Beaches, a River and AC Jeeps

Tina: "was planning to go to the beach tomorrow but sisoy has trangkaso. hahay! Mag 2 months na ko wala katamak ug dagat."

Ako: "Ligo dagat? inyo na lang na."
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Beaches, beaches and the river

That was a good part of my life. I was still in the grade school, maybe 10-11 years old. We had several alternatives going to the beach. We had Talomo, Times beach, and Bucana beach. In those days there were no houses, buildings on the beaches. Instead one can find coconut palms. Not even a kiosk can be found there so we had to bring our baon, water and soft drinks. Going to the beach was almost every Sunday affair with your lolo and lola.

To Talomo or Times beach, we rode in our passenger jeep. Between these two beaches we preferred Talomo. The water there was its clearest. Under the coconut palms we set our things down. On Sundays people go the beach. But there was not much people on the beach.

Times beach was nearer and was child friendly because it slopes gently. To go to a neck-deep water one must go further than in Talomo. In fact one can drive a car on the beach. But the water is not as clear as Talomo. However, like Talomo coconut palms are plentiful.

The most exciting and adventurous for us was going to Bucana beach. For then we had to cross Davao River by a small boat with katig. Once inside the boat, the steerman would use a bamboo pole of about 3 meterss long instead of a paddle to propel and guide the boat. The river was not deep so the pole is used.

It took the small boat several minutes to cross the river. Then we enter an inlet full of mangrove trees on the side of the inlet banks. And then before us, a fishing village appears. We embarked the small boat and walked through the small village. After a short walk through, the beach appears before us. The beach was not polluted. Often the water becomes a little bit light brown, due to Davao River's brown water.


This is the photo of the mouth of Davao River. Bucana beach is no more, since mouth of river was diverted. What use to be Bucana beach is now the mouth of the river. The water in picture is brown, it must have rained a bit here and upriver.

I miss a lot looking back at these places. The serenity of the beaches, the coconut palms lining the beaches. Punta Dumalag was beautiful then. There were no houses. Only coconut palms were to be seen. No karyoke. Not even radios then could be heard because few can afford to buy radio. Now nipa sheds and houses litter the beach. Music blaring all the time.

When I became a teenager, I began to develop a dislike of seawater. If I ever make a dip on the beach, I just have to rinse myself with fresh water to wash off the salty seawater. My skin felt somewhat sticky if I do not rinse.

The Jeeps

In those days we had what we called AC passenger jeep. AC for Auto Calesa (8 seater passenger jeep, 6 at the back, 2 at the front) like a tartanilla. We had then two AC passenger jeeps and we used one of those for the trips. The jeeps had names. One was Charito, the other was Ben-Cesar. Then there was a third passenger jeep acquired and it was named Raquel.

Oh yes an explanation over the names of the jeeps. When your Tita Charit was born, the first jeep was acquired in 1948. It was named after her. Then Tio Cesar was born. A second jeep was acquired in 1950 and it was named Ben-Cesar. A third one was acquired I quessed a year afterwards and it was named after your Tita Raquel, for your Tio Nato was not born yet. However Raquel was sold afterwards and only two were for several years.