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by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
May 16, 2011
Have you ever tasted durian coffee? Ever won dered what it would taste? Smell? Look? The second I heard from the friendly taxi driver, Mr. Felix Viovicente, that durian coffee is one of Davao City’s exotic delights, I told Letty, my travelling companion, that the two of us must try it before heading back to Manila.
We inquired from everyone where the durian coffee was available. But not everyone knew where it was. Finally, Flor, our friend and Davao host, walked with Letty and me along J.P. Laurel Street and pointed out the exact place where we could try the durian coffee I was craving.
After hearing mass at the Redemptorist Church on Sunday, May 8, Letty and I walked down the road from our hotel to the Pryce Business Park. Located on the ground floor of Landco Building was the Blugre Coffee (http://www.blugre.com/), the creator of durian coffee. I was restless until the moment that the blue mug of freshly brewed durian gatchpuccino touched my lips.
It looked like cappuccino, but it was bitter like espresso. And yet it was sweet because of the durian. I thought the pulp bits in my first mouthful were a mistake, but they weren’t. There were pulp bits up to the very last drop to remind me that I was drinking durian coffee. What about the smell of durian? No, its pungent smell did not interfere with our coffee adventure.
* * *
Letty, Flor, and I were high school friends. We graduated from the Nueva Ecija High School (NEHS) in Cabanatuan City in March 1968. Flor, to our horror, got married in 1970 at the age of 19. We thought she was too young, and her husband was too old. She was a junior nursing student and her husband, Jerry, was a senior law student at the Ateneo de Manila.
They settled down in Davao City where Jerry’s family comes from. Jerry completed his law studies, passed the bar, practiced in Davao City, then became a public prosecutor till the day he retired last year. Flor shifted from nursing to accountancy and became a certified public accountant (CPA). Today, she’s still working at the Davao Region Branch of the Department of Agriculture, serving as the regional accountant.
The last time Letty and I saw Flor was in the 1980s. For almost three decades, Letty and I had been planning to visit with Flor in Davao City. Each time Flor had a conference in Metro Manila, we’d plan to catch up with each other but it never happened.
Our NEHS alumni association has an annual re-union. Letty and I would attend some of the reunions, hoping that Flor would be there. But she said she’d never attended a class reunion because the annual date, November 30, is her and Jerry’s wedding anniversary. (Flor and Jerry have been married for 40 years. They have three grown-up children and several grandkids. Their youngest, Mariel, 31, is still single though.)
Early in April this year, Letty and I agreed to go visit with Flor in Davao City no matter what. As if to seal our agreement, Letty’s pilot son-in-law offered us free round trip tickets to Davao City. And so Letty and I booked our Davao City trip from May 6 to 9, oblivious that Mothers’ Day and the Pacquiao-Mosley fight were happening at the same time on May 8.
Flor, Jerry, and Mariel took us to Eden Nature Park and to Malagos Garden Resort during our visit. But the sights of Davao were not the reason we went there. We wanted to see Flor and Jerry up close. We wanted to know a couple who have lived together for 40 years without any major bumps in their relationship.
Flor says there had been challenges along their journey together, but none that either of them caused, none that directly affected them, none that shook their faith in each other or their love for each other.
While Flor is the loving, attentive, and affectionate wife, Jerry is the patient, understanding, and nurturing husband. He expressed mild amusement and amazement that Letty, Flor, and I have kept our childlike bond up to our old age. We are old women with young hearts.
Jerry said with a teasing smile, “Kayo pa rin hanggang ngayon?”
And so Letty, Flor, and I spent every moment we had during our visit reminiscing and re-tracing the respective paths each of us has taken in life. There was no criticism, no questioning, no what-if’s, no regrets. What we shared, and always have, is a flowing stream of fresh water where one could take a relaxing and invigorating dip anytime.
It was a re-union that was just a little bitter but mostly sweet. And it had plenty of self-indulging pulp bits to remind us that drinking from the cup of kindness is never pungent. It was like drinking durian coffee, the king of coffees, cup after cup.