I don’t know if it’s because I got stung by a bee on my
right eyelid or because my body thermometer is saying that it was the hottest
day of summer so far, that I decided to grab a quick ride on my bike.
I wanted to start off trembling so I opted to take the San
Salvador to Tibig road which gave me almost 3 kilometers of ro-ah-ah-ah-ugh
road before turning right to Tangway and exiting to the main highway. I dropped by La Salle for a quick spot check
of the Green Wall then proceeded to Lodlod via Villa Lourdes.
I like this loop going toward San Jose, passing by Lodlod
and Pangao. It is fast, with a lot of
downhiiiiiillllls that will generate enough momentum for the uh-uh-uh-uphills, and
not to mention the occasional aggressive-looking dogs that amp the adrenaline
rush a notch. But I also was on a
mission to sample halo-halo, any halo-halo, which turned out to be a problem
because the more I thought of it, the more I got thirsty. So when I saw the first halo-halo stand as I
reached Pangao, my thirsty instinct was to pull over.
I knew I was making a mistake when I slowed down and made a
motion of stopping because some 10 meters ahead to the left was another halo-halo
stand which looked more interesting.
Unfortunately, a thin man lying across a bamboo bench, alerted by my
presence, suddenly sprang up wearing a welcoming smile. We made eye contact and it was clear that he
was prepared to serve me halo-halo. I
was trapped.
I saw the man spoon one color of gulaman after another, then
red sago, then what looked like minatamis na saging, kamote, corn, ube and
brown sugar, which he topped with shaved ice and milk. It looked like any halo-halo, but this one
was different in that every time I stirred the mixture using my spoon, something
was spilling over the lip of the plastic cup no matter how careful I was. By the time I was ready to sample the
halo-halo, my hands were all gooey and wet.
I think the halo-halo man played some sleight of hand on me
because I was so sure he put in assorted colors of gulaman, but I only saw orange. I fished them out first, planning to move on
to a different color. But lo and behold,
every time I spoon orange gulaman into my mouth, more orange morsels appeared. I was holding a cup of miracle in my hands. I really don’t like gulamans in halo-halo,
lucky for the thin man it was the right color – my favorite.
In my headset Adam Levine was crooning “That maybe all I
need, in darkness she is all I see,” and I was nodding and
weaving my head to the tune. Unfortunately,
the thin man gazed at me as I was doing this and again we made eye
contact. He smiled the smile of a
satisfied host. He asked, “Ayos, sir?” What can I say, “Hindi?” So I gave him the thumbs up sign.
I paid the man P15 for my halo-halo.
Like a shopper not satisfied with his find, I
pedaled slow as I scanned the other halo-halo stand. It was beside the road with a long wooden
bench adjacent to the table where the condiments were neatly placed. I said to myself, “Sayang, nakaupo sana akong parang mukhang tambay lang.”
And I saw the halo-halo man in that stand, bald
(shiny kind of bald, not like my shaved kind of bald), dark with a big belly
menacingly protruding from his waist. He
was wearing dark-colored sando with his nipples poking fun at the thinness of the
cloth. And I was thinking, “Sayang! How
cool would it be to be served halo-halo by this tough looking dude.” And I imagined how he would react if our eyes
met and he sees my head bobbing up and down to Sunday Morning, would he smile
or would he ask, “Ayos ka lang ga?” with a growl?
Oh well, as they say, good things come to those
who wait, or in my case, pedal some 10 meters more.
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