Hitchhiking in Philippines: Talisay (Tagaytay)
10th of March, 2025.
The first person to give me a lift is… Jaja! Laugh. She’s going a bit after Bauan, to get the mirror which was broken yesterday fixed, so she brings me there.
I walk for a while, and I notice a white pick-up stopping a few times and waiting. By the time I get to the highway, the man finally talk to me and tells me he’s going to Lipa only. Now, I don’t know what were his true intentions, were if he was just indecisive if he would give me a lift or not; but I decide not come with him. Besides, I wouldn’t come just until Lipa anyway.
A family going to Santa Rosa stops. That’s exactly where I was planning to get off, in order to go to Tagaitay. On the way, I take a look on the map and change my mind. I realize that I don’t want to come to Tagaytay, as it’s a quite big and tourist city; besides, I want to be by the lake, which Tagaytay is not. I choose a small town called Talisay, and inform the family to drop me off at Taunan.
A guy using a Facebook app for driving, stops for me. He’s young and very nice. He’s going to pick up a costumer and drive him all the way to Manila. He has some fruits on the back and I’m temped to ask for some, but I don’t.
The “walk bay” of Talisay is actually very small and not so much attractive. The view of Taal Lake and volcano are nice though, which is a shame. And you cannot visit the crater anymore, since the last eruption in 2021. Which doesn’t make much sense for me because, I believe that if you are in the bottom of the volcano and an eruption occurs, you are pretty much gone anyway.
A senior man, trying to sell me a trip in his boat, keeps on talking to me, even though I clearly show him I’m not interested on neither the trip or the talk. I just want to be alone.
When a drizzle strikes, I take the chance to go inside the mall and to a supermarket called PureGold. I buy a box of soy milk (cheaper than cow milk), and little snacks, just in case I have nothing to eat while in the beaches. And for lunch today too. I have half of the peanuts.
I struggle to find a good shaded spot, as the sun goes down. They didn’t plan the walk bay really well. But I manage. I stay here until near five o’clock, and then I start walking, looking for a family house to make my camping.
The first street I take, one which leads to the lake, and made me believe that, perhaps, I could camp by the lake, has very few houses. I first talk with a young student, and ask him if he can talk with his family about me camping in their garden. The answer is no.
When I’m coming back, planing to ask in another house, a lovely young girl starts talking with me. She looks like four or five years old, and when we pass in front of this cute house with a beautiful garden, I realize that it’s her home. There’s another girl in front of the house, and when I explain everything to her, she understands and go inside to call her grandmother. That’s when I meet Melba.
When I first see Mel, I thought she was in her middle 50’s. What a surprise when she tells me she’s turning 70 this year! I can barely believe it! She is very sweet and immediately we start to talk. Mel tells me I can camp in her beautiful garden. Yay! She also tell the kids to give me some water, and some cakes. The kids are Isha, the five years old I met on the street; Kate Princess (12); her brother (8), who can speak really good English; and also two cousins. I also meet one of Mel’s daughters, Sheila, another lovely woman, and her nephew, who has a scholarship from the USA, for his college.
Later on, I meet Dim, also a son of Mel. She has five children in total. Dim and I talk about Talisay, and he explain to me about the fishing farms just by the end of the street. They all tell me that because of the fishing port there, the street can get busy, and quite loud, between 22.00 hours and 6 a.m. We go to see the fishing farms (especially tilapias), and I’m surprised of how many of them are there. We also catch a beautiful sunset.
Back at their home, Kate Princess, her brother and I talk a lot about English and other things. They also teach me a few words of Tagalog. Then, Dim needs to go to buy some butter in town, so we join him in his gorgeous dark blue tuk-tuk. I forgot how nice it feels to ride a tuk-tuk. And I’m of course remembering India.
We have Chicken Adobo for dinner, fried tilapia, vegetables, rice and french fries. Everything is delicious.
During dinner, another daughter of Mel arrives from work. Sarah is also lovely and we chat for a while. She tells me that it takes her about two hours to go to work and to come back. As she leaves before six in the morning, that means she has only a few hours left for herself when she comes back from work.
I have my tent inside the adorable hut where we have dinner. I’m very tempted to camp in the grass, but as the possibility of raining is big, I decide to be in the hut and not needing to have my rain cover over the tent, so it’s cooler. And it does rain at night. I do not hear much of the noise from the street.
The kids go early to school, unfortunately, so I don’t see them in the morning. But I get all my things ready around 7 a.m. Lovely Mel prepares me a fried egg, and for her too, so we have it with some fried rice and coffee for breakfast. She is so adorable! She is surprised that I’m leaving already, which means I think she / they would be OK if I wanted to stay another night with them. Mel and I take a photograph before I take the road again.
10 Years Around the World 