Sugar, spice, not everything’s nice

Thomasians’ favorite sorbetero did not always have the sweet life and his 63 years of living had witnessed bitter and sour moments too.

“Dirty ice cream” vendors often seen around the campus grounds have become part of the Thomasian community and Isidro Lopez, being one of them, has spent 15 years as a UST icon by serving delicious ice cream with classic flavors in cones, cups, and bread buns, making students feel like they are never away from home.

Rain before the rainbow

Previous to his ice cream gig, Lopez had to leave his family in San Pascual, Batangas for 10 years to work as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia in order to send his four children to school.

Having to adapt to the culture of a foreign country and deal with the pains of homesickness, he could not help but feel a never-fading pang of bitterness in his heart.

“Once, I was eating shawarma and absentmindedly looked at a Filipina when all of sudden, police came and handcuffed me,” Lopez said in an interview with The Spiral Journal. “I was immediately released, but they said that if I was caught looking at a girl again, they would arrest me for sure,” he added.

Tame home of the Growling Tigers

After coming back for good in 1987, Lopez went back to his province and stayed there for fifteen years before his current work as a “dirty ice cream” vendor in UST was offered to him by a close relative who was too old to continue the job.

He can be found stationed at either the entrance of the AMV Building or at the rightmost side of the Plaza Mayor from approximately 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Alumni whom he had befriended would always greet him whenever they visit the university, giving him tokens or buying ice cream from him, but would let him keep the change.

Contrary to common knowledge, Lopez will serve the Thomasian community for only one more year before he retires from his ice cream vendor position and gets the rest that he deserves.

“I am too old already and my children, who are all grown up, have jobs that can help sustain the family that is why there is no need for me to work,” he said.