Diary of a Travel Junkie

Cup of Coffee

We all have our ceaseless desires to own the best that the world can offer. We all want something that we do not have. We all want to have more, to feel better, to achieve the best. I am part of that “we” until in one of my journeys I had a local encounter that changed my life and the way I see it. That was when I climbed the mountain of Manabu.

Mt. Manabu is located in Batangas, Philippines. It stands 760 MASL. Its summit offers the beautiful vastness of the urban life below. It is a sanctuary of different species of animals and plants. It is special not just because of its natural beauty, but because of someone named Tatay Perying.

Cipriano Miranda is widely known as Tatay Perying. “Tatay” means father in the Philippine language. He is an old and fragile leathery wrinkled old man that lives alone in a dilapidated hut in the mountain. He lost one of his eyes in a city fight, just then he decided to stay and have his own life in the mountain. Through the years his remaining vision has succumbed to cataract. Like a piece of glass, he is unable to move quickly or handle himself carelessly. He is very skinny; you can almost see his skeletal system poking out under his skin. This old man's house smells like a damp earth, it portrays beauty in aging life.

For more than 15 years he has lived his life brewing coffee for strangers. His brewed coffee was the best I have ever tasted; maybe because it has been dramatically impacted by his care. It tastes so rich, leaving a full feeling at the back of the palate. Tatay also provides shelter for mountaineers during storms and maintains, takes care, and cleans the place. And he is doing all these things for free. He finds bliss in living a simple life.

I’ve been to a lot of places but never have I met someone who showed me the intense delight in abandoning faulty states of mind. He showed me that life should not revolve only in material things. Meeting someone like Tatay Perying is a chance of a lifetime.