FIVE TIMES in my life, I bought real properties without understanding how big they are.
Or what they contain.
If someone tells me it’s a good deal, and if my intuition tells me it’s not so bad, I buy it.
I’m easy like that.
***
I buy it, I deal with it.
I am not a fan of returns and exchanges.
I have never ever argued against a No return, No exchange policy.
I don’t even think I’ve sent back an overcooked steak even if I prefer them more rare than medium rare.
It’s the same with boys and men.
I like him, I deal with him.
Even without understanding how big he is! Haha.
***
Anyway, my farm property.
Now called Hacienda Dom Pedro de Dumangas, but only identified as Hacienda Dom Pedro on Facebook because Facebook location is retarded.
I have established that the farm has a shallow spring when I bought it.
I understood that it had a hill, but I didn’t see how big it really was because of all the foliage and shrubbery.
I just saw a rice field, and an incline of trees.
But a cave?
***
On the 8th day of work at my farm, all for a treehouse, I discovered the cave.
A new (same day) worker confirmed its existence.
Said he had been inside it some 30 years ago.
So promising!
Probably just a snake pit by now, but tell me what my money can’t buy! Haha.
Have money, will rid of snakes. Haha.
I mean, not everybody can afford a Bat Cave.
Who cares if it is a Snake Cave for now?
***
The cave is partly buried by sliding soil.
Maybe even the compost of leaves and vines from the years of fallen foliage.
But nothing that a million-peso excavation can’t fix. Haha.
I don’t know how high is the entrance.
I didn’t want to push for an interview because the worker was busy and a little incoherent. Haha.
I didn’t want to come across as a clueless owner, even if I am totally clueless.
***
But the facts: He had been inside the cave some 30 years ago!
I didn’t ask if he snake crawled his way, but I figured it’s something that a teenager could do.
I asked if it was a big cave, and he said Yes, it is big.
I would have preferred an answer in square meters, but you know ‘big’, ‘there’, ‘that’, ‘kwan’ among Filipinos.
So, yeah. The cave remains to be seen.
Remains to be excavated.
***
But one thing at a time.
One unfolding thing at a time.
The balete tree was a happy surprise.
I was thinking of a lowly bamboo-nipa hut, but that quickly evolved into a wooden treehouse when I saw that the balete tree could support a treehouse.
***
Then, there’s the water from the new tasuk source.
The line drillers and borers were so excited to report that the stones coming out were bato nga buhi, “live stones”.
I don’t know about living stones.
But they pointed out how different the colors were from the “dead stones”.
I only thought it probably is just stones with special minerals that “grow” via accretion when there’s a big water deposit/flow like how stalagmites and stalactites grow.
***
I’ll have my water examined, of course, for its mineral contents.
But already I have called it Agua Feliz, happy water.
Because when we tapped it, I was so happy.
And when I took a shower, I was even happier.
I drank its first clear spouts, and I was very, very happy, and didn’t get stomach upset.
In my La Choza diary, I noted that I had to pray and touch the tasuk instruments to get lucky with the tap.
They were unsuccessful on Day 1.
And I wasn’t in town to help them.
***
La Choza, Spanish for ‘the hut’, is, of course, La Choza de Dom Pedro.
That it is a treehouse doesn’t really matter in the naming.
I don’t want to call it Casa del Arbol de Dom Pedro.
La Choza stands on the hill.
More correctly, it hangs on a tree that stands on a hill that sits on Hacienda Dom Pedro.
Hacienda Dom Pedro is a very small farm, but I call it “hacienda”, because who can stop me?
***
Every day, there is beauty unfolding at Hacienda Dom Pedro.
On our first day, I saw the majesty of the balete tree.
On the second day, the flat expanse of the top of the hill.
On the third day, the view of the horizon.
On the sixth day, we got our water source.
On the eight day, we discovered the cave.
Who knows what wonder will next unfold?/PN
