Los Banos

I considered settling down in Fresno when I was working in that Central Valley city. Fresno is not San Francisco nor San Diego or LA. Not even close, but as a latecomer to California, I assumed it's probably the most affordable city for me to get settled in. So what if it's hot? I could adjust to that, I reasoned.

But coming from the Midwest, I was surprised to find out that housing in Fresno was a lot more expensive than I thought. My high school buddy Romy Antonio has a sister who has been a Fresno resident for several years. She told me to check out Los Banos, CA, a small town in the direction of Gilroy, California's garlic capital. She said I might find that housing over there to be more affordable.

Los Banos? Aba maganda siguro doon. The name obviously reminded me of the town with the same name in Laguna back home. Palm trees, banana plantation on the hillsides, lush vegetation din siguro. I'm sure there's an equivalent of Mt. Makiling over there, knowing that California's terrain is somewhat similar to Laguna and other parts of Luzon. They probably have hot springs there too, that's why they call the town Los Banos, I said to myself.

So I checked Mapquest for its location and driving directions. 71.66 miles from Fresno. Not quite a commuting distance to my place of work. So scratch the idea of moving to a home in Los Banos. Kahit na ba affordable, kung ganoon naman kalayo..."

But what if I can find employment in Los Banos? Puwede rin siguro. Maybe it's a college town like U.P. Los Banos or maybe there's something like International Rice Research Institute, knowing it's in California's farming region. Hey, I did some architectural work for U.P. LOs Banos and IRRI when I worked for Leandro Locsin in Makati. I have the experience, so it's worth checking out the town.

Armed with that enthusiasm, I drove to Los Banos one Saturday morning. It was a boring drive on flat terrain of seemingly endless farmlands, going through Madera, Chowchilla and other nondescript small towns in the Central Valley. "It should get better when I get to my destination", I assured myself.

After about an hour and a half, I finally saw the "Welcome to Los Banos" sign. Well... I was still on flat land. Tumbleweeds were rolling across the highway that windy morning. Pretty soon I was in the town's paved but dusty two lane main drag with the usual fast food places on each side... Macdonalds, Del Taco, Jack in the Box... A tower at a small Wells Fargo branch showed it was approaching 100 degrees and it was not even 11:00 in the morning. I noticed a good number of businesses selling chiminea and other Mexican style pottery on the road side. Pretty much like those you see in Tijuana. It did remind me of that Mexican border town.

That's about it. I did not see any large office buildings. No banana plantation on hillsides. In fact, no hills around. It's all flat with cactus, yucca and other desert plants. OK, I saw a few palm trees in the residential section of town. I doubt if there's any hot springs anywhere near there. The town looked so dry. Nowhere near to what I imagined it to be. Los Banos, California is a desert town, not quite like Los Banos, Laguna.

I decided to continue driving west until I reached Gilroy where I ate lunch of spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. I bought a bunch of garlic and some locally grown fruits to take home with me and started driving back, not stopping at Los Banos, having lost my interest. I continued on to get back home, passing through the boring flat lands of Chowchilla, Madera and finally, back in Fresno.

Given time, Los Banos, CA will probably develop into another booming real estate area, just like othersmall towns in the state. It may happen sooner or later. Or maybe not in my lifetime. who knows...

It took a little while for me to get used to hearing people here say "Los Ba-knows" instead of "Los Ban-yos". Same thing with "Paso Rubbles" for Paso Robles, one of California's wine regions.