We finally were able to get our act together in visiting Bob
and Looey Maglaya's farm in Morong, Bataan. Originally planned to harvest from
numerous trees, their papaya of different sizes and shapes on the farm.
Starting off from West Triangle in Quezon City at 8:00 o’clock
in the morning, we got to Morong at almost noon. There was traffic along the way, some accident that kept us in a
bumper-to-bumper situation -- which fortunately didn't affect our mood as we
were comfortably taken care of by Roree in her Grandia, and her zero-accident record
of a driver, James.
The Maglaya farm sits on a thousand sqm lot along the
highway. Its fence is strengthened by
bamboo trees, my impression is that it’s going to be difficult for burglars or
intruders to climb and jump over the fence.
In big cities, even in gated subdivisions, shards are planted on top of
the fence as a safeguard.
Bob was all prepared when we got there, he and his helpers cooked Chicken Tinola (of course with raw
papaya fresh from a tree) and Fish Sarsiado.
My type of lunch, healthy and easy to do. He then served us the roundest papaya I have
ever seen in my entire life, and burgundy colored macopa.
Couple of days back, he sold a cow for fifteen thousand
pesos, when it’s fully grown it will be
slaughtered and its meat will find its way in the market. Way to go, Bob!
For the rest of the day,
Roree was on a shopping binge for honey, cashew nuts, arrow root
biscuits, pork cracklings and ice cream in the next towns.
I bought only one bottle of raw honey to try. Apparently, Roree already knew how flavorful
honey from Morong is, she bought four!
And to this day, I regret I didn’t buy more. The ones I get at the supermarket are no
match.
“A taste of honey… much sweeter than wine” as the song
has it. NO OTHER.
Our way home was via San Fernando, and we did a last stop to
have early dinner at a restaurant, by which time my stomach nearly full. The drive back to Quezon City in the evening,
all except James napped intermittently and I was on guard when Roree’s Grandia
passed any humps or bumps, praying that I don’t regurgitate…
Morong is a municipality in the province of Bataan,
Philippines. Its population is about
30,000 according to 2010 statistics. It
is home to the Subic Bay International Airport, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant,
and the former Philippine Refugee Processing Center.
Out where the Maglaya farm is, near the highway, a square
meter would cost Php 3,000.
Any day soon will rise a Jollibee branch in less than a kilometer away
from the farm. Boon or bane depends on
the lifestyle you chose to have. Me, so
long as there are bees and they’re busy producing honey I like.
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