This is not the first time that I've written or spoken about going to the town of Medellin.
However, this adventure that we just had over the weekend, where we went to Medellin from Minglanilla through an alternative route going west of Cebu, was an unfamiliar experience for us. There was a sense of exploration in this one, and it was a last-minute decision!
đ Best Read While Listening! Hear the voice behind the story: đ
"We Have to Rethink How We're Going to Travel"
We had already planned to go to Medellin the day before we left, but at the last minute, there was heavy rain that morning. So we thought, "How about we make it more difficult by going to Medellin through Naga, Toledo, and Balamban?"
We Had this Totally Unfamiliar Ride
We had Google Maps on just in case we got lost, and it was a much harder, more difficult way to Medellin than our usual route. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Are we going to do it again? No, absolutely not (probably!)
I don't know, it's just that these things that give us a sense of exploration and adventure are really something to look forward to at times. It was unplanned, spontaneous, and a last-minute decision... just decided at the spur-of-the-moment and I loved that about that day.
Usually, when we take the normal route going northward through Consolacion and Borbon, it takes us maybe three to four hours to get there. This one, I think, took us five hours, but maybe six because we had a stopover that was really cool (more on that later). Pictures of our misadventure:
We drove by a lot of towns and a city, Naga, which was the unfamiliar side of those places (at least unfamiliar to us!) We just had earthquakes in Cebu, and it's still going on; there are still a lot of aftershocks. There were several places that had cracks, and a lot of fixes going on in the roads, which made it extra special and extra risky for us.
It's one thing that you don't know these roads, but it's another thing that these roads are all broken with the recent earthquakes. There were a lot of wavy roads. There was this place, I forgot which town it was, where because of the earthquakes, the highways were broken, and the roads were just waving up and down. We had to go through that on a motorcycle.
Extra Special!
There were a lot of unexpected things, of course, because when you get down slopes, and then there's an unexpected crack there (plus you're on a motorcycle!) it takes balance. It's not like on four wheels; on two wheels, you have to balance everything. It's crazy, but it was fun!
When we got to the town of San Remigio, I think we were 30 minutes from our destination at that time. We decided to take a stopover and took a dip. It was low tide that late afternoon and the sunset was beautiful.
Stories, Fear, Trauma
There were very few people because a lot of the roads were closed down. There were sinkholes, and there were even sinkholes in the sea! Like when you go to the beach, just far out, there will be some sinkholes here and there. That's another thing that makes it extra special. But seriously, that, and there were a lot of broken roads, so very few people were there that day.
The last time we went there, it was summer and we had a tent with us. We stayed there overnight, and it was a very hot summer day. The sand was still hot at night, so it was not a good decision. We had just bought our tent days before planning that sleepover at the beach, and we haven't used it again since. It was that bad! There were a lot of people that night, but this last weekend, there were very few.
I don't know if I feel sad about it, or if it's just respecting how nature works, giving us all these earthquakes and stuff. That's just nature, and sometimes we just have to live with it. We don't rule this earth; we don't own this. It's nature's call if she wants to do her thing, release some heat, or quake a little. But it also gives me a sense of hope, thinking that one of the most beautiful beaches I love is taking a rest from a lot of tourists.
I'm really hoping that everyone living there is okay. Some are still living in fear because there are still aftershocks. When I got to Medellin, where this earthquake happened, we still had to stay in a makeshift hut because my partner's auntie was still afraid to go back to her home. We had to live in this hut that was just a few meters from their house.
If you think about that trauma, when they tell stories about it, and they hear an explosion that was actually sinkholes collapsing, you actually feel it. When they engage your senses as they tell their stories, it makes sense.
As a third person looking at the situation from miles away, I would just say, "Okay, there's an earthquake, it's terrible, a lot of people are suffering." But when you're there, and they tell this story, and then they engage your senses on it as if you live in that moment, "Wow, that's difficult! I'm not sure if I could get over that"
When they tell you they can hear an explosion so loud, and it's actually the sinkholes collapsing... and they tell you that after the earthquake, you can hear sounds below the ground, like there's some roaring war down there, it just humbles you.
You realize, "Oh my gosh, I could die anytime..."
"I could just leave this earth anytime, get swallowed by it."
It's just that difficult to be in that situation and have that kind of fear. I can't imagine being there. Just thinking about it, having my family there, I would have no way to escape. If there's an earthquake and a sinkhole swallows you, then that's it.
This adventure, the road going there, and the stories I've heard, really humbles me. All those quakes, all those cracked roads, all these thingsâall these inconveniences, or things that we think are inconveniencesâreally put us in our place in this life. Although there's a dark side to it and a good adventurous side to this adventure that I'm sharing, I hope that we can experience life to the fullest because we will never know.
All these inconveniences we go throughâthe bad roads, the deaths, unfortunately, life takenâit's just part of life. Unfortunately, the bad things are part of life too, but it puts us in our place and reminds us to just live life to the fullest and appreciate whatever you have now and whatever road you're traveling.
Some Photos on Our Way Home
We stopped by Mama Mary's shrine at Bogo and lit candles at Danao church. At around 8:30pm, we stopped by a Jollibee near the new reclamation area (Consolacion) and stayed there until 10:00pm. It was freezing inside the store that when we finally got out, my camera was fogged up!
Thanks for Reading!
I appreciate you taking this adventure with me. đ I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
-Jan Writes on Hive