Hitchhiking in Philippines: Magapit
16th of March. 2025.
I wait for about two hours. My fault. I am stupid enough to wait right after the beach entrance, which limited my possible rides to only people leaving from Anguib Beach, and most of them were fully packed. If I had checked my offline map earlier, I would’ve noticed that, not far from where I’m standing, right after the first security check you must pass when you are entering Anguib, there are a few more secondary roads, which lead to the main one, so my chances would be, at least, a little better.
As soon as I start walking into that main road, a white “van” (it’s actually more like a compact truck, with seats in a covered back, which is a very popular public transport here in the Philippines), takes me to Santa Ana. The views on the way are so nice…
I cross Santa Ana and stop in front of a gas station, but across the street. When I’m passing by it, I see a water filter, and when I’m still thinking if I should ask for some water, one of the staff is already offering me to take it. How nice! And they would go even further nice! After I settle down my stuff across the street, two of them, in their scooter, bring me a delicious chocolate croissant, from their cafe! This is so sweet, isn’t? No pun intended.
I wait. I wait and I wait. Then I’m almost attacked (not really) while peeing, by a cute, small but noisy dog. And then finally Jane and James save me.
Jane is from the Philippines and James from the USA. They are married, living there but on holiday here. As I tell them all about my travels, James is surprised, more than Jane. We drive together for a short time, unfortunately, but it’s enough to have very nice conversation about many different things. They are great! They are only going until Gonzaga, and that’s where they drop me off; luckily, across the town.
I hide from the rain, and after some time waiting, a lovely family picks me up.
Mr. and Mrs Mario Decilo Jr (that’s what the wife wrote for me as their names), and their lovely young daughter, offer to drop me off at Magapit, that same important intersection here up North, where I was dropped off a few days ago, when I was on my way to Anguib Beach. But on the way, they buy me some local food (so much needed, as I am starving already), and also an actually very nice ham and cheese burger. They are so kind!
I cross Magapit Bridge and I am hoping I can make at least a bit further today. Nope!
I think I wait for about 1 and a half hours, but nobody stops. Many locals are around here, as there is a shop right in front of where I’m standing.
There a few young girls nearby, and as it’s getting late, I quit on keep travelling today and I ask them if they can help me to find a place to camp tonight.
Funny how things work… the first house they bring me to it, their neighbour, a very senior lady, shakes her head in a negative sign, when the girls ask simply, if I can camp outside her house, in the garden. We walk a few more metres and ended up in the house of one of the girls, where her mum, as soon as she hears the girls request, looks at me and says: “Please, you can stay at my house!”. As I look at her, I can see in her eyes her enormous heart, and what a sweet woman she is. I started this paragraph with those words because, after I sit and talk with everybody for five minutes, just outside Gemalyn’s house, that senior lady, the neighbour who denied to help me, comes with her baby granddaughter in her arms and start talking with me very enthusiastically.
I also meet Gemalyn’s husband, Ronald, another very kind and good heart person. They have fours kids: Gracious (the teenager), Althea and Maria Zxea (the young girls), and Gero, the baby boy. I’m surprised when Gemalyn tells me that she spend all the weekdays working in Gonzaga, as a teacher, and comes back home only for the weekends. Ronald is a security guard. They are a very simple and humble family, who work hard for their family, and have managed to build a lovely house. They seem very caring about each other. Across the street lives Zeny, Gemalyn’s mother. She takes care of the kids of another daughter of hers, who’s working in Canada as a nurse, sending money back home, as so many other Filipinos.
There are also many neighbours around, mostly girls. They invite me to come down to the river, where they will make a bonfire. Everything happens quite fast: the short walk there; the making of the fire; the young girls dancing around the fire, at the sound of some Philippines music; and we go back.
We have dinner and after that I take a bath. They let me stay in a room with AC, where the girls usually sleep, all by myself. I insist that they should sleep their as usual, that I don’t mind sharing the bed, but there’s no use, I sleep there alone.
Next morning, around 6 o’clock everybody starts getting ready. A lovely breakfast is served, with coffee, and I soon have to say goodbye to Gemalyn, as she’s the first one to leave for work. She’s my age. I take a photo with her and also with her husband, the kids, and the lady who helps them with Gero, Kat.
The shop in front of where I was hitchhiking yesterday actually belongs to Zeny, and she’s there when I step in front of it again. I decide not to stay here though, as yesterday I wasn’t much lucky in this spot, so I walk for a while. Another long wait was about to come. But together with it, some great surprises…
10 Years Around the World 