It's not always going to be sunny.

Banaue, Northern Philippines--March, 28, 2011

Home to rice terraces perfectly carved into the mountainside, with an irrigation system that is nothing short of genius, Banaue is tucked away in the Mountain Province of Northern Luzon, Philippines. Beautiful to eyes and fresh to the nose, the rice terraces are surely something you don’t want to miss in the Philippines.

* abrupt record stop *

But it was cold.

And raining.

And I was miserable.

Mother Nature, yeah, she’s a Schizo—it’s supposed to be summertime, peak season for Jebus’ sake, but she pulled the Cold Card from her deck of personalities. I couldn’t feel my feet for 2 days; when my feet are cold, so follows my mood. There’s nothing worse than cold feet (cold ankles are high up there but when the footsies are cold, say “Adios!” to trying to get warm). I stayed for one night and two days, plenty. 

When it rains, it pours.

As advised I arrived at the bus station at 7:30pm , why I didn't take into consideration 'Filipino time' or the disorganization of transportation in southeast Asia as a whole, I don't know. My bus, scheduled to leave at 8pm, left at 10:20pm. I sat for three hours, in the cold, watching exhalations of carbon dioxide leave my mouth, and listening to water steadily drip down onto the metal roof:

tap-tap-tap-tap-tap.  

The first hour down the mountain was eventful; left turn-right turn-hard break-gas-dip-uphill-left turn (and so forth). My four o’clock lunch didn’t sit well, in fact it didn't sit at all…

three times.

We picked up a couple from another bus stopped and rolled on; the wife sat next to me--right turn-left turn-uphill. She started yelling at the man, who asked her to buy a ticket, something about their bus breaking down and not having money—downhill-break-break-break-gas. They argued for 5 minutes—uphill-downhill-left turn-right turn-brrrrrrreak! Sticky with perspiration, 4 minutes. The sides of the bus were closing in, 3 minutes—right turn- left turn-right turn. This woman’s yelling smothered me to Claustrophobiaville, 2 minutes—uphill-downhill-left turn. They stopped, I was just about to start, 1 minute—right turn-left turn-up- break-gas-gas-gas. I excused myself and emptied my stomach for the third time--left turn-gas-gas-gas. 

I fell asleep when the road straightened out and woke up in Manila traffic.

So not every day traveling is good one, in fact, some days will seem like they're flushed half way down the crapper, you know when there's not enough water in the tank for a complete flush; it's the half flush that keeps everything in the bowl floating around in slow motion. Some days will be like that, floating in a big pool of shit, until you wait for the tank to eventually fill itself or you could jump out of the pool and fill it yourself...either way things will work out. Whether you decide to float in poop or not, it'll all make for a good story.

Long story short: when traveling, craptastic days are bound to happen...it happens, life happens. Although, I would love everything to go according to plan and have perfect weather where ever I go, I know it's not always going to be sunny...and that's okay.