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur

Have you ever been to a place where there are lots of coconut trees, vegetation, beach, islands, interesting dialect and customs, fresh seafood, and friendly hospitable folks? Yes! That sounds like every other place in the Philippines (except for the orange soil) and more! Hinatuan is part of Surigao del Sur. It’s a small municipality, just a few hours away from Butuan, the place where I grew up. By the way, Hinatuan was my inspiration when I wrote my poem “Wind Chime” (Read post way below).

Whenever I visit my father’s home town I usually expect the usual quiet of a small town. There’s the gentle breeze that’s so pure and fresh (sometimes mixed with dust), there’s the melodic flow of their dialect (I understand it, I just don’t speak it), and the slow pacing of time that I welcome. Is it just city life or time is just flying fast when one gets older? But an interlude at Hinatuan is what I needed to put some things in perspective for me. (Which means I was in a homicidal mood and Hinatuan might make me change my mind about committing a heinous crime—hehhehe joke).

I went to Hinatuan last Friday with my father. It’s a place where almost everyone is my relative. Hinatuan celebrates its Fiesta every August 28 and since I’m currently unemployed I thought I’d grab the chance to visit since I haven’t been to a fiesta in Hinatuan before. It was good timing, too, since my cousin Maimai was also going there for a quick visit and she brought along her Makati colleagues.

One thing I fear is speaking Filipino, one other thing is conversing in English. I’m bisaya and proud of it. But since I was staying at Auntie Marcel’s place I had to interact with Maimai’s friends. It wasn’t as hard as I feared. There were five of them who tagged with Maimai, bringing along their laptops and their work. On that same day that I arrived, Mai2 took them to the Halo-halo (a dessert made from shaved ice, cream, and other secret ingredients and topped with Ice cream) place and they returned bursting with praises. Hinatuan’s halo-halo as I remembered was the reason I never took to Chowking’s halo-halo. I mean, Chowking paled in comparison to the delicious taste of Alba’s (?) Halo-halo. The ice cream on top, according to my cousins, is a home made durian ice cream. The halo-halo was creamy, delicious and flavorful (hehehe). I got to eat Halo-halo the next day and it was yummy! The mix of ingredients is enough to make my mouth water again and my throat ache (I have sore throat. Ouch).

My cousins and I got together, and for the first time, I drank beer when the sun was still shining brightly. Baying’s treat. My second time to drink Gold Eagle beer. I remembered it as just tasting almost like water but it was a bit bitter for me. Maybe I was just not in “condition” to drink. I thought my drinking binge would stop when I got to Hinatuan but it was just wishful thinking on my part, I guess. So Baying, Romil and I were drinking beer, having a relaxing time when all of a sudden Auntie Emily, Uncle Danny’s wife, was there outside the gate with full Yonex attire, was yelling at Romil to get ready to play badminton. It was drizzling and we already had a buzz from the beer but we scrambled to change clothes. I was pretty excited. Wow. Hinatuan is slowly becoming urbanized in its activities. Food, drink, talks with my cousin and now badminton! (Hinatuanon people usually play tennis, according to my cousin).

Auntie Emily’s brother and sister who are also visiting from Bukidnon or Cagayan de Oro (I think) were also badminton players. I also learned that Auntie Emily just won first place in women’s doubles. I was with a couple of badminton champions and I’m the only one who doesn’t have a title yet! It was a knee-knocking moment for me but I still persevered. Romil, Maimai’s younger brother, also won in the recent tournament. He won the singles and the men’s doubles. It was great fun getting all sweaty, with blood and alcohol pumping in our system. It was funny too because while we were playing badminton at the gym the stage was also busy with the Miss Hinatuan pageant rehearsal. They were doing the walk and posing and everything.

I was going to elaborate on the foods served by my Uncle Danny and Auntie Marcel during my four day stay there but I think it’d occupy dozens of pages so I’ll make a list instead. Uncle Danny called me on my cell phone and invited me for dinner at his place. I was a bit hesitant since I there were lots of Uncle Danny’s in-laws also visiting, you know how shy I am *Blush*.

When I got to the house, the table was already filled with lots of variety of food. There were crabs, shrimps, kinilaw na squid (Raw squid), pork (Lechon I think), macaroni salad, and fruits to be had. It was a culinary delight! It was also a feast for the eyes.

I went back to Auntie Marcel’s place after the dinner at Uncle Danny and they in turn invited me to have dinner again. How could I say no? There were crabs and shrimps, too, but cooked differently. Delicieux! I’m not usually a shrimp and crab person but I was enjoying my food, man. I was eating with my fingers and it added to the pleasure. I’m not a food critic so I don’t know how to describe adequately what I was eating, but sigh! Food! What a trip!

I was trying to gain weight because I think I lost a couple of pounds when I visited Cagayan. You know the stress of the nursing board, plus all the sports activities I’ve done there really lost me some weight. So I tasted…ate trying to put on all the needed weight back until I got cross-eyed. That’s when I stopped. I wouldn’t like it if my eyes get permanently cross-eyed because of gluttony.

We spent the rest of our first night singing the videoke at my cousin Colleen’s bar, the Viajeros (?). Colleen as a host slash owner really dressed the part. Was she sexy? You bet! I was happily surprised that both Colleen and Maimai like Dido (Many people don’t). In fact, Colleen sang “White Flag,” my favorite.

It was a good thing that none of Maimai’s colleagues smokes. My throat is getting extra sensitive these days. I sang one song off key. In my defense when I sang “Linger” I couldn’t hear my voice (because of the sound system maybe or maybe I’m just plain tone deaf), you know what I mean? But Kaye, Maimai’s friend has such beautiful voice. Mahvellous! I learned she was member of a choir.

My cousin’s friends were really very videoke crazy (some of them lang pala). Mai mai also sang one song from Roxette’s “It must have been love.” It was an occasion of note because they said that Mai mai don’t sing. Well, she didn’t sing off key like I did. :)

That night, the rain was pouring but Hinatuan was still awake. It was a far cry from years before where people sleep as early as 7 or 8 in the evening. Or maybe it was because its fiesta time and people were making an exception. We got home pretty late. Wow. What an amazing day it was.

The second day of my stay at Hinatuan will be written next time. My ration of English words for today is almost used up. I’ll write about my adventures at Enchanted River in another post. Catch ya later.