I have been wanting to write this Eulogy for a dear friend travel buddy of mine who recently passed away, but since MT was busted for some time I had to keep it in draft. Well Here goes:
“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.”
– Mark Twain
I have always believed what Mark Twain had said here. For more than 3 years of active travel, I have had many companions, different personalities, idiosyncracies and eccentricities. And in these travels you will immmidiately spot people whom you find affinity with or just plain hate like a repelling magnet. People who would stay with you in times of distress or would just leave you behind. But most importantly people who give you great happy memories that you look forward on seeing them in every trip. And Peter Mendiola is one of those person that I know.
Brod Pete, Jopet or Peter, is a person you will never truly forget even if he has crossed the gates of Heaven. I still remember him the first time we travelled in Mt. Pinatubo, he really likes to sleep, we stopped a while for lunch and he immidiately found a spot to sleep. The sun soon crept at him, but he was still sound, we even have to cover him, he didn’t bother to eat lunch, sleep was his energy. But since then, after more travels, we came to know Pete more. He is known as the Gadget Man, Technology Afficionado, enjoys teaching kids at outdoor camps, a survivor and especially the Trivia Guy. He also designed the “Museo Pambata”. I still remember him telling me how he slept for a night at the abandoned, or garage like structure just to get an idea on how the place would look like. Most importantly, in every trip, we saw how he reallly loved his wife Tonette, for 7 years they have been married, it seems they are always in love. I remember the last time we went out, his wife texted, asking if it was ok to cut her hair, Pete texted the whole song “Don’t go Changing” to her from his memory. He even told us “Na kahit kalbo pa yan, mahal ko pa rin sya”. Truly, try hard as we may, we found no negative memory in his time with us.
That’s why on noon, 30th of Oct, in the midst of our trip to Pandan Island. We were all devastated to hear that Pete has Passed away the night before. We still remember when we visited him in the hospital a week before, the first thing he said to us “Sayang di ako makaksama sa Pandan Island!” Little did we know that he won’t be able to join us in any of our trips anymore. We heard later at the night of Pete passed away. He was still tinkering on some stuff that afternoon, drilling some holes on the hall. And what was surprising is that he was singing after that. Pete was always been shy when it comes to singing but he was singing happily. After which he took his favourite pillow and slept with a smile on his face and never woke up again.
There is so much to say about him. Him being gone is a great loss in the group. He will always be remembered. Leaving you with a famous quote from Pete himself when ever we pack out or leave a place:
“Wala na bang naiwan dyan? Wala na… memories na lang…”
Ferdz Decena is an award-winning travel photographer, writer and blogger. His works has found print in publications such as Singapore Airlines’s Silver Kris, Philippine Airlines’ Mabuhay, Cebu Pacific’s Smile and Seair InFlight. He has also lent his expertise to various organizations like the Oceana Philippines, Lopez Group Foundation, Save the Children and World Vision, contributing quality images for their marketing materials.
