Summers in San Nicolas

The last time I was in San Nicolas was when Nielo insisted that I join him for lunch at his place a day after the Talong Festival. So I went there, tagging along a common journalist-friend I met earlier in a coverage. I thought that having lunch with him was a good opportunity for both of us to update each other, especially now that he is running for reelection. Besides, it’s been quite a while that I have not visited him.

I found Nielo at the front yard of Manong Lito’s mansion, which was actually built at the back of Nielo’s own house. It must have been 1 p.m. when I got there. But there were still groups of people having lunch in separate tables neatly set in the yard. I would later learn that his visitors were officials from the different barangays of Villasis. Nielo would tell me that every year, after the grand fiesta parade, these officials would flock to his house and he has to serve them lunch and engage them in conversation.

Times haven’t changed, I thought. At least for Nielo. As I watched him move from one table to another, shaking hands and sometimes patting the shoulders of the people he talked to, I was immediately reminded of our adolescent years and the escapades we shared together as close friends.



Every summer then, the Costales’ two-story concrete-and-wood ancestral house was our meeting place. Summer was our most awaited season because it was the time for us to be together and just be happy. I was then attending college in Baguio and Nielo and the rest of the gang were still in high school.

Almost every night, we were at their porch, sharing jokes and stories and teasing each other until late, late night or when our parents came looking for us. Being the gracious host that he is and a good cook at that, Nielo served us arroz caldo mixed with slices of hard-boiled eggs.

But there were also times when we would meet in front of Jojo’s house or at the small shade at the gate of Lilibeth’s house. And there, despite strong protests from the girls in the group – Jean, Lilibeth, Amy, Roslyn and Mimi -- because of the dust and smoke unleashed by speeding trucks and buses on the road, we would cook arroz caldo and feasted on it.

In the few times that our meetings would reach lunch time, Nielo would cook balatong, with each one of the gang member contributing either rice, mongo beans and other ingredients sneaked out of their respective kitchens.

What cemented our friendship was when we formed a basketball team to join the barangay tournament. We worked together in raising funds for the blue shirts that we printed ourselves. I don’t remember now if we were champions at that time.

We would also drink once in a while – maybe once a week – and my role was to pour the beer or gin from the pitcher to the glass to keep it going around. I remember Jojo telling me about his frustrations with me because I couldn’t drink much. Otherwise, I’d end up colored red all over and sleep on the table.

One late afternoon, when the gang had just finished off a bottle of bilog, we sat on a low bamboo fence and watched the people walking from the town to maybe Bacag or Lomboy. They may have come from a procession at that time.

As if by cue, Boyet shouted loudly and ran towards the passers-by as if he wanted to attack them. Romy would hold Boyet tightly, yelling on him to stop. The passers-by, of course, would run as fast as they could. And when this happened, the rest of us would all be laughing out loud that the people ran. Boyet, of course, did not intend to harm anybody. It was just for fun.

But sometimes, we found ourselves in trouble, even if it was only our idea of fun. One night, an Ilocos-bound bus ground to a stop with its conductor furiously shouting and running towards us. As if by reflex, we all scampered to different directions and hid. We’d learned later that one of us had picked up a dried carabao dung from the roadside and hurled it into the speeding bus, leaving a big crack on its windshield.

I think it was also one summer when the gang, along with the girls, went to Tombod to attend a dance party. From Bacag, we had to walk to our destination that late afternoon. I remember we had to pass through a newly plowed field, with all its big chunks of soil scattered all over. No one wanted to walk then ahead of the girls because we were watching Roslyn walk on the big chunks of soil in her heels. And oh boy, she walked so gracefully.

It was also during those summers when we added Malone and her brother Dennis to the gang. They were always in San Nicolas for the vacation and they stayed in their aunts’ house. Malone was a good singer and I remember her winning a singing contest during that summer’s May Festival.

But what I remember most during our growing up years was when we began to be attracted to the opposite sex.

I fondly remember one libot during the Holy Week when Boyet saw a girl who did not seem at all to be from Villasis. I cannot recall now how he was able to get her name and where she stayed that summer. But I still remember that throughout the libot, we followed her. The following day, we found ourselves riding on borrowed bicycles – maybe 12 of us – going to Unzad. The girl, whose name I cannot remember now, was shocked to see us all.

Jean, I must admit, was easily the crush ng bayan. But soft-spoken and always-ready-to-smile that she was, I think she hardly noticed it. Or if she did, she just ignored it. No one of us seemed to have gathered enough courage to tell her exactly how we felt. Besides, Gani, her brother was our gangmate.

Lilibeth eventually became the apple of Lemuel’s eyes. And of course, it was also during one summer when Jojo met Gina, who was then spending her summer vacation in San Nicolas. The couples lived happily ever after.

As I looked around on that front yard, I realized I was in what used to be kanyugan, a bushy patch lined with coconuts and other fruit trees. It was there where we took our short cut to the school and where we gathered kuribetbet, the most popular medicinal plant at that time. Now, it’s completely cleared and there are no more traces that it was once a forest.

I texted Nielo that I wanted a Coke. He excused himself from the group of people he was talking to and walked to their house. He later came out with a Coca-Cola bottle in one hand. As he shoved it to me, he said annoyingly, “Di ka pay la timmakder dita ta nangala kan. Kasla ka la bisita.”

I laughed out loud because when I heard those words from him again, I knew I was home.