About a month prior to the arrival of students from Aklan Catholic College, I had been in touch with Ms Portia Robado, who had made arrangements for the tour of Manila and Villa Escudero. Who would have counted on tropical storm Mario battering the country on those appointed dates? I had blocked off the dates of their tour on my calendar 19th-21st of September notwithstanding my other commitment to be at Ballet Philippines' 45th Season Gala opening of Giselle (that's another story in the works). Well... the weather cooperated on the two succeeding days, thank God! So they were at least able to salvage some fun days out of the entire weekend.
Luckily for their group, they were able to catch the early morning flight from Aklan and got to Manila by around 7 or 8 a.m. After that, all flights to Manila were cancelled. Despite the heavy rains, I managed to meet them at the Mind Museum at Bonifacio Global City. It was nice that the Mind Museum staffed honored their prior commitment to welcome the students to see the museum. heavy rain and gusts of wind didn't dampen their enthusiasm. Ahhh... the energy of youth...
There were 57 students in all, plus two faculty members in the person of Ms Portia and Ms Aiza who dutifully served as mother hens. About half of the kids were first time visitors to Manila. It was quite difficult to make a good impression of Manila for these kids because the terrible weather almost obilterated everyone's view of what they could see from the rented bus.
Surprisingly the areas of EDSA from the BGC to MOA and Roxas boulevard to Padre Faura weren't inundated by floods. No traffic either, From there, after an lengthy check-in process (due to sheer volume of guests) and a skeletal work force at Lotus Garden hotel, they were to have dinner at Tramway where I made my leave to see to my costuming duties at the CCP. Luckily, Tramway was a short walk away from CCP. I was prepared and dressed for the fowl weather.
My next assignment for them was to guide towards Villa Escudero in San Pablo, Laguna. This time, the trip was blessed with glorious sunshine all the way. No traffic at the Sto. Tomas area either so we got to the destination in record time. While taking photos at the site, I had the pleasure of meeting Ms Rosalie Escudero (resort director) who requested one of the workers to escort me on the plantation.
The students had a fun time with the buffet lunch by the waterfall. After which some of them swam in the pool, Some rented bikes, while some were content to take in all the natural beauty Villa Escudero had tried so hard to preserve. All of them watched attentively while the cultural show went on. with authentic costumes and choreography by the late, great Ramon Obusan (National Artist for Dance) performed by workers of the resort and the villa themselves. This is something the Escudero clan is really proud of. Before we even left to bring the students to Terminal 4 to catch their flight home, they bought some native delicacies and some souvenirs to bring home.
On a personal note, a flood of memories came to mind as I was taking shots of the numerous improvements on the facilities as well as taking snapshots of both old and new attractions at the villa. It seemed like ages ago when we brought my sister's family to Villa Escudero. My sister is married to a Brit and their family reside in Batley, West Yorkshire. They had come for a holiday with my young nieces . We had a fun time frolicking in the pool with the kids and made a go out of all the villa had to offer back then. We even took photos of the kids with Pogi and Tisoy (albino carabaos) for posterity. The kids are all grown up now... One is engaged to be married and the other now has a boyfriend and is working for the Royal Air Force. My mom has since passed on and I... well, I became a tour guide. That's the stuff nice stories are made of....
*Thank you to Mesdames Portia Robado and Aiza Nahil for the opportunity to be of service. and Thank you Madam Rosalie for your kindness and assistance.
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