Baguio nightmare

Trip Start Mar 27, 2004
1
9
15
Trip End Jun 27, 2007


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Flag of Philippines  ,
Thursday, July 21, 2005

So I went to Baguio a few weekends ago. Baguio is known as the summer capital of the Philippines, because it is cooler than most areas. There are also many pine trees there and all the American amenities like McDonalds and Starbucks. Another volunteer and I went by bus which took six hours to get there and a surprising ten to get back to Lagawe. Before we got on the bus to return to site I was very worried. It could have been from the huge coffee I drank (I don't normally drink coffee) or the lack of sleep the night before. We got on the bus at 7:30 pm Sunday night and the bus was scheduled to leave at 8 pm. I rearranged all my things including the cheap backpack that I bought at the market for only one hundred and twenty pesos that was broken (go figure) and so held together by tape. I kept thinking all these worrying thoughts about arriving at 2 am in Lagawe, the bus trip, the number of people on the bus...etc...etc..
So a few hours later I am lying across the seats in a pseudo sleep when all of a sudden I was flung forward and hit my face on the seat in front of me. I split my lip open and oddly enough the ball to my upper ear piercing came out too. Since I was practically asleep at the time when it happened I yelled, 'Oh my god' about 10+ times. Here in the Philippines generally people are pretty religious so it would have been better for me to yell American swear words. All of my things were also scattered all over the bus and it was the death of my cracker nuts. The driver fell asleep, I suspect, and we hit these concrete blocks about 2x2x4 that line the roads o protect someone from going off the road. Luckily we were not in the mountainous region yet, where there would have been a strong possibility that we would have drove off a cliff to our death.
A few days ago I met the owner of the bus line and he apologized and said that that night there was only one driver as oppose to the usual two that would take turns driving. Today I was greeted by a woman on the street who said she was also on that bus when it happened and she hit her legs on the seats in front of her and showed me the bruises. She also informed me that she was unable to walk for one week! I thought I was hurt the most with two large bruises on my side and a split lip.
Once the jeepney arrived to take us to the nearest bus station we exited the bus through the pried open door and saw the damage to the vehicle. It was raining hard and the driver had crashed, actually ran straight through the concrete blocks into a small tree that stopped us. We all got into the jeepney and I felt like we were riding in a sardine tin can on bald tires which caused my heart to drop each time we fish-tailed around the curves. I thought we were destined to take another spill although twice in one night is very improbable.
The jeepneys here have a small one foot by three foot windshield which the driver has to look out around the stickers and dangling Jesus charms to navigate the road. Surprisingly the drivers here are much better at driving than most people in the states. I would guess that if a sudden snow storm hit they would freak though.
When we arrived at the station there was an overcrowded bus to take the ten of us o our destination. There are no vehicle safety standards here or even speed limits, stop signs etc... So a truck with only three seatbelts can have as many as ten people if the driver can manage. This particular bus had folding chairs that were placed in the aisle ways to seat the excess passengers. After all this I arrived at home at 5:30 am happy to be alive but sore and exhausted.
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