Unexpected New Friends; My Puerto Galera Chronicle Part 3

The exciting part of Travel is meeting random people in the middle of the road. Travel is not all about the destination but also the people that play a huge role in our life. Who would expect that these two models are twins and become a good friend of mine.. Who would expect that a guy with stripe sando is DEAF and he barely hear me- not my voice but my messages

Friendship is a relationship of mutual fondness between two or more people. Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association. Although there are many forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place, certain characteristics are present in many types of friendship- includes affection, sympathy, empathy, honesty, altruism, mutual understanding and compassion, trust, and the ability to be oneself, express one's feelings, and make mistakes without fear of judgment from the friend

But during my Puerto Gallera escapade-for me friendship is more on enjoyment of each other's company regardless if that person - you barely known each other.

Dante, Susan and I

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After Mike picked me up at the beach, we went directly to the room where they stayed (also my room wherein I’m gonna spend with them the whole time of my vacation). He introduced me to Dante, his very long close friend. “This is Dante, Dante this is Athan” as Mike introduced us to each other.

“He just came from his work and he followed us”, Mike told to Dante.

“Anyway, Dante is my friend since we were in Australia. We studied in same University – I took Mass Communication while he took Accountancy”, Mike added.

I was like dizzy that time due to a long travel; in addition I came from a graveyard work. Indeed, I was not able to remember Dante’s name right away. The only thing I know was he will be one of my roommates -a bald man who is very silent and serious type of person.

I went to the room and there were only two beds inside and a comfort room. It was a nipa hut (made of native craft) and inside there were few used dress and belongings scattered on the bed. It is not air-conditioned – will its better – (as I posted in my previous post that never ever pay for an air-conditioned room if you are a budget traveler  because you will spend majority of the time outdoor so you can’t maximize the facility). I fixed my backpack and all my belongings.

“Let us eat our brunch (Breakfast/Lunch- it’s a meal within 10am-12nn).” Dante said.

We went to a restaurant and grabbed a bite together with Dante and Mike.

While waiting for the orders, a woman joined us in our table; she is in her late 30’s I believed.

Susan and I

“Oh this is Susan... She was also my schoolmate at University of New Castle. We’ve been friends for a long time.” Mike stated. “This is also Jonathan, he is a writer of Outrage Magazine” Mike introduced me.

Indeed, Mike introduced Susan unto me. Susan has two children, a transwoman and a gayman. We started to talked various things until one of friendship’s characteristics mentioned above arises – trust. She started to trust me when she learnt that I am also a “Bisaya” (Local from Visaya) and so am I (Susan is from Cebu). She even narrates her story how proud she is towards her two LGBT children.

“I’d rather choose to have gay children than to have grandchildren at my age”, she said it while laughing.

As our conversation went vast, we continued to talk and as the brunch went on we got to share a lot of things even though we barely knew each other. –We also learned that we are working in the same company; we were surprised to know that we are workmate hence in different department. She is working as a process trainer.  She also introduced me to her transwoman daughter named Amanda.

After we finished our Brunch - so that was merely 12NN – we went back to the room to take a nap.

From the left : Paul (touches the table ), I and Omar ( Omar is Mike's Housemate in Makati) 

At the balcony of the room, a man smiled towards us. And he was Paul. He was one of my roommates, he is also a silent type of person and Paul is also a Bisaya.

Bebo as he/she posed like a model

Inside the room is a longhaired gay man lying on the bed. When he observed that there were people at the balcony, then he went out to join. I wondered why Mike is doing a sign language to him until he introduced him to me. He was Bebo , President of a SEC registered organization for LGBT Deaf community of the Philippines- to be specific he is also a Deaf. He can’t speak coz he can’t hear anything. But what I’ve learned from them (Deaf is the appropriate word and never ever use “mute”), they can dance. It was surprising to know that they can dance regardless if they can’t hear the music. Mike told me that Deaf people can sense the vibration of the music coming from the speaker so therefore they can dance in harmony to the beat of the music. Actually, I witnessed him that he can really dance well. If you are watching him dancing you’ll never thought that this man is PWD. Together with Bebo was another Deaf, he was Bebo’s assistant since Bebo is a businessman.  

One of Bebo's friends named Jhon, He is also a Deaf

I never expect that my Puerto Gallera escapade was a start of meeting more people within proximity. As I’ve also mentioned in my blog posts, the best part of travelling is you get to meet and talk with random people in the middle of the road – People that when you meet as acquaintances would end as a friend.

Michael Angelo and I, at the beach party

I was able to meet in person my online friend named Michael Angelo. He is also a travel blogger. I met him due to a blogging contest that we had both joined. He informed me that he was also at Puerto Gallera that time and so we decided to meet. We met in the middle of the beach party during my first night in Puerto Gallera.

“I am with my friends; we’ve been here since Thursday. At last, I’m happy to meet you”. Michael Angelo said.

Michael Angelo is a gorgeous gay man, in relationship with a gayman for almost 7 years now.  At first, I thought that he is really a straight man with his manly physique. “Ito kasi ang peg ko. (This is how I express myself)”, he said.

Not surprisingly, due to the number of tourists in White Beach, it is impossible for you if you won’t meet someone. You just have to be open-minded and embrace diversity because meeting people is one of the important parts of the journey.

They are my circle of friends 

Mike also introduced me to his other circle of friends one by one however I cant remember their names, sorry.

This raining men are Micheal Angelo's circle of Friends  (photo by Micheal Angelo)

To be continue…

My Puerto Galera Chronicle Part 1
My Puerto Galera Chronicle Part 2
My Puerto Galera Chronicle Part 3
My Puerto Galera Chronicle Part 4
My Puerto Galera Chronicle Part 5
My Puerto Galera Chronicle Part 6
My Puerto Galera Chronicle Part 7
My Puerto Galera Chronicle Part 8