Diseases and Medicines On account of so many fleas, bed bugs, lice, and ants, we always had infected wounds on our legs, causing skin disease. Very rare was a boy or girl in our town who did not suffer skin lesions or disease on his or her leg. I for one had many. I used […]
1994 Memoir – 13. Pre School Life and Out-of-School Life
As small kids, we did not have toys to play with. Hence, we made our toys from clay, the mud we dug from the street. We made figurines of persons, animals, birds, fish, houses, and furniture. With the use of sticks, leaves, fibers, and stones we molded stoves, pots, pans, and cakes in our game […]
1994 Memoir – 12. Orphan’s Song
After I married Pat I stopped dreaming of Mother. But I had a mournful song called: GANTA TI ULILA (Orphan’s song): IDI PAYLA UBIÑGAK NI INAK INULILANAK (When I was young I became orphan) ITAN TA DOMAKELAK SAPOLEA DEYDI INAK (Now that I am big I looked for mother) AWAN TI MAKA AMMO NO SADINNUTI […]
1994 Memoir – 11. Mother’s Personality
Just like my father, Mother was a very strict disciplinarian. She would not spare a pinch on the siñgit (groin or inner part of the upper leg) if we did not behave. Very often it was on account of my constant fighting with Elix that we were punished. We were like cats and dogs. If […]
1994 Memoir – 10. Mother’s Misfortune
Mother brought to Vigan a lot of raw hides for tanning and got a sizable amount for them from relatives of Father who bought them for their slipper-making trade. She was no doubt very happy and was looking forward to a bigger business of buying and selling raw hides. But alas, her twenty peso bill […]
1994 Memoir – 9. Raft Riding Down Abra River
Before our trips to Vigan by raft, Mother would prepare food for the day-long trip, consisting of rice, tapa (dried meat), eggs, tomatoes and salt, wrapped in banana leaves. At sun break we rode a cart pulled by a cow from Bangued to Nagtalabongan, where we boarded a raft propelled by four oarsmen using bamboo […]