The Travel Buddy

Chapter 1 - Ointment

          I zipped my backpack closed. I have just finished packing for our three-day Holy Week vacation with our usual companions,  the De Luca family, our next door neighbors. Their only son, Matteo Lorenzo, or Enzo as we fondly call him, is my brother's bestfriend. We've practically grown up together... well, more of me practically growing up with Enzo's presence since I've opened my eyes.

          His dad is an Italian businessman with chain of hotels and restaurants, who married a Filipina restaurateur. They have decided to stay here in the Philippines and moved to their newly-constructed house next to ours when Enzo was already three years old .

          Enzo had been a brother to me when my very own brother wasn't. Kyle and I, with our five years age gap, are like cats and dogs. Enzo would always be the one who would look after me. He would defend me when other boys who join us on the playground would tease me because I'm the only girl around. In the first place, I don't have any girl playmates to play with when I was growing up. Girls in our neighborhood were mostly confined inside their homes, or taking up whatever lessons their parents can think of after their classes. The same thing happens even during summer vacations.

          My mom, who hailed from a middle class family before becoming an established banker, wanted to raise us the way she had spent her childhood. She wanted us to explore things on our own, play outside of our house, and enjoy our childhood without being too attached to our gadgets and dependent on our nannies. I must admit, our family is affluent. My dad is a real estate mogul. In fact, we own this very subdivision where we are residing. And just recently, Dad ventured into property leasing and resort operations.

           Mom contradicts the way Dad is spoiling us with all the material things he can give. Dad provides, Mom controls. But no matter how busy our parents are, with Dad being out of town or out of the country most of the time, they would always find time to have this vacation with us every year. And we've been travelling with the De Lucas ever since.  It all started with summer outings at the nearby beaches or camping trips to the nearby resorts, until our parents decided to have a longer out-of-town travel once or twice a year.

          This year, another family will be joining us. They have just moved to the neighborhood a few months ago. The Gomez family. They have a son, fifteen-year-old Wayne, and a daughter, eleven year old Andy, short for Andrea, who is a year younger than I am. Thankfully, Andy is not like the other girls. Though her stay-at-home mom is quite protective, she was allowed to spend time with me at home after school. However, Andy is not keen on spending time outdoors. She'd rather read books with me inside my room, talk about our days, and play with our gadgets. She has become a diversion for me from my adventurous self, thus my outdoor activities with the boys had began to taper down.

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          "You should have stayed behind, Bea," my brother looked back at me. We were now trekking the mountains of Mambukal up to the sixth waterfall.  We would have wanted to reach the seventh waterfall but the guide informed us that it would take us an hour or so to reach there and get back to the sixth.  The grown ups were left behind dipping themselves at the warm sulfur pool.

          "I'm not slowing you down, Kyle, am I?" I retorted with my perfectly raised brows.  Looking at the girl beside me, Ugh, Andrea! Had I known that she'd be this slow, I would have asked her to stay behind and read her books. Who would bring a book to an outdoor travel like this?! I'm a bookworm too, but between books and outdoor fun, I'd rather experience and learn things and places firsthand. It's literally taking her forever to climb over rocks and would rattle over steep man-made steps.