Guests Come A-Visiting Amidst the 40th Kadayawan

It’s the 40^th Kadayawan and Davao is experiencing a huge flux of visitors. I’m also excitedly expecting some visitors. My dad and his staff and a schoolmate whom I haven’t seen for more than 20 years.

S’gonna be a long day of driving from one point to another.

Dad’s Staff Arrives

The first of the visitors I am expecting are my Dad’s staff Nelia, Josie, and Aaliyah. The first two have been with us for more than 20 years. Aaliyah on the other hand is probably nearing ten years as part of my dad’s trusted staff.

They arrived on a midnight flight so I waited for them at the airport.

Good thing I was able to spend the time talking to Khaliif on the benefits of signing a distribution deal over a record deal with Holodeck. Either way, he gets to partner with a great company from Davao.

When the trio of women finally arrived, I was able to spot them from a distance and waved them over to where I was. We then loaded there stuff onto the pickup and I drove them to where they were going to stay for the night in Cabantian.

They were staying at the bride’s place to save on hotel fees.

A wise decision.

Oh yeah they and my dad were coming over to Davao to attend a former employee’s wedding. I do not recall the bride being an employee of ours but then again I haven’t been that associated with my dad’s company for more than a decade now.

So yeah, there are some people who work for my dad that I don’t know about or recognize.

That took about 2 hours from start to finish. I then went home to rest a bit because my Dad was scheduled to fly in early in the morning.

Lolo Tatay ABC’s Arrival

At 6AM we left for the airport. Lyle was excited to see his Lolo Tatay although he was still feeling sleepy having woken up too early in the morning just to go to the airport.

Tatay, Tita Hazel and her niece arrived at around 7AM. We immediately took their stuff and loaded them into the pickup truck and headed for Probinsya in Matina  to have some breakfast.

Lyle decided he wanted to be sat up front with his Lolo while Margaux, Tita Hazel and her niece sat in the back.

While en route to Matina, Lyle had an accident and we had to stop to change his clothes. He puked up the eggnog he was given to munch on by Lolo Tatay.

Other than that and the light traffic that we had to endure, it was an uneventful ride.

We arrived at Probinsya with just enough time to enjoy the breakfast buffet until 10AM. We stayed well past 10AM before leaving for Eagle Ridge where they were going to stay for the wedding they were attending.

Davao Eagle Ridge Resort

I don’t doubt that the Davao Eagle Ridge Resort used to be a great place. After all, my cousin Fraz was married there.

These days, there weren’t that many people. I think we were the only guests in the resort which is a good thing. But since it was Kadayawan, I was kind of expecting it to have some guests.

Still, it’s a great place.

A great place but not one I would recommend to seniors or guests with mobility issues.

We had to go down a flight of narrow stairs to get to their room.

Once there we saw it was kind of like a small dormitory type of room that had two bunk beds and a single bed in the center.

Lyle had fun climbing the bunk beds but us adults didn’t find it that comfortable.

We rested a bit before heading back out to eat.

We had to request the staff to bring us a bucket, a dipper, some extra hangers, a mattress, and other things just to make it more bearable.

My dad eventually chose to pay some more to be relocated to the rooms at the top. Now those were better rooms.

Meeting Up with Dup an Old Schoolmate

While my Dad was resting, Margaux, Lyle and I left to meet up with Dup.

“Dup” or Rodolfo Pfleider is the son of a former Tacloban City Chief of Police.

We were schoolmates in Divine Word University when I transferred there from the Seminary. We were schoolmates again in Holy Infant College when DWU closed its gates.

We have some interesting history as young men because we once dated the same girl and like all young men, we fought for her affections. He eventually became her steady boyfriend.

Hehehehe I guess he was just better looking than I was.

She was an actress and she had a really good run during her the 90s. so I can’t blame her for picking him over me.

After accepting that he was the better man, we moved on.

It’s still a good story to this day.

That was a long time ago.

I have not seen him in over 30 years.

Ok, maybe 25 years, but what does it matter right? I know I’m quite old.

He was here because he was competing in the 2^nd Kadayawan Shootfest held at the Ballistics Gun Club Firing Range.  

That place was packed with gun enthusiasts and shots rang out as competitors tried to put in their best time in the obstacles presented.

From what I gathered, Dup had a good run. The whole Tacloban team put in a respectable performance.

I was able to see some very old faces that I have not seen since I left my birthplace more than 20 years ago.

I couldn’t stick around because the place was too noisy for Lyle and it was really stressing him out. He was not used to that much loud noises.

I bid farewell to the Tacloban group and we went back to Davao Eagle Ridge.

Marielle Resto Café

We had our dinner at Marielle Resto Café.

We specifically picked it as our place to eat dinenr in because they had on display some very respectable bikes that I knew Tatay was going to love.

Lyle found some new friends to play with and his grandfather was beaming from ear to ear when he saw how amiable his grandson was.

It was a tiring day.

Good thing they don’t need me tomorrow o I can really put in some sleep.

That’s it for now.

Happy 40^th Kadayawan!

PS – I just got the DBS email and it looks like I might be able to come back as a member of the Davao Bloggers SOciety! Yehey! Fingers crossed, I hope they will consider me for membership again.