Did you know that the homing pigeon has the remarkable ability to find its way home repeatedly over extremely hugh and disorienting distances? Yes, competitive pigeon racing has recorded distances as far as 1,800 km or 1,100 miles.
Well, I could say the same to humans, especially Filipinos who live abroad. No matter how far and wide they found jobs, they always manage to come home occasionally. They are tagged as the "Balikbayans". " Balik", meaning go back and "bayan" is country.
Every year in late November to mid-February Filipinos living abroad, be it in the United States, Europe, the Middle East or just in the neighboring Asian countries come home for family or class reunions or simply for vacation. They are the so-called balikbayans.
They choose these period because of the cold weather and escape the freezing winter where they presently live. Majority that come home regularly are retired citizens because they have the time and the money for travel and leisure. Younger ones come home occasionally but not as often while others have to wait for many years due to residency concerns in their country of work.
Balikbayans are seen in beach resorts in the countryside where they enjoy the sun and commune with nature. They frequent the malls and love filipino delicacies; they bring their families to lunch or dinner and meet up with friends in restaurants around town where their friends back home have raved about as something to see. Oftentimes, they squeeze in a weekend Asian trip along with their families. The younger ones are more inclined to go to the beaches in Boracay and Palawan; the most talked about beach resorts that made it to the top five best in the world.
This season, we had our share of balikbayan visitors; relatives from abroad,
my sister and brother-in-law from Florida,
Jim's former colleague and BFF with his wife from San Francisco,
my college Besties and their spouses from California and Las Vegas.
Of course, my son and younger daughter and their families flew in for Christmas but I would not count them as guests.
If I were to count friends who came home from all over the world for our high school grand reunion in my hometown this year, I'd say that there are a lot of them. Many of them expressed to see me personally but due to heavy traffic navigating around the metro, and too many commitments during the holidays to meet up with friends and relatives, it was not at all possible.
It's the middle of February but the weather is even getting better, if I may say so since I love the cold, but not the freezing cold. For the balikbayans still in town I'm sure that they are also enjoying the weather especially in Baguio and Tagaytay.
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