Bantayan Island-Cebu City: Losing My Temper

I shamelessly snapped at someone, which rarely happens by the way. Whenever I'm on the road, my head almost always floats inside a sunshine-y bubble. Ecstatic to satisfy my hunger for a new adventure.

And sadly, I blame my 2-month pregnancy for the short fuse. So how did this happen?

About to leave Bantayan Island's port. Still in a good mood.
We (with my friend Xhy and sister Gabe) got off the roro from Bantayan Island around 3-ish in the afternoon. As we walked towards the exit of the port, a bunch of locals trailed behind us (some in our faces) offering shared taxi rides. We politely declined each one of them and explained that we'd rather take the bus as it is cheaper. Though the P100 per head seemed reasonable, we still opted for a P50 ordinary bus ride.

One guy didn't give up easily. When my sister and I went inside the comfort room, we heard him pestering Xhy with his speech comparing the two modes of transportation. Xhy sounded irritated but kept his cool, and repeatedly answered no like some mantra.

After a couple of minutes, we emerged from the comfort room and the guy was by the door. He followed us once more while we trudged to the bus stop. And then, I finally lost my temper. I turned to him and shouted at the top of my lungs, "Sinabi nang ayaw namin eh!" (I told you, we don't want!).

His eyes wide open depicted how shocked he was. Xhy and my sister were shocked. The bystanders were shocked. I was shocked.

He scurried away, and murmured "Nagtatanong lang naman eh" (I was just asking.) People stared at me. Then as if to defend myself, I blurted out for every one to hear, "Buntis ako." (I'm pregnant). Nobody reacted to what I said but surveyed me from head to foot. No baby bump yet at two months, guys.

A man wearing a Ceres Liner uniform seemed to understand what the situation was about and broke the silence. He told me, "Tama ma'm may bus naman po. Parating na." (That's right ma'm, there's a bus. It's coming now.)

The incident got me into a destructive bad mood that lasted until we arrived in Cebu City at dusk. And it's unfortunate that I snapped at my sister as well while we were at some stopover. It created a negative tension between us three, which brought about an uneventful evening. Just hotel check in, dinner and an early lights out.

It got worse the next day, but that's another story. How about you? When was the last time you lost your temper while traveling?

[This is part of the Voyaging Visayas Series which took place February 2010. Price of goods, transportation and so forth may already be different.]

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