Remembering Ida

A while back, I posted a story about helping a poor man that I saw at a gas station in Calinan, Davao. Phil left a comment, and asked me if I would have considered picking the man up and giving him a ride somewhere. I’m not sure where you came up with that question, Phil, but it reminded me of something that happened last year, and it was quite humorous.

A friend and I went out on a journey one morning. We decided to go to Bislig, Surigao del Sur. I had never been to Bislig at the time, but there had been a big fire there that burned down the Palengke (Public Market), and I wanted to go have a look, shoot some photos, etc. So, my friend wanted to come with me, he is also American.

We headed north from Davao, and we overlooked the turnoff that we should have taken to go to Bislig. We completely passed by it without noticing. So, we decided that we would take a little different route to Bislig – we went north to San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, then turned and headed east to the coast, where we turned and headed back south toward Bislig. Surprisingly, the roads were pretty good on this route. I had always heard about how bad the road to Bislig was, and was surprised that this particular route was fairly good.

After spending some time in Bislig, we were ready to head home. We decided to take the more direct route home. We had not traveled this road before, and when we got on the road there were a lot of places where the road split into two different directions and such. We would always need to stop and ask somebody which direction to take to get to Davao, because there were no signs. Also, the road was hell. It was one of the worst roads that I’ve ever traveled on.

After an hour or two of heading up this road, we came to another split in the road and were not sure which way to go. We stopped and contemplated it for a few minutes. As we sat there, a lady approached. I would guess her to be in her mid 40’s or so, and she was quite attractive, although she had clearly seen her better days. It was clear that maybe 10 or 15 years ago she was quite a stunner. We asked her which direction we should take to go to Davao and she told us. As we got ready to head off, she asked if we could give her a ride to her house in Trento. My friend and I looked at each other, and we agreed to take her. We figured – hey, two big guys….. one relatively small lady…. should be safe! Plus, she knew the route home, and we didn’t!

The lady got into our car, and we talked with her a bit. She told us that her name was Ida. She was actually quite friendly. My friend was single, and Ida took out a photo of her 20 year old daughter and showed it to him, encouraging him to meet the daughter, and possibly marry her. Well, my friend just kind of played along and smiled. Although he was single, he was involved in a serious relationship, and wasn’t really interested in Ida’s daughter.

After a while, it got quiet, and Ida said that she was going to take a nap. She was in the back seat, my friend and I were in the front. In a few moments, we heard Ida start singing a tune. It took me a few minutes before I realized what she was singing, but I almost laughed when I realized. “It’s raining men, hallelujah, it’s raining men.” Hmm… this ride home was getting interesting. My friend and I kept looking at each other and snickering a little bit. It was clear to both of us that Ida was basically there for the asking….. either of us could have had our way with her, she was quite willing. We ignored that, and just remained friendly with her, though.

After about 2 hours of riding with Ida, we were on the side of a mountain, overlooking a coconut plantation. The sun was setting, and it was beautiful. I wanted to shoot a photo, so I stopped the car and got out to take a few shots. To my surprise, when I turned around to get back in the car, there was Ida! She was asking if I could take her photo, so I said “sure”. She proceeded to take off part of her clothing (a sort of “jacket”), and when she did it revealed much of her body, with only something covering her breasts. I shot a photo. I am quite sure that had I asked her to take off anything else, she would have been happy to do so!

It was only about 15 more minutes of riding when we reached Ida’s place. She asked for our phone numbers and addresses so she could stay in touch. Neither of us obliged on that request. We said our goodbyes and headed back to Davao. I haven’t seen Ida since, or heard from her. Whenever I pass through that part of Agusan and Surigao, though, I always remember Ida.

What a ride that was!

So, in answer to your question, Phil…. I have picked up a few riders in the past!