This is my Aparri, my hometown

Feeling nostalgic maybe because of my sister's recent visit here in COLD Boston, I am writing about my little coastal town of Aparri. Growing up there, you never spend time alone. It was a real community. Looking back now, I am amazed on how  little things can make me happy. I am talking little things. Like, just walking in the hot sands to the beach, flying homemade kites, playing" turumpo", playing under the rain, climbing the "lugo" tree, playing "sungka" and my favorite... just plain hide and seek.

Turumpo

Turumpo is made of wood, a tiny a cone-shaped toy that can be made to spin.

Homemade kite or saranggola. Since we were poor, ours was made of plastic grocery bags, some bamboo and "sinulid" or nylon. 

Here are Aparrianos playing sungka. Photo courtesy of adegarcia@wordpress.com.

Mind you, this is the real one. In the full moon, dark night and vast neighborhood to roam and hide. You see, in my little paradise, you can still see the sky, as bright as it should be, without any sky pollution... you know, those annoying satellites, too many airplanes hovering and giant billboards. I love taguan or hide and seek. It is so much fun! Then you can go to sleep soundly after that.

"Tagu taguan, maliwanag ang buwan" ( Hide and seek the moon is bright). Tama ba?

Oh, the joy of childhood. Our little fishing village seems to be extra  special too. We are surrounded by water! We have the Cagayan River, touted as the longest river in the Philippines and the China Sea. Our town's unofficial slogan is " Where the River meets the Sea."  Aparri delta boasts a windy experience because here in Aparri, lies the Cagayan River's mouth. If you choose serene swimming in a river, go! If you want the rough waves of the ocean, you can too! It is a paradise for water babies like me. In fact, it is the favorite stop for the summer of the whole province! No one can make that claim in the whole Cagayan! Although it does not have white sand beaches, it has these grayish, fine granular characteristic, and the beach line seems to go on and on. If  I am not mistaken, only in Aparri can you find gakka, little edible shells where you just pour hot water, little bit of salt and presto! A yummy treat!

Water breakers

Always a pleasure to walk in these sands, you never know what you will find.

...beautiful sunset. you shoud see the sunrise! heavenly!

You would always see fishermen take a walk to scout the waters. For some reason, they have the skills to know when it is good to go fishing.

 And here, my friends is gakka, the male variety. i have yet to discover it's scientific name!

This is the way commercial gakka catchers do it. Me? I just wait for the waves to  pull back, press my foot on the sand, if I see a tiny hole, presto... gakka!

The colorful bancas. We call them barangay--- ba-ra-ngay!

My family happens to own bancas for fishing purposes. This brings me to what makes me so happy I was born there! I love seafood!  I love seafood! Did I say, I love seafood? I do! We always get the freshest catch of the day. Swordfish, shrimps and tanigue abound. In fact, Hubby was grossed out when he saw me eating what we call the "jumping salad". It's fresh shrimps, still alive and jumping, pour sugarcane vinegar, chilli ( siling labuyo) and a dash of salt. Eat! I super duper love it. Same goes with squid salad. We make ours simple. Slice squid into bits including the head part, vinegar, siling labuyo, and onions!

The "pusit" in Aparri is delicious, chewy but not rubbery and a hint of sweetness. They change  colors too. For real! Depending on how light strikes, it's purple, bluish, reddish and array of colors abound.

We use these "sili" to flavor anything!

Prawns are the variety most likely to be available in Aparri. My sisters and I love eating little shrimps as our "jumping salad". Eating it this way we inherited from our Tatang!

Our major economy is fishing. Personally, our family depended so much on  it. Our major product for import and export is aramang (Nematopalaemon). In fact, our town celebrates Aramang Festival!  It was featured here and here.

Drying aramang under the scorching sun and salty winds of Aparri.

We call these containers as "labba". Lab- ba.  You will see it line up the streets of Punta, San Antonio and Maura.

I used to do this too. Back then, I did not like it, it was work you know. But, i love thinking about it. How it taught me perseverance and camaraderie. "Bingay ko ngay."

As I was growing up, we were poor. Yes, poor. But my Tatang (father) was not to let poverty come between  us and good education. The public schools were perfectly fine for me. In fact, I think it is better than private. Why? If you have to leave your family and work abroad to afford private school, is it even worth it? But, being deprived of education himself, he was more than eager to send us to the best the town has to offer! He sent me and my sisters to St. Paul School. The kids there were mean to us! They do things indirectly that were very hurting. They would tell me, I was from Punta, where the poor were from, I smell like bagoong and reek with dried fish smell. In fact, they think we have B.O. ( body odor), a fact where one of my husband's relatives apologized to me for her nieces' and nephews' attitude towards me. You see, my husbands relatives were "in", we were "out". It did not bother me one bit. Did it hurt? Yes! But the funny thing is a lot of those taunting kids were the most stupid ones in school! Bullies always feel more secure when someone else was feeling as low as them. I never tried to fit in,  joined school activities, yes but not to be "in". I have garnered honors based solely on my bagoong laden credentials and received awards through my dried fish smelling perseverance.  One time, someone did not want to do his share of cleaning the hallway on our assigned day because, first,  I was the group leader, had it not been me, he would have? Maybe. But, the worse is, "Ba't ako maglilinis, eh, dinonate na nga namin yang floor wax!". Funny now, annoying then. Oh, the adults that we become! Corrupt and full of ourselves! I dare not write what I said and did after that, rest assured, I am no Mother Theresa either. I love my school and so proud of it, don't get me wrong. A lot of well to do families from other towns send their kids there for the great discipline and education it offers. The culture of hatred towards poor family is something else. The school produce so many well known people in our town, successful businessmen, religious leaders as well as political leaders. I hope it produces compassionate and community driven leaders more.

You see now, aramang and  fish and all the smell related to it,  is interwoven in my life. In a way, it made me study harder because  the only way I can win over them is being better. I did not have money, drivers dropping me off to school or the expensive shoes. It also made me realize, even if my family was poor,we treat people better, therefore we were better. So, yes! Our fishing village smells but we rock! Go Punta!

I am not very sure about this  but I think we celebrate our town fiesta the longest. We start May 1st until the 12th! Every night is a different theme. Oh, it is so much fun. Although, I was not a big fan of the little stalls that sell alcohol at night, cause too much fights! I love Ms Gay Aparri! Even before it became popular to hold contests such as this, we were doing it then!  I know... I have a special bond with all things gay!  The most exciting part for me though is the Fluvial Parade. It has been a tradition for us Aparrianos. There are hundreds of colorful bancas decorated with flowers, harvests and anything village related, such as our patron saint, St.Peter Thelmo. They start at town dock and goes around all the way to Punta Pier. Oh, the delight of looking at so much color in the vast blue waters!  They hand out awards and I remember, one of our entries won the most creative award. Oh my, this is so long ago, I can not remember what the theme was. I do  not know if my Inang still joins, if she does, she probably leave all the preparations to the wives of the fishermen.

In as much as seafood abound in Aparri, our town does not have a lot of fruits and vegetables. Being a major business hub though, our neighboring  towns bring them, so we were never really lacking. I didn't care as much. As long as I have my seafood, I am all set! Speaking of fruits, we Aparrianos love them  pickled! Take any fruit and we are ready to dip it in vinegar or bagoong or both. What I miss so much is "arimoran". I googled it but could not find an image of it. Actualy, it's not indigenous to this place but I remember it fondly. I wish I could tell you what it is, but my descriptive ability as you my have noticed by now, is not very good. I will update this blog once I see a picture of it, or maybe one of my kind readers will tell me about it. Go!

For a little town in the farthest point of our country, we are endowed. We are gifted with natural resources. As a major port, we enjoy the perks of the modern world. For the longest time, we were the only ones with movie houses in that part of the world. We have great private high schools and 2 colleges. What I love the most is how resilient the people are. Being in the typhoon belt, most families' income is on the mercy of the weather. Nevertheless, you would still see smiling faces when you visit. All the time. Yes, it is very idyllic but if you love the simple things in life, this is the place to be.

Here is a rundown of what I  miss right now, in no particular order.

1. kankanen-kakanin in Tagalog especially local buchi

2. gakka

3. jumping salad

4.sumallatik

5. baybay- dagat

6. bunga ng lugo

7. "entering"

8. tumbang preso using "Caltex" tabo

9. walking from home to church and listen to Fr. Barut's sermon or Fr. Rannie ( Ranhillo Aquino)

10. Bannawag and Liwayway

11. Spanish bread from Cary's

12. bulung unas or swordfish

13. playing jackstone using golf balls

14. saying "smuggle" and chop chop and everyone know what i mean

15. Dinengdeng ( using sabsabong, especially the one Franklin of Tabora St. brings to my Inang)

16. Manong Arsing

17. Tricycle packed with people and artistically marked " Katas ng Saudi", The Sun Still Shines Over The       Clouds, and the likes.

When am I going 'HOME"? That will be the day this entry is edited, republished and loaded with my pictures on how Aparri is,  in my eyes.

PS. pictures are from Salvin de la Cruz, adegarcia@wordpress.com, facebook and friendster.