Senti-mental

My friend asked me if he could borrow my photo albums because his brother is getting married in Australia. His brother needs some old photos of the gang. His brother will use it for a PowerPoint presentation which would be shown during the wedding reception. I gladly lent him my photo album. I also asked if he could scan the pictures because they are losing their colors.. It’s important that these pictures are preserved because these pictures documented our youth.

Whenever we have our barkada reunion, we always go back to our adventurous youth. I would bring out my photo album there would be laughter, sighs and misty eyes…

Every summer we would go to Tanay, Rizal for a three day camp. We did this every holy week. For three days we were in the mountain with no adult to watch over us; we loved the freedom. There was no electricity and the only sound we could was the call of the birds and the sound of the river. We scared each other with ghost stories until none of us could move or even open our eyes.

We didn’t even have a proper tent. All we had was a piece of canvas that we tied to a tree. We could only keep silent as we hear critters dragging empty sardine cans.They even dragged our pots and pans into the bushes.

There was a time when we brought a bottle of Chinese wine (sioktong) so that we could experience being drunk. Unfortunately, the sioktong was too weak for us, so all it did was to whet our appetite.

We cooked crabs, snails, and we ate papayas and bananas.

We shot birds. I could not remember ever me hitting anything at all! must be my eyes...he,he,he

There was a time when we did not know that there was a storm coming. We were sleeping when we heard the wind, thunder and lighting and the river getting angry. We were wet the whole night. When morning came, we were shocked to find that the river was raging and we cannot cross it. We had to climb the other side of the mountain so that we could go home. When we arrived home, I found my sister praying for our safety.

That was an unforgettable experience and it bonded our friendship.

We sang a lot.

(My daughter was laughing when he saw this picture of me.)

We did this for three years. Unfortunately we became adults and some of us got a job, some went to college; the camping stopped. Though we always tried to go camping again, work and study prevented it. Now, every time we have a reunion we always talk about going back to Tanay to visit our campsite, to relive our youth. But we never got around to doing it.

But someday we will go camping again...