Bay-bay Beach: for oysters & ebony sand

 *A continuation of our trip around Roxas City

     Our rendezvous before we head home was by the People's Park in Babay, Roxas City. The park is  locally known as Roxas City Boulevard almost similar to Roxas Boulevard in Manila minus the pollution and the major hustle and bustle, also without the many commercial establishments.  

    From Gaisano City Mall, it is a 10-minute tricycle ride to Baybay. "Baybay" in hiligaynon is seashore. Here, it is an actual name of a place which identifies the obvious.   The sand is fine, but is ebony in color. It is not the marshy type that you would find in polluted shores. Many kids were swimming from afar amid the big waves. There weren't big rock formations at sight, it looked as if it was safe that time to surf there, too. But Capiznons  are not really big on surfing. They are more of the fisher folks type.  It was such a shame that I couldn't get in the water that day. I did not bring any other clothing with me except those that I already wore. 

    It was not really a swimming trip, although I really wanted to try the water rushing to the gray shore. For one, because it was not that hot, and it was a bit windy.  None of us could swim and splash because we did not have spare clothes for bathing, so we ended up enjoying the view instead. 

  My brother ordered for us two small basins of Talaba for 25 pesos per basin.  Then, we did the traditional tiltig and hitads.  These two make up the process of opening oysters that are half-cooked and are shy of opening. Tiltig is when you hit it with a knife to make a crevice out of the shells .  Hitad is when you separate the two shells from each other.  Then we enjoyed dipping that in the vinegar-soysauce- kalamansi condiment provided by the seafood kiosk where we bought the oysters from. It had been a while since I last ate Talaba. I finished 15- as far as I remember.

  

    It was almost sundown when we finished eating and taking photos of the place.  Then I saw my father. He was scribbling something in the sand. Something about thanking the Canadian government for the help they have offered to Estancianons during the typhoon. And with careful instructions he said to me: "You should post that on Facebook.", after I took a picture of it. My father, always the public servant. 

   I have lived in Panay for some 18 years, but I have never gone that far away from Estancia. I never knew this part of Capiz existed. That they have a Baybay through their People's Park almost similar to what we have at home only way more organized and preserved. It was not too late to get here now, at 23. There will be many other places to go- places I know was there, but I did not take a good second look at.