I have finally recovered from my Blitzkrieg Philippine visit that was further reduced to 4 days (from the original planned 5 days) courtesy of US Airways. My US Airways flight from Las Vegas to LA was delayed, arriving at 10:13 PM on July 3rd - PAL had already left at 10:10 PM! I did not get to leave LA until July 4th, arriving in the Philippines July 6th. Compounding my problems was a bout of gastroenteritis/traveler's diarrhea that started in LA. I mainly had liquids/fluids on the flight from LA to Manila and then on to Iloilo, to keep from getting dehydrated. Another challenge - and warning to fellow travelers : upon reaching the new Iloilo airport I was impressed by the infrastructure. In fact even the restrooms were nice. However, there were no amenities - no tissue paper, toilet paper, hand towels, hand soap! For somebody with traveler's diarrhea that was definitely NOT a good thing. Luckily - ESP perhaps? - I carried extra tissue in my bag and that definitely saved the day! So anybody traveling - carry some tissues and towelettes always - they do come in handy! Charito and Becky also saved me from further illness by sharing their medication stash - thanks again, Charz for the Cipro and Becky for the Imodium. My first aid kit will be more complete next time. We had a very well attended get together at the Breakthrough Sunday July 8 despite the rain/storm -- we all had a lot of fun. Becky,Gastby and I had brought some pasalubong for classmates which was raffled off -- the only complaint ( from a guy of course) was that most of the items were intended for the ladies - Victoria's secret cologne, lotion, Revlon lipstick, etc. So classmates, when you visit the Philippines, make sure you bring items for the guys,too! Special request? VIAGRA, of course!
I do have copies of the two local newspapers that featured the reunion at Breakthrough and will bring this to New York in August for Miriam to hopefully upload on to our website. I also have additional pictures taken at Breakthrough that I will be e-mailing to Miriam soon. Balikbayan classmates who attended include: Nadiene, Gatsby, Becky C., Charito, Jane, Lina Agreda, Dean Cuenca, Santi Cabangbang-Cuenca and myself. Everybody had a great time! Thank you again Tess Octavio for your efficient text messaging and Jeremy who served as emcee/entertainer. I had no idea you had stand up comedy talents! Thank you, too, to our fearless and capable driver, Gatsby, who bravely negotiated Iloilo traffic and managed to find the way to Breakthrough!
There were 54 attendees in all which I believe is a record attendance. We enjoyed a trip down memory lane thanks to a vocal performance by Tim B, Marlon Q and Chito H. Female representation was provided by Esther Siason and Mercy Yanson who later on joined in the singing.