JACELA'S GARDEN, Bagong Lipunan, Carigara, Leyte – For once since the COVID lockdowns more than a year ago, and more than two years since I have transplanted myself to this beautiful town from my native Cebu, I am able to write this column from outside my wife's home nearer the poblacion. Unsurprisingly, here in this eco-leisure-adventure farm 15 minutes from most human activity, writing could not have found a better reason for being.
I had originally intended to write more of the same issues that those who are readers of my column have grown familiar with, and those who hate my writings often find difficulty dealing with when trying to get a good night’s sleep. But my planned topic simply vanished the moment I plunked myself down on an easy chair in the cottage I rented.
The open-sided thatched-roof structure gave way to an incredible vista of green in all its imaginable shades. My tired old senior citizen's eyes got a sudden jolt of refreshing, rejuvenating and massage-like soothing it seemed as if I was looking at the world again from a young man's eyes. And as I watched my wife and daughter taking pictures somewhere down the overlooking hill, they never seemed so beautiful in the sun than now.
And as I looked downhill into a small valley and then out onto the vast plains of northern and central Leyte that make up the rice granary of Eastern Visayas, and further on toward the foothills that slowly rise to become the mountainous backbone of this incredible island, I realized that if only I could do it, I could sit here forever and just let nature model her beauty like a woman suddenly aware of her womanhood, oblivious to anyone watching.
Actually, this is the third time I have come to this beautiful escape from the stressful life of COVID quarantines. The first time was when Arlene and high school bosom buddies Dr. Jurgen Pore and Connie Nunez came looking for plants during the first wave of the "plantita" epidemic. The second time was when Arlene accompanied cousins Mely Capalar, Wilma Pureza, and Corazon Prada came to check out this place.
There is a Zen-like quality to the place, especially during weekdays when you can have the place almost all to yourself. During such days, you have nature all to yourself. It is so quiet the only sounds that can break the hypnotic silence are the sounds of birds singing in the trees, some distant cock crowing, the breeze making a pass through the greens, and the sound of your own breathing.
This time around, I wanted to show my third and youngest girl Nina something different from her city-born and city-bred environment she has known all her life. And taking from the frenzied pace with which the picture-taking ate up the time, I think my girl took a real liking for the place. And if she liked it, then it must be really something worth anyone's sidetrip.
My girl is here for a visit, made possible because of the relaxed quarantine restrictions. I myself could not go to Cebu to visit her there, where she is with her sister Carmel, my eldest girl. While restrictions have been relaxed, there is still a Q at the end MGCQ. And for as long as that Q is there, seniors like me over 65 cannot go outside. Thankfully there is this place to recharge and level up back to sanity.