Everything the light touches

In the movie The Lion King, while atop Pride Rock, King Mufasa tells his cub, “Look Simba, everything the light touches is our kingdom.”

Those words are precisely what’s on my mind when I first saw Bato, an undeveloped land in Barangay Bato, Mauban, Quezon, owned by the De la Cuestas, Alex’s family - my in-laws.

Part of Alex’s agenda that weekend was to check out the ongoing palay harvest in Santol and the gapas (clearing activity) being made (and how far it has gone) in Bato. The last time he went to Bato, it was raining and listening to him narrate the trip seemed like an ordeal. There was a point that he was stuck in mud and they had to pull him out. And he’s asking if I would like to join him that Sunday. I had the choice between that or to stay in the room we rented for the weekend. I was thinking, what the heck. Nandun na din lang ako.

We were up at 630am. We didn’t eat breakfast, we just had a Big Mak burger. It took us an hour walk to reach Bato. At one point, Rene, Alex’s right-hand man, pointed out to us, “Do you see the tall coconut trees? Sa inyo yan.” Wow. I felt like Simba at that moment.

Feeling ko mangingitim ako. Ang layo. We had to pass through an ilog, endless pilapil (not related to Pilar, by the way), and yes, mud. May paakyat, may pababa, may portion na tatalon ka, lahat-lahat na. May kalabaw na masamang tumingin, ang daming aso. May parang umiiyak na bata, pero ibon pala. Buti na lang, hindi naman ako sosyalin. Kahit putik-putikan ang Havs ko, carry pa din (I brought an extra pair, buti na lang din). Tawa na lang ako ng tawa. Alex had to retrieve his slippers from the mud many times. “Kawawa naman Havs natin,” he was saying.

We took a break when we reached a clear spot. Using a big galian (I’m not sure of the spelling but it is a variety of gabi or taro root) leaf to sit on, Rene got us some fresh buko and laughed when Alex and I had a ceremonial toast. Ang sarap ng feeling that back home in San Pedro, if you want some buko juice, you had to pay for it; but in our property, it was free and fresh from the tree. Service deluxe pa kami.  From the same husk, Rene made a sort of a spoon to scoop out the buko meat. Ang sarap. I couldn’t believe that everything I see – the coconut trees, the plants I don’t recognize, the soil I was stepping on – was ours. I stretched out my arms as if to hug everything. I wanted to shout, “Atin ito!” But I didn’t have to. I knew that Alex knew what I was thinking, what I was feeling. I was glad I didn’t stay in the hotel room.And so, we walked back (yes, for another hour) with smile on our faces. We have so many plans and with God’s loving guidance, sana matupad naming lahat yun and enjoy the fruits of our labor soon.