Bamboo foliage drifts lazily overhead. The mural on the opposite wall gave the illusion of a bigger shrubbery on the edge of the gravel yard. We sat on mismatched stone coffee tables and the world faded around us as only the stories being told that time mattered.
It is somewhere along the lines of my impatience that I decided to kidnap my best friend, Daine. The invigorating drive of the new year kept me from returning to my hermit life in the four-poster corner of my bedroom. In a flash, my craving for a decent coffee has brought us to the next town, a rather relaxing place amidst being in the commercial part of Paete, Laguna.
We find ourselves consumed with the artworks exhibited in this cabin-like structure as we are both art aficionados and practicing artists. Beautifully colored paintings, well-barnished sculptures and culturally familiar mix-media art pieces decorated the place in a warmly lit showcase room. As the art circle locally is very small, we came to be familiar with the other artists works and marvel at their new creations. The current installations takes you to the familiar past and holds you in a sense of nostalgia.
We ordered ourselves a cup of Iced Capuccino and Iced Americano. And by our lucky stars, we get to meet the owner of the gallery on a round of Marlboro Black smokes. He is apparently a practicing dentist and a big art aficionado. Mr. Nilo Vandecantos built Cafe Kesada out of passion with 2 years focusing on the construction of his cabin showroom.
"We call this 'The Venue'" said Mr. Vandecantos in between puffs of smoke. "for Paete-bred artists and those who are genuinely passionate in the promotion of tourism. This place has been a watering hole for artists to brainstorm, argue and develop their craft. Sometimes, we got some jam sessions here and just enjoy a night of arts and music."
"Not to brag or anything," Mr. Vandecantos on his second stick of Marlboro, "we get some people in authorities visit the place to check out some paintings. Ambassadors and senators, even. The art world just works like that, connections, I guess."
Mr. Vandecantos has been gracious enough to share us stories about Cafe Kesada. How it slowly gained recognition from local networks and even international ones. How he'll be surprised that bloggers, like me, write about it. And how he always point out that 'The Venue' is always open for people to share stories with.
In between sips of our tasteful coffee and with the sun setting low, we met Mr. Lino Dalay - a Paete-bred artists who had made a living out of making floats for film festivals, props for big local film productions and so much more. He has a shop one stone throw away from Cafe Kesada. He pulled up a chair and the discussions went even more further.
"UFOs" Mr. Dalay chimed in "They say it was UFOs they saw way back then, but there's more to the story than just a regular Saturday Mahjong session on an island of that man-made lake in Caliraya." Mr. Dalay proceed to tell us stories of utter wonder, about treasure hunts, conspiracy theories and fantasy. The afternoon light faded and we hear his stories about rumors and gossips with a hearty laugh from Mr. Vandecantos who seem to delight in his stories as well as we almost finished a couple of packs of Marlboro Blacks.
"It is a good thing that you thought about visiting Kesada." Mr. Lino Dalay said.
"It is the most closest to us which we greatly ignore." I replied sounding ashamed that it is just now that we visited this place. The stone coffee table to which we stayed for almost 2 hours by just sharing puffs of smoke, sips of coffee and exchanging wonderful stories has now became quite a special place for me. Even Daine, who has been mostly silent throughout the time, has a stupid grin on his face, an evidence that he is as well into the stories as I am.
We puffed our last smokes and thank them for their wonderful hospitality to us. Mr. Vandecantos even invited us to join him for an exhibit for Arts Month. We went before we could be any more of a disturbance but not before we took turns of having a nice photo with the both of them. We exchanged numbers but Mr. Dalay has graciously invited us to visit his craft shop. We're honored and obliged and it was just a wonderful experience.
From the outside, his collapsible metal doors was painted by a mural of what it seemed to be a fairy. He opened the heavy locks on his doors and as if it was a movie, gold glowed from the doorway as Mr. Dalay opened the lights. I entered wide-eyed. The inside glowed gold and yellow. Paper Maches of anything and everything that you can think of in all shapes and sizes. The first thing that you will see is a big paper mache of Our Lady of Guadalupe almost 4 times my height that fits in nicely to his craft shop. There's also a Christmas tree decorated with wooden puppets, a big gold mask that resembles the icon of Temple Run and a gold frame painting of Mr. Dalay's mum. There is so much to see and so much look at, that I was over-whelmed with such an invitation from Mr. Dalay. Inside of this place is his life's work. Amidst being a big player for props production in the city, Mr. Dalay chose to settle in the province and work with his fellow Paetenians, to which is very commendable. He showed us his favorite pieces and recounted stories of how his creations were made, sold and even returned.
But the night is getting old and we really should be getting home, we took pictures of his shop and took pictures together. I thank him for wonderful and delightful night. We bade goodbye and walk off a block away. I stopped Daine and puff the last of our Marlboros.
"When's the next time?" asked Daine. And I knew, he really had a good time being kidnapped.
