I could taste the dirt in my mouth, the textured grit between my teeth. It seemed that no matter how much I tried to block its entrance, it had a way of taking up residence and making me want to expel it. However, the knowledge that that expulsion would only end up back in my face taught me to simply endure the uncomfortable experience of racing through roads that were not anything like the least maintained roads that I had ever experienced growing up in the country.

I didn't know if the taxi driver received a higher payment by delivering his passengers in a faster amount of time, but that trip from Manila to Tuguegarao helped me to appreciate the speed laws in the Americas, and even appreciate that there is the existence of highway patrol. I closed my eyes and hoped that I would arrive in one piece when we got to Tuguegarao. Obviously we did, or I would not be here describing my visit to the Philippines so many years ago, now.