Those were the days my friend!

"Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end" so goes the opening line of one of the most enduring old songs. For many of us who experienced as young children the late 60s and early 70s, it was a difficult time but enjoyable and memorable anyhow.

There were no multicabs and fashionable motorcycles but there were some tricycles and many baloto and kangga. There were no video players, component systems, and cable TVs but sinehan, radio-phono, radio programs (especially drama and singing contest), komiks, and folkloric stories were there to entertain us. There were no cell phones, gameboys and internet games but we had ligas, lastiko, kawil, shatong, sungka, and kasing to play with. There were no disco clubs and videoke houses but there were well-lighted sarayaw and romantic and exciting harana journeys. There were no ice creams, pizzas, and hamburgers but ice drop, menoron, salukara, and bakintol were available.

The sea and the mountains were all ours to explore and enjoy. We were free and not afraid of anything except of course of asuwang, agta, and libon (covered trucks for transporting goods which were rumored to kidnap children). Hard and primitive it may have been but this period was conducive to building strong character and creativity in us children. It is no wonder that many of the most successful Estehanons were product of this period. (Acknowledgement: The photo of Borongan was modified from the one posted in google.com by batch2006.com)