SOL #23 - Traffic

[These events literally take place right after SOL #22]

After picking up our luggage at the Airport, our grandfather and extended family picked us up in their minivan. It's late afternoon right now.

Their house is about 6 hours away. Oh, my god. Why. The traffic in Manila is absolutely terrible. Around 6 PM, we're stuck in traffic and nothing is moving.

Nature is calling. I need to use the restroom. But there's literally no large buildings nearby that may have bathrooms.

A cousin suggested for me to use a plastic bag and just take a dump in the car. Am I doing that?

no.

My dad and I went to find a bathroom. We saw a portapotty near a construction site, but they wouldn't let us use it.

We went to a nearby bakery, they have a bathroom but it's literally a bucket next to a drain.

As I sat on the bucket, I saw a cockroach crawling along the wall. Please go away, Mr Cockroach.

This is disgusting. The roach then crawled through a crack in the ceiling. I guess having roaches stare you down while crapping is a thing I'll have to get used to.

I cleaned up and headed out into Manila's streets with my dad in order to find our car.

Conveniently, the traffic hasn't moved at all in the 20 minutes we were out. We hopped back into the van.

It took another 3 hours to get to our Grandfather's house, which was near most of the houses belonging to my Mom's relatives (my cousins, aunts, uncles, etc).

But after being stuck in traffic, for what felt like forever I could finally rest in a place that almost felt like home.