Sunday May 18, 2003

I wake up my usual 6am despite the late night. I start to pack the bags trying to make sure I don't forget anything. Sigh. I've been here a week and have really gotten myself comfortable.

I don't know what it was: the slight hangover, the hormones, my sentimentality, but I find myself really emotional and end up crying. This is why I try not to see people off at airports. I always end up crying. In the week I've been in Camiguin, I got to know the place and the people fairly well. I can understand why people want to live here. You just want to stay and hope this woman with secrets confides a few of them with you. In my six days here, Camiguin shared a few of them with me.

Before coming here, a friend of mine from the Philippines, asked why I would want to stay so long in Camiguin, it can get boring. I told him, "I like boring. Boring is ok with me." Unlike Palawan and Boracay and Cebu that sport an active nightlife, Camiguin does not, which makes you enjoy the island even more: the people, the scenery, the water. Plus the local people aren't as oriented directly into that tourism as in most places.

So here I am lying in bed, feeling really really sad about leaving. I feel like a fool. I txt my friend J who understands my sentimental nature. He txts back reassuring me that I'm not that much of a fool and even if I am, there's nothing wrong with that. I feel like I made this place home for the short time I was here and it's always hard to leave home. I realize I've learned to be a very good nomad.

I finish packing most everything including the last of the laundry, but I can't really eat. I'm not that hungry and just finish off some tea and toast, unlike my appetite the past few days. Lolong is here. He arranged for a jeepney to take me to Benoni, to catch the 9:30 ferry to Balingoan.