On Sunday our Camera Club was having their third outing. On the first outing in Fort Santiago, I ended up wandering off on my own too long and missed the meeting part. Outing two didn’t work in my schedule. So here I was, all pumped for outing 3 at the La Mesa Ecopark in Quezon City. Now remember that it’s rainy season here and the weather is quite unpredictable…. Knowing that, I checked in with a group member at 8:30 AM to make sure we were still on at 10 AM. Everything seemed to be a go and I was off.
I ended up in a cab with a driver named Henry, easily the nicest cabbie I’ve ever ridden with. We talked for the entire hour ride as he showed me new parts of the city. The Ecopark happened to be in a very remote section of town (fancy that) and after the cab left me I looked high and low and couldn’t find my group. It was at that point that I decided to pull out my cell phone. Surprise! It was on vibrate and I had missed 4 texts, all of which were from group members trying to frantically communicate that the event was cancelled. Oops- my nasty habit of leaving my phone silent finally bit me in the butt.
So I looked around to assess the situation. I was in a woodsy area with roosters and stray dogs running around. There were no taxis to be seen. And it had just started to drizzle. Since this trip was going south fast, I decided to do what any good traveler does and make the best of it. I pulled out my trusty old camera and umbrella and made my way into the park. I’m sure I looked a bit crazy taking pictures in the rain, but I ended up getting some surprisingly decent shots (all glisten-y with the rain) and it did eventually stop after a half hour.
Now I just had to figure out a way to get home. All of a sudden I remembered that I had asked Henry for his cell number so that I could use him again in the future (a common practice here). WAHOO! Henry would save me!! And so I dial his number and get a woman (whom I presume was his wife) that only speaks Tagalog. The conversation was not pretty. I’m not even sure you could consider it a conversation. I hung up discouraged. But no less than 10 minutes later Henry is calling me on my phone, is still in the area 1.5 hours later and can pick me up in 15 minutes. How lucky am I???! Thank you Mrs. Henry! And so me hero came in his yellow chariot and carried me safely back to Makati to the safety of my high rise. Don’t you just love a happy ending???
Enjoy these shots! More on SMUGMUG.
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