Negros: Snapshots from a family road trip

What will you do when you have a huge amount of time, a slightly wanderlusting family and a four-wheeled vehicle? Go on a road trip of course!

Imagine four people in car leading somewhere. Tatay in the driver's seat, Nanay in the front passenger's seat while my sister and I lounge at the back seat with stuffed animals and a few books. At the backmost part is a drink cooler. Bags of chips lie in wait to be eaten. Imagine this scene inside a four-wheeled vehicle while my tatay sings Way Back Into Love and Justin Bieber's My World 2.0 album is on replay on the audio player (this was circa 2010. Album and artist have changed over time). This is my kind of road trip.

Having a parent who only gets to be with us a few times a year (job matters), my family has gotten used to going on little adventures while we are complete. At least that is our idea of “quality time". Way back since I was in high school, we would go on road trips around Panay. 

Last 2014, we decided to take our adventure to new level. We went on a road trip on a different island - Negros Occidental and Oriental.

We traveled to Bacolod via Roro (Roll-On/Roll-Off ship) – a marine vessel that could carry wheeled cargo from one destination to another. From Bacolod City, we drove south to the municipalities of Bago, Valladolid, La Carlota upto Hinigaran.

My family’s typical road trip consists of reroutes and detours. We would get lost a couple of times, ask a few directions maybe, but mostly follow wherever the road will takes us. 

Farmers rest under trees

And what would you expect to find in the vast farm lands of Negros? Apparently, its most popular produce – sugarcane. Both sides of the road are filled with sugarcane plantations.

Farmers in a sugarcane plantation

We stopped over for the night in Kabankalan. The next day we drove to Negros Oriental. We passed by the municipalities of Mabinay, Bais and Tanjay before arriving at Dumaguete City where we stayed another night. Along the way, we came across old structures that may have existed as early as the Spanish times.

An old church in Bais

An ancestral house in Bais

A few times, we would also pull over on the side of the road to have a longer glimpse at a breathtaking scenery.

and take pictures with us in it..

yours truly photo taken by Alycca Villaruel

yours truly's mother

We left Dumaguete the night after and drove back to Bacolod passing by the municipality of Don Salvador Benedicto. We arrived home in Iloilo the evening of the same day. All in all, our trip took three days and two nights. 

The pine tree-lined road of Don Salvador Benedicto

What I enjoy in road trips is that you get to appreciate the things you see while in a moving vehicle. There will be regular sceneries which your eyes won’t pay attention to and then there are those you can’t get rid of marveling at until you lose sight of it.

With a camera, I got to take snapshots of things that interested me. Some mundane, some quite peculiar. Animals along the road, children playing (some taking a bath), men on top of jeepneeys, people driving motorcycles, street musicians. The possibilities were endless. Most of the time, I get blurred results but that's the point - these are frozen times, scenes I've captured in the moment. Scenes I've taken from an adventure on the road.

I like adventures and thrill-seeking experiences. A submarine would be much more exciting. But I take great pleasure in road trips. Especially ones spent with people who matter the most. 

ALL PICTURES WERE TAKEN BY ADRIENNE VILLARUEL DURING A FAMILY ROAD TRIP BACK IN 2014.