Laoag City in Ilocos Norte is all aglow during December. The plaza in front of the Provincial Capitol is all decked out in lights and Christmas decorations featuring native as well as recycled materials.

But more than that, the province’s well known landmark, the massive belfry of St. William’s Cathedral, lording it all, is lit up.

If I’ve stuck to my original schedule of going on a Friday, I would not have come into problems.

Mati, being the capital of Davao Oriental is the main economic hub of this southeastern province. I know this place as more of a transit point for trips going up to the coastal municipalities than as a tourist destination. Being stuck and with nothing much to do here, what better way to kill time and enjoy than to go for a swim?

On an ordinary day, the highway leading to the municipality of Gov. Generoso in the middle of the western side of the long and narrow peninsula of Davao Oriental is lonely. Except perhaps for the occasional bus or private vehicle traveling to Mati, the province’s capital or to Tagum in Davao del Norte. Sometimes, a habalhabal, a motorized public transport, passes filled with passengers.

I really don’t know why the Agora bus terminal in the city of Cagayan de Oro always fascinates me. Its a modest strip of land just beside the Agora market in the often chaotic part that is just near the pier.

It is bisected by a short two lane road where the buses come and go. On each side is the covered bus bays, housing eateries, turo turo style, side by side with regular pasalubong stalls and a few ticket booths.