I wasn't supposed to go there. The one in charge had to attend a meeting in Romblon and the other coordinators were attending a meeting in Leyte. Though a bit hesitant, the driving force was that I had not set foot on the place even if I came from the island.
It was also my first time taking the Zest Air flight. I was up at 1:30 a.m. because the trip to the domestic airport was at 2:00 a.m. and the 45-minute flight took off at 5:00 a.m.
From the airport in San Jose, we were brought straight to Sikatuna Beach Hotel, a resort facing the waters of the West Philippine Sea (a.k.a South China Sea). After checking in (which took a while because we waited for our room to be vacated and sanitized), we went to the Murtha Campus of Occidental Mindoro State College. Just after breakfast, we were led to the venue of the agency in-house review.
Though I was earlier informed that I would talk about STARRDEC, I was surprised to know that it had to be during the plenary session that I would be the last speaker in the morning. Good thing (the Girl Scout was ready), I brought with me the presentation material so during the opening program I was trying to draw in my mind the outline of my talk.
Here's another surprise. I would be one of the evaluators in the paper and poster presentation in the afternoon. Another first, but thank God, it went well.
And here's the surprise of all. During the session (it was already raining cats and dogs because of the storm Egay), the other evaluator was informed through SMS that their flight the following day (there's only one flight in a day) was canceled and their tickets rebooked for the next day. Oh no! The program finished past 7 p.m. We were informed that the ticketing office was already closed and we felt stranded.
We woke up late because there was no 6:30 a.m. flight to catch and while having breakfast, a call from the official of OMSC revealed that a plane arrived and left. We hurried to the ticketing office and it was confirmed. It was a no-show for me and my companion and we had to pay the penalty equivalent to a one-way trip. There were slots available for the flight the following day but we decided not to book because of the higher probability of flight cancellation due to the approaching storm.
In short, we took the 13-hour land trip: van from San Jose, Occidental Mindoro to Roxas, Oriental Mindoro; another van to Calapan City; roro from Calapan to Batangas; van from the pier to Palapala, Dasmariñas, Cavite; and finally, bus to Indang. Thank you, Lord.
No San Jose airport pictures. Not even shots while we were in the beach resort and definitely none about the landmarks of the place. But I had learning experiences that I will never forget. Even if senior moments set in.
