I don't know why I missed the last part of my Central Luzon backpacking and jumped into new travel series. I just figured that out last night, but as always I want to put an end to things. Today, I'm sharing how I spent my last day in Pampanga before I went back to Cebu. Remember when I got lost on my to Pampanga from Gapan City? I made it to Pampanga in one piece that night. I had a decent Airbnb room in a shared property (house) where I rested for the night.
The following morning, Brandon, a great friend from Pampanga toured me in his hometown. How Brandon and I became friends was kinda out of the ordinary. I attended the country's premiere state university and back then, I was an active member of one of the two major campus-based socio-political organizations in my college. Brandon wasn't from my college but he was a member of another national socio-political organization which my campus-based org was affiliated with. He was from Manila and when these guys came to our campus, I remember the excitement to mingle and hear intellectual discussions about laws and bills and all these beliefs and values they're strongly working for. Back then actually even now, I find men who can engage in intellectual discussions hotter than those who go to the gym but don't even care about a thing or two about how these laws or bills affect them and their immediate community. But Brandon and I never had the chance to talk back in college. It was only when I graduated that I got to communicate with him. I remember posting something on Facebook about how bad my day went. I could clearly recall, it was a late evening I was sitting on an elevated part of the sidewalk when Brandon's message "Hey, are you okay?" popped in my notification. We were basically strangers at that point and to be asked that question was everything that night. I started feeling an instant connection with him; I shared everything that bothered me that day. And from there I felt I had a true friend who's always willing to listen, to listen without judgment. He kept checking on my emotional stability until things got better.
Years later, I scheduled a trip to Central Luzon where my exit point will be in his province, Pampanga. I told him about it and that's when he offered to accompany me for a day. As I only have a few hours before my flight to Cebu, we didn't go somewhere else but just in Angeles City. We went food tripping and visited a couple of churches and shrines famous in Pampanga.
