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Life is a Beach

My recent trip to Capiz was hardly a vacation. We were there visiting with an ailing relative who raised me as a child. How opportune that we found an inn across from Baybay beach. It gave us the chance to enjoy a quiet walk at sunrise, get our feet wet and observe how the locals greet a brand new day.

I especially enjoyed watching the children frolic in the water. And how their parents indulged them. One day I saw a baby half buried in sand. And when his mother scooped him from the sand and into her arms, he bawled and my heart went out to him.

We discovered many things along the shore everyday. There were an incredible number of seashells, hundreds of beached jellyfish, stray dogs sleeping peacefully in the sand, PE classes in the water, fishermen pushing their outrigger to sea, fish drying in the sun, tacky beachside cottages and restaurants, seafood entrepreneurs as young as 6 years old raking for clams and fingerlings and a coconut raider who was generous enough to give us some coconuts.

The sun rises fast in this part of the world and the temperature along with it. Breakfast consisted of fresh coconut juice, fruits usually mango and chico and rice cakes from vendors coming to our doorstep. For P20.00, I was well fed.

I can still hear the sweet Visayan tone of voice of hotel staff greeting us "Good Morning!" with the accent on "mor".

It was therapeutic to live at the beach. What a lucky break!

* * *
Images by Rosario Charie Albar

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