On the bus ride from Carcassonne to Barcelona, I was catapulted from my medieval fantasy mode to our present reality by the racket created by Ms. Lady Ring Leader and her gang (a clique of seniors that comprised almost half of our tour group and who had recently embarked on a new hobby of playing poker while on the road). Fifteen minutes into the ride and the merry group of cardplayers resumed their game.
I could tell that majority of the other pilgrims did not approve of this, but as our Tour Director did not call their attention, none of us said anything either. I just focused on the view from my window and the soft music playing in the background, and pretended I did not hear the card shuffling, coin clinging, and hearty giggles from the back of the bus.
We had a short stop at a gas station, where I found an interesting item. In the candy section, there were chocolate snacks called, “Filipinos.” These are ring-shaped biscuits coated in chocolate in three different varieties – milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate. Curious, I bought a dark chocolate pack to go with my espresso. It was good, but it’s just like any other commercially-produced snack. Nothing spectacular. However, I got very, very intrigued by its name.
I later did a Google search and discovered that this snack was originally manufactured by Nabisco Iberia and that is has been sold in the market for over 40 years. The brand is now owned by an American snack food company and these snacks are produced and sold under licence in many European countries - Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and the Nordic nations. And yes, there was a controversy attached to it because of its name and branding.
In 1999, the Philippine government filed a diplomatic protest with the government of Spain, the European Commission, and the then-manufacturer, Nabisco Iberia. The protest objected to the use of the name "Filipinos", a term which can refer to the people of the Philippines, and demanded that Nabisco stop selling the product until the brand name was changed. Furthermore, the product's tagline, “dark outside and white inside,” was deemed offensive.
As to the final outcome, I could not find any information. Maybe it did not even move forward because apparently, the then-Foreign Secretary of the Philippines saw nothing wrong with the name. He even cited that Austrians never complained about the marketing of "Vienna sausages" - those small and short parboiled sausages in little cans manufactured in America and have nothing in common with the wieners and wursts in Europe. So why do we make such a big deal about a chocolate snack that clearly has no direct reference to the Philippines' national identity?
I am assuming that he did not support this cause and nothing really happened with the complaint. All I can say is that there are more serious issues within the country and in the world to worry about, and perhaps, politicians should divert their attention to solving those first than debating over the political correctness of naming a factory-made chocolate-dipped biscuit. In my opinion, it's too petty to be turned into an international controversy, especially in the bigger scheme of things.
But we had quite a different kind of controversy at the gas station right before we departed.
As soon as we took our seats on the bus, an argument ensued between Ms. Lady Ringleader and the elderly American gentleman who was travelling alone. It started when she made a passive-aggressive comment about how he was not following the seat rotation rules.
As practiced in most group tours, travellers are asked to move one row forward or backward (whatever applies) in clockwise (or counter-clockwise) direction whenever we embark on an extended bus ride to travel to the next city. This gives everyone a fair chance at sitting in the front or at the back. Similarly, seatmates are encouraged to take turns on the window seat.
I should mention that apart from travelling solo, this elderly gentleman walked with a cane, had to move slowly because of a leg injury, had a need to go to the washroom frequently (there was a small lavatory on our tour bus, directly across from his favourite seat), and had difficulty going up and down the steps. Though our Tour Director didn’t explicitly say it, most of us in the tour group understood that an exception had to be made for this gentleman.
We were not sure what prompted Ms. Lady Ring Leader to suddenly make a comment to him in an unkind manner. The gentleman, who quickly picked up her snide remark, nicely, but firmly explained to her that our Tour Director had no problem with him occupying the same seat, and asked ever so politely why it appeared to be an issue for her. She simply said that everyone has to follow the same rules and that no one has the right to get any special treatments.
We were all aghast at this display of insensitivity. But before our Tour Director even discovered what was going on (he was outside the bus, counting the passengers as everyone boarded), one of my amigas, the teacher from Maryland, blurted out that she has had it with Ms. Lady Ring Leader's arrogance and bossy manner.
She suddenly stood up and in a loud and authoritative "teacher voice," she accosted her as if she were one of her misbehaving students. She said something like, “Ms. Lady Ring Leader, you are NOT our Tour Director. Please be reminded that Mr. X is THE OFFICIAL Tour Director, NOT YOU. He alone can set the rules and make decisions for the tour group. You are not in a position to order us around. You may do that with your own gang, but not with the rest of us. We are NOT part of your group and again, I am reminding you…you are NOT THE OFFICIAL Tour Director. And as for this gentleman here, we are all fine with him sitting right where he is. He doesn't have to change seats like the rest of us, right guys? I am sure you will provide the same accommodation if a member of your group is in a similar predicament.”
A soft applause followed, along with the nodding of heads and some verbal indications of concurrence...then the bus turned quiet. It was like everyone realized at that same exact moment how awkward the situation had become.
Like a student reprimanded by the principal, Ms. Lady Ring Leader walked back to her seat. Her face was blank and I thought she was a little bit shocked that someone actually said something to her. By that time, our Tour Director was already inside the bus and had gotten the gist of what was happening. He politely took over, gently requested everyone to settle down, and confirmed what my amiga had said earlier - the gentleman was indeed exempted from the seat-rotation rule. Period. End of story. He did not comment on Ms. Lady Ring Leader’s attempt to boss everyone around, but I think at that point, after my amiga’s impassioned speech, and with all the tension in that cramped bus, no further reproach were necessary.
The rest of the bus ride was clothed in silence. with nothing but soft music in the background. My amiga calmed herself down by reading a book. Not one from the card-playing gang even attempted to resume their game, and Ms. Lady Ring Leader, fresh from a brutally-honest dressing down, chose to be inconspicuous for the entire drive. Or maybe she fell asleep.
In a way, I felt sorry for her humiliation, but one part of me was convinced she was asking for it and it was only a matter of time before someone would confront her. In the past few days, as she became more emboldened in asserting her authority over her gang, to the point of overstepping our Tour Director's leadership and crossing the line with the rest of us in the tour group, I felt that most people outside her flock, me included, were like kettle pots on a stove reaching their boiling points. We had exercised patience and restraint, but someone was due to erupt anytime.
And I wasn't surprised that it happened to be one of my amigas. I couldn't blame her either. She has a very outspoken personality, and I was certain that as a teacher, instilling fairness and discipline is part of her nature.
I sure hope this incident was a lesson learned for Ms. Lady Ringleader. And for the entire group, it served as a clarification of boundaries and an affirmation of the need for simple acts of courtesy and consideration for each other.
For the rest of the drive, I stared at the changing landscape before me. Our driver took the inland route, so it was a long sweep of fecund fields and valleys along winding mountain roads dotted by wild flowers in bright red and bold purple hues.
The beautiful scenery made me forget all the interesting things that had happened and were still happening in this religious tour, which I was betting, don’t normally happen in most pilgrimages. I would never have imagined travelling with tour mates more absorbed in playing poker and shopping than praying and participating in church services. But as I mentioned in previous articles, I think this is part and parcel of the spiritual journey that God had in store for me on this trip. He blessed me with such “delightful” companions to build up the virtues of temperance and patience. He balanced it out, though, with genuinely pleasant ones - my four amigas who were a joy to travel with, and the rest of the pilgrims in our group with whom I had shared deep faith discussions and spiritual insights.
As we approached the Spanish border, our Tour Director told us that we would have an overview drive around the main districts of Barcelona and a short stop at a park with a viewpoint before heading to our hotel. He said that our accommodations would not be in the downtown area, but in the upcoming Olympic area...and that we were in for a treat.
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