so Good friday on a white Black saturday

we arrived in masbate yesterday and it was so cool to be back here. after 3 or so years.

the bumpy, muddy, dusty parts of the national highway
the occasional, pretty useless, quite costly, waiting sheds with second floor balconies a.k.a. white elephants
the quick change of scenery from wide plains of rice to huge coconut-filled mountains to cool blue seas as you drive through main roads, deeper and deeper into the barrios
the annoying falling flower buds of that really old and really huge acacia tree in front of that really ugly church
the inviting smell of fresh baked pan de sal from your tita's bakery
the calming sound of waves hitting the white sand beach a.k.a white noise
the tickle on your back of protruding knots of that hammock hung on a short mango tree by the vegetable garden
the once-was-lost-now-already-found real taste of real fresh fish cooked fresh the real fresh way on real grills by real people
the familiar taste of that enriched milk that astronauts drink you serve your terminally ill tatay
the look on your unaccustomed tita's face who is from a foreign place after seeing her in-law munching on the lechon's tail
the white waves you see in the distance to the sea as you recall that you were once told they were really huge when in fact they really weren't
the really ultra super dooper hot powers of the sun abusing you as you visit one house and another
the catching-up-on-life-and-how-your-dealing-it talks with your younger bro and your long lost cousins
the amazing efforts people exerted for tatay
the huge body rock of pumice you see in a shelf that you intend to ask for before you leave
the sound of a hungry carabao, hungry but quite freer than a guinea pig
the extra creamy slash milky taste of that white part of sliced bread straight from the family's really old pugon slash oven
the occasional disappearance of electricity slash power as they switch from generator to main source
the quite useful but never practised tutorial on how to turn on the emergency lamp with liquified petroleum gas
the very satisfied feeling you get after listening to spin doctors or the verve pipe or j timberlake cds you took for granted the other times
the surprised look on your tatay's sister's face after catching you bobbing your head with the headphones on without her expecting you to be on that seemingly empty room
the let's-move-to-tomorrow-your-birthday-celebration idea your titos and titas had for tatay, his real birthday is today.

but real here is quite hard to explain cause tatay used to have two birthdates.

white were the handful patches of clouds
white were the strong-looking columns slash pillars on the front porch
white was the utan langka i wished to eat but they never served
white was the new cabinet beside tatay's table filled with medicines and stuff
white was the ferry we asked to bring my tito's car to masbate
white is not a color, especially on a black saturday.