GOVIC highway, you seen better days
The morning after blues from my head down to my shoes
GOVIC highway, let me slip away, slip away on you
(with apologies to Gordon Lightfoot)
Our Wednesday Walkers group traveled out to Castillejos yesterday to hike the GOVIC bypass highway (basically a 7K loop around the city).
The trek was all on pavement, but a lot of it was through sparsely populated countryside, so it was a nice change of pace. As usual, I’ll share photos from the adventure later in this post.
Speaking of hiking, my pal Kevin Kim, a notorious distance walker, began his journey circumnavigating Jeju island in South Korea. You can follow his journey on his blog, Kevin’s Walk 6. Good luck, Kevin!
So, about last night. I went to Mango’s again, hoping to score some pork chops for Joy’s dinner, but alas, once again, they were out of stock. I couldn’t resist giving the manager a little advice: It’s your most popular item on the menu. If you are always running out, you should consider ordering more. He thanked me for the sage advice.
Plan B was John’s place, and he didn’t disappoint. I ordered the bulgogi with rice and sixteen Korean-style chicken wings for takeout.
Mission accomplished. When my time at Hideaway was done, I headed back up the highway to my side of town. I stopped at Bar Barretto, but I was one beer and out there. It’s a nice place but boring for early birds like me. I understand it gets hoppin’ when the band is playing. Next up was a new bar that I still need to review, Sloppy Joe’s. When I arrived, I was the only customer and sat down in the outdoor seating area. It doesn’t appear they have a bargirl staff, and the solitary waitress served me my beer and didn’t seem interested in the usual chitchat that leads to a lady drink. Suit yourself.
There was one incident that stems from the downside of drinking in a ground-floor bar facing the National highway. I’m not talking about the noise (which is pretty bad) but the beggars buzzing around like hungry mosquitos. One woman had a rather unique method for trying to extract money from my pocket. She just stood on the shoulder, ten yards away, and didn’t say a word–just stared at me. I tried to ignore her for a while, playing with my phone, but when I looked up, she was still there staring. I finally said loudly, “stop staring at me!”. She responded with words I didn’t understand, but the tone was angry. So there would be no misunderstanding, I answered with the universally understood words, “fuck you, bitch!” She said, “fuck you, too,” and walked away.
I paid my bill shortly thereafter (had to go inside, my waitress never came back) and was thinking about popping into Queen Victoria for my “one for the road” before going home. Then I remembered that I had a pot roast overcooking in the crockpot, so I grabbed a trike and headed back to Alta Vista.
A strawberry-banana-pineapple smoothie for my sweet tooth and I called it a night.
Alright, which of these two memes is funniest:
Yes, they are both good. I’d call it a tie.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I had a package delivery:
Alright, here are the photos from Wednesday’s hike I promised. As always, Scott gets the credit for many of these:
And after lunch, we walked back to the vehicles and made the drive to Barretto. It was a very nice hike overall, and it is always good to see some relatively new scenery (we had last done this trail on New Year’s Day in 2021).
You can Relive the hike here if you’d like:
Turning back the pages to the times I love best I wonder if she'll ever do the same Now the thing that I call living is just being satisfied With knowing I got no one left to blame Carefree highway, got to see you my old flame Carefree highway, you seen better days The morning after blues from my head down to my shoes Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you
A very good walk, indeed!
Thanks for the shout-out.
The word ‘highway’ is not what I imagined when I see your Govic .
for one, the road is totally exposed without guardrails, and there are even sections with houses nearby.
the surface seems white , is that made from cement ?
And I have noticed that you also refer to the Barretto road as a highway too? The same road that passes through the bar area, with bars on each side.
Would walking street be considered a highway if if it wasn’t closed to traffic 🤔?
To me, highway connotes fast moving traffic with pedestrian under or overpasses if necessary, and very far from residential areas ,with barriers on either side so no animals , wild or domesticated, can access the roadway at all.
A single lane road in between houses and businesses should be a street 😌
Words must mean something
now that I think about it…. what is a freeway ?
This hiking route you took is quite flat but long, and yet it doesn’t seem that boring because you’re not passing by too many people or vehicles.
after your hike ,do you feel any strain or pain on your back or shoulder? I tried walking a few miles and not only my calves were on fire, but my back and shoulders were sore for days.
Aa they say, never emulate your heroes….Don’t try this at home
Teddy, you have to remember this is the Philippines. The signage literally calls it the “GOVIC Highway.” And that nightmare that runs through Barretto is actually named the “National Highway.”
They do use concrete for a lot of the roads here, although they are generally laid by hand, and the quality is not up to Western standards.
As to the walking, your body adapts and gets used to it over time. I rarely have pain after a hike, but I start feeling tired after 8K or so. My buddy Kevin in Korea routinely does 30K+ hikes which are totally out of my league.
Every little bit helps, so do what is comfortable for you and just enjoy being out and about in nature. That’s my philosophy, anyway.
Roads with overpasses, off-ramps, etc. do exist here and are called “expressways” and are very much like what we call freeways. There is an expressway to Angeles and onward to Manila, for example.
National highway makes me chuckle 😃
Reminds me of National High school…what makes it National I wonder
thanks for the tips
I’ll take it step by step