I have been living in Pateros for nearly 4 months now, Its funny that when you live in a city, you measure your stay simply by looking at the accumulated bills, disconnection notices included, 4 white Meralco envelopes mean that you have been shacking up for 4 months, 2 5gallons of mineral water make up for 2 days and a once-in a-month visit from a petulant neighbor to whom you have clung your cable wire on means it's been a month of Travel&Living and time to fork over the cable bill, or half of it for that matter. This must be how an adult lives, eternally worried and sometimes harried by bills.
When I first came here, I was overwhelmed with too many people, the place is a typical urban underbelly- decadent, decaying- Crammed spaces, too much variety of humanity (typical humans, almost humans-for some freak of nature never quite look like humans, may resemble racing horses, shake rattle and roll all time favorite creepy characters, used to be humans- used to posess a natural beauty and charm but because of too much shabu and snorting of god-knows-what,have turned into creatures of the dark, the undead, seemingly humans, think they are superhumans- those with higher-than-though attitudes, humans of other specie- fairies, twinks, closet queens, and queens that out the closet queens for no any other reason than to annoy and put them to shame. and genetically engineered humans -humans that can filch your valuables in a fraction of a nanosecond) Narrow street that used to be my everyday battleground with merciless and ungiving automobiles that wouldnt give a flying fart if you lie face flat to the gutter or pop your arms out of their socket, the space is such small you instantly feel like going on a 'toothbrush sharing' terms with,lets say the biggest slob of the vicinity.
But despite the squalor,the decay and the gut-wrenching smell of abnoy, I am having a glorious time here. The people, regardless of their genetic make up and smells that persist to linger in your noses and flirt with your olfactory nerves are the same humans I have come to call my friends. This is the place where I can do brisk walking at the wee hours of the morning without the fear of being stabbed, held up, chopped into pieces, mugged, turned into sacrificial stuff to some deities or to a more cinematic context, hung and offered to King Kong. This is where every house invites you in and practically shoves the content of their fridges up your noses (thus the added 30pounds, which makes walking in the narrow street all the more life-threatening, I am like a walking bowling pin- Target by default). And more amazingly, this is the place where everyone glugs alcohol in a fashion that can put all the members of Alcohol Anonymous America look like wimpy, pubertal schoolboys.
Alcohol industry is especially thriving here, the whole street alone imports innumerable cases of alcohol on a daily basis, you wouldnt wanna see them mad, they all turn green and maniacal.
Another staple of Pateros life is the videoke, almost every gathering and "made-up' celebrations (collection of garbage day, the miraculous survival of Buday the dog from imminent demise, The outing of Brando, the long awaited comeuppance of Nene's tormentor in Katorse). Everyone here sings, but do they sing well? Thats another issue altogether. I know someone who sings like a drunk person with terminal asthma, It may seem okay,since ingesting alcohol can be an effective excuse for the voice that can call forth the rain of scorpions (I sing terrible! must be the alcohol wreaking havoc on my voice box!), But what can you do if you sound like a drunkard ashtmatic in a nebulizer even before you take your first shot? Let everybody's sense of propriety gets pickled by alcohol! they wouldnt know the difference between a frog's croaking and your voice singing, they may even find it charming, you might even get laid!
Life can truly bring you to places you never even thought of going, places you only heard so much about but not actually intending on going. It's as if being singled out by the whimsical, playful universe and carelessly plop you into the lives of people you never imagine liking and wouldn't wanna be seen dead with, until the magic works its way, you discover the generosity of their hearts and their unpretentious love of life and eagerness to live, and together you create a raucous,tone-deaf music while enjoyably swigging cheap booze.
To all my friends and my adoptive family here in Pateros, Thank you for letting me into your homes and into your lives, and yes, thank you for shoving everything you can offer up my nose. =p
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