It wasn't until we were actually traveling—no longer just planning—that it fully dawned on me how arduous a workaround the rising tensions with the Americans had forced us to take.
Had we access to the port of Manila, we could've boarded Alcantara's ship and reached Marinduque within a fortnight.
But because we would almost certainly be apprehended the moment we set foot in the city, and because the Americans likely had eyes on Manila Bay and nearby ports through their navy, we had to go further south.
Three days—that was the estimated travel time from our disembarkation point in Caloocan to the remote town of Ternate, Cavite. With the crates and the twenty-six-man escort detail, including Vicente, we could only move at marching pace.
If Isidro managed to convince Señor Alcantara, and if all went as planned, we would arrive in Ternate on the 26th with the ship already waiting for us.
