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If traveling with two pigs can make your world turn loco, try two overly-excited pigs who love swimming pools, beaches, and surfing.

photo by Bong Bajo for Lakbay Norte

When I told them we were going to La Union. The did not say a word. Chi just had that snicker while Chops was immediately nowhere to be found. A few minutes later, the two were all packed with their surfboards.

Surfing has been a mutually fun thing to do for us three, (and Barbie too if she was still with us, sigh!), and if you ask me where their favorite place is, I would say it’s in San Juan, La Union. Its not where you will find the nicest hotels (okay maybe you’d find one there), nor the best sand, not even the best waves! But there’s something to this place that makes it desirable – something different – maybe because its not too far out, its neither too near either. Maybe its the proximity, the food, the distance to Baguio, or maybe, just maybe, its where we all had our first hand of the best sport man could ever possibly make, and good memories turn into multiple ones.

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It is with sincere regret that I write this blog entry. I do not know how to explain my actions, my carelessness. I do not know how to deal with anyone who would ask me what happened, how it happened, and why it happened. All I know is that it happened, and like a bamboo planted in the middle of nowhere, I could do nothing.

You read it right. Barbi is no more. She has left this worldly dimension and crossed over to the other side, where pigs can rejoice and forever be happy, where pigs are no longer be treated as pigs.

What happened you may ask? It all started one fine morning. I saw Barbi and Chops boarding a bus full of people. I followed and everyone was staring, not at me but at the pigs. I knew from then on that something was off. I learned later that these guys played musical instruments. They were at the top of the foodchain in terms of hitting the high notes of the violins, cellos, woodwinds, and even xylophones and cymbals. We were aboard a bus filled with members of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. I will have episode stories about them but for now, we grieve the death of a friend.

We toured Tagum City, a first class municipality in Davao where I was invited to judge several music video contests for the Musikahan Festival held every February of each year. The pigs were both excited as they took the window seat. I’m mostly an aisle person and only take windows for photos so it was ok for the pigs to take over. I think they were more excited about this than I was.

PPO with Madam Alma Uy, first lady of Tagum City

By noon we arrived at this residence. Its probably big enough to be classified as a mansion. Tables were all set and I got seated pretty comfortably as the pigs raced to the pool. I didn’t know they liked water. And so I was confident that the two pigs were a-ok and so I simply waited for lunch to be announced.

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