Finally, after weeks of delay, we went to Zambales for a much-needed summer outing. After the company outing the previous week, we were again anticipating another weekend getaway.
It was all in large part to the efforts of Tala, Clinton, and Uael that this trip even materialized. Uael found Gerwin/Jerwin, our tour guide, who offered what seemed to be a rock-bottom, dirt-cheap, too-good-to-be-true package proposal. And when another company declined to join us, they, especially Tala, invited others to join the trip so we could muster ten warm bodies for the package.
So on the midnight of May 15, I was in a van with nine other eager souls: Tala, Clinton, Uael, Ronron, April, Glenda, Bles, Heva and Ciara. Along with us were Cai and Jerwin, our two tour guides, and Sir Ramon, the driver. Ms. Malou and Lugay also tagged along since their rides home were along the route of our ride to Zambales.
Then we were off to Zambales. For midnight munches, we had a stopover somewhere, where we saw the Parokya Ni Edgar band eating dinner/breakfast in a wayside restaurant. We had another stopover in Olongapo city so we could order our own breakfast. During the ride, there was the singing, the laughter and Bles' version of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" ("Guys, maniwala kayo sa akin. Andito na tayo etc. ").
Finally, we arrived at San Antonio, Zambales where we waited for the market to open so we could buy fresh cuts of meat. As for me, I managed to sleep in a waiting shed. The next thing I knew, the sun was already up, the groceries were already bought, and we were headed to Pundaquit for the boat ride to our first stop of the day, Capones Island.
Our bangkero/boatman was Kuya Paul, a bespectacled man with graying hair under his ball cap. His eyes were forever smiling and he was probably amused at us. He would be our boatman for the duration of our stay.
The trip to Capones Island was nothing short of mesmerizing: the gentle waves, the deafening din of the boat's engine, the cool sea breeze (unfortunately punctured time and again by the odor of rotting sea matter), the rising sun, and that imposing landmass in the middle of the sea, Capones Island.
We landed on one of the several beaches of the island where we were greeted by millions upon millions of footwear, mostly slippers, strewn across the beach. Theories arose that could possibly explain the phenomenon: from a local ritual requiring the island's visitors to shed off their footwear to the assumption that these are actually slippers of long-dead stranded victims.
Our first stop was the island's lighthouse. It wasn't exactly well-maintained (in fact, the building was slowly falling apart) but the lighthouse featured a PVC solar system for its energy supply as well as brand-new lights. The view above the lighthouse was fantastic as we got to see the whole coastline of Zambales as well as the huge expanse of the South China Sea.
After the lighthouse ( and the mandatory photo ops), we went down to the other side of the island to take a dip. After which, we again trekked back to the other side to meet up with our boatman. This time, we landed on another beach and met some fellow tourists camping in the place. We had another dip (why do I keep using dip?) and proceeded to our next destination, Anawangin Cove.
The pictures were indeed true! Hugging the beach line of Anawangin were rows and rows of pine trees reminiscent of Baguio. And although Jerwin had explained earlier that the beach was actually made of volcanic ash, the white lahar still made us feel like we were in Boracay. Add to that vista are the majestic tree-less mountains in the background which made it look like we were in the Alps.
Sad to say, the only thing that spoiled our view were the other people in the area. Far from my daydreams of a secluded place visited only bydie-hard nature fans, Anawangin was in fact a popular getaway. After setting up camp, everybody dozed off the day, trying to make up for the lost sleep.
After lunch (grilled pork meat and rice, courtesy of Jerwin and Cai), our group explored the place. There was the lake, the river, the estuary leading to the coastline. I also had the privilege of watching a huge branch of a pine tree accidentally fall on a guy (don't worry, he didn't appear hurt).
Now, was that it? No, it wasn't. We now went off to our third destination, Talisayin Cove. Imagine my surprise to see that it was more or less similar to Anawangin! It had pine trees, the beachfront, a river, waterfalls, and the vista to match its more famous counterpart. Plus, it had more established facilities, a generator, a hillside grotto and good, clean water plus ice.
Before we reached the shore, some fishermen managed to literally "catch" us; our boat got entangled in their nets. But apart from that incident, there was nothing else that distracted us from thoroughly enjoying the place. I have to credit our guides for this because they really took care of us. Plus, the people were also very hospitable and accommodating, especially Kuya Paul (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!)
After we located our shed, and after the swimming too, we spent the rest of the afternoon looking for the cove's waterfalls. But due to a change in plans, we didn't find the waterfalls. That's because we ended up trekking one of the cove's mountains to look at the view from the top (remind me to climb Mount Apo once and for all when I come back to Davao). There I discovered that cows really can climb mountains, as evidenced by the many cow dung detritus that continued to greet us while we were climbing up. Add to that was Clinton and Tala's rendition of a horror movie ("Oh no! It's him!") as we worked our way up.
When we were done climbing up and down the mountain, Cai unwittingly led us through barbed wire fences on our way to the shed. Then, we had our dinner (grilled bangus, fresh from the afternoon's catch and rice, of course) and proceeded to a round of night swimming.
That night was magical, if you ask me. Unimpeded by surrounding artificial light, the sky was full of stars. The water also "sparkled" every time we disturbed the waters. Uael kept mentioning bioluminescence, citing the assumption that hundreds of microorganisms are emitting light every time we moved in the water. As for me, I also had my own theory: that the water "sparkles" because our movements produce bubbles in the water, bubbles that concentrate ambient light from our surroundings (But, really, I don't know what the reason was).
Later that evening, I went stargazing with April, Ron, and Glenda. I felt like a kid again.
The next morning, we were off to another spot, the Nagsasa cove. It would be the last destination and it was quite similar to the two coves we previously visited. There was again the majestic vista, the pine trees, the river, plus the sand bars down in the estuary. It was a lazy Sunday morning and after about an hour of enjoying the river's knee-deep waters, it was time to go back to Talisayin cove once again.
The boat we rode on to and from Nagsasa didn't have a tarp roof. So by the time we were about to reach Talisayin's beach, skins were now becoming stingy because of the sun's rays. Kuya Paul allowed the boat to first stop in the middle of the cove so we could go coral-sighting. Although I didn't see any fishes and I had a pretty good hunch that all the corals we saw were now dead, I still enjoyed looking through the water with goggles, wriggling my feet and diving while trying to reach the sea floor. Pretty soon, the engine was again started and we hanged on to the boat's outrigger hulls as it headed for shore.
That afternoon, we started packing our things up. The group reached the consensus to have lunch on the trip back. And while we snucked up on the shed to catch a nap, some of us went to Kuya Paul's abode to pick up some mangoes as pasalubong and meet some cows. Then, we were off to Pundaquit.
On the journey back to Manila, we passed through Subic and stopped by KFC for our 6 pm "lunch". Then the rest of the trip was filled with Clinton, Tala and Ronron belting out songs one after the other. Pretty soon, the trip was over and as we hunched back to our room in the Casibang compound, we were completely drained from the trip. "A feast for the eyes", that's what Tala said, and it suited the whole escapade quite nicely. Soon after, Kuya Vhong, Pansit and the rest of our colleagues returned from their own escapade from Baguio.
Good thing I didn't ask them the one question Clinton kept asking over the weekend: "May ganito ba sa Baguio?"
It was all in large part to the efforts of Tala, Clinton, and Uael that this trip even materialized. Uael found Gerwin/Jerwin, our tour guide, who offered what seemed to be a rock-bottom, dirt-cheap, too-good-to-be-true package proposal. And when another company declined to join us, they, especially Tala, invited others to join the trip so we could muster ten warm bodies for the package.
So on the midnight of May 15, I was in a van with nine other eager souls: Tala, Clinton, Uael, Ronron, April, Glenda, Bles, Heva and Ciara. Along with us were Cai and Jerwin, our two tour guides, and Sir Ramon, the driver. Ms. Malou and Lugay also tagged along since their rides home were along the route of our ride to Zambales.
Then we were off to Zambales. For midnight munches, we had a stopover somewhere, where we saw the Parokya Ni Edgar band eating dinner/breakfast in a wayside restaurant. We had another stopover in Olongapo city so we could order our own breakfast. During the ride, there was the singing, the laughter and Bles' version of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" ("Guys, maniwala kayo sa akin. Andito na tayo etc. ").
Finally, we arrived at San Antonio, Zambales where we waited for the market to open so we could buy fresh cuts of meat. As for me, I managed to sleep in a waiting shed. The next thing I knew, the sun was already up, the groceries were already bought, and we were headed to Pundaquit for the boat ride to our first stop of the day, Capones Island.
Our bangkero/boatman was Kuya Paul, a bespectacled man with graying hair under his ball cap. His eyes were forever smiling and he was probably amused at us. He would be our boatman for the duration of our stay.
The trip to Capones Island was nothing short of mesmerizing: the gentle waves, the deafening din of the boat's engine, the cool sea breeze (unfortunately punctured time and again by the odor of rotting sea matter), the rising sun, and that imposing landmass in the middle of the sea, Capones Island.
We landed on one of the several beaches of the island where we were greeted by millions upon millions of footwear, mostly slippers, strewn across the beach. Theories arose that could possibly explain the phenomenon: from a local ritual requiring the island's visitors to shed off their footwear to the assumption that these are actually slippers of long-dead stranded victims.
Our first stop was the island's lighthouse. It wasn't exactly well-maintained (in fact, the building was slowly falling apart) but the lighthouse featured a PVC solar system for its energy supply as well as brand-new lights. The view above the lighthouse was fantastic as we got to see the whole coastline of Zambales as well as the huge expanse of the South China Sea.
After the lighthouse ( and the mandatory photo ops), we went down to the other side of the island to take a dip. After which, we again trekked back to the other side to meet up with our boatman. This time, we landed on another beach and met some fellow tourists camping in the place. We had another dip (why do I keep using dip?) and proceeded to our next destination, Anawangin Cove.
The pictures were indeed true! Hugging the beach line of Anawangin were rows and rows of pine trees reminiscent of Baguio. And although Jerwin had explained earlier that the beach was actually made of volcanic ash, the white lahar still made us feel like we were in Boracay. Add to that vista are the majestic tree-less mountains in the background which made it look like we were in the Alps.
Sad to say, the only thing that spoiled our view were the other people in the area. Far from my daydreams of a secluded place visited only by
After lunch (grilled pork meat and rice, courtesy of Jerwin and Cai), our group explored the place. There was the lake, the river, the estuary leading to the coastline. I also had the privilege of watching a huge branch of a pine tree accidentally fall on a guy (don't worry, he didn't appear hurt).
Now, was that it? No, it wasn't. We now went off to our third destination, Talisayin Cove. Imagine my surprise to see that it was more or less similar to Anawangin! It had pine trees, the beachfront, a river, waterfalls, and the vista to match its more famous counterpart. Plus, it had more established facilities, a generator, a hillside grotto and good, clean water plus ice.
Before we reached the shore, some fishermen managed to literally "catch" us; our boat got entangled in their nets. But apart from that incident, there was nothing else that distracted us from thoroughly enjoying the place. I have to credit our guides for this because they really took care of us. Plus, the people were also very hospitable and accommodating, especially Kuya Paul (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!)
After we located our shed, and after the swimming too, we spent the rest of the afternoon looking for the cove's waterfalls. But due to a change in plans, we didn't find the waterfalls. That's because we ended up trekking one of the cove's mountains to look at the view from the top (remind me to climb Mount Apo once and for all when I come back to Davao). There I discovered that cows really can climb mountains, as evidenced by the many cow dung detritus that continued to greet us while we were climbing up. Add to that was Clinton and Tala's rendition of a horror movie ("Oh no! It's him!") as we worked our way up.
When we were done climbing up and down the mountain, Cai unwittingly led us through barbed wire fences on our way to the shed. Then, we had our dinner (grilled bangus, fresh from the afternoon's catch and rice, of course) and proceeded to a round of night swimming.
That night was magical, if you ask me. Unimpeded by surrounding artificial light, the sky was full of stars. The water also "sparkled" every time we disturbed the waters. Uael kept mentioning bioluminescence, citing the assumption that hundreds of microorganisms are emitting light every time we moved in the water. As for me, I also had my own theory: that the water "sparkles" because our movements produce bubbles in the water, bubbles that concentrate ambient light from our surroundings (But, really, I don't know what the reason was).
Later that evening, I went stargazing with April, Ron, and Glenda. I felt like a kid again.
The next morning, we were off to another spot, the Nagsasa cove. It would be the last destination and it was quite similar to the two coves we previously visited. There was again the majestic vista, the pine trees, the river, plus the sand bars down in the estuary. It was a lazy Sunday morning and after about an hour of enjoying the river's knee-deep waters, it was time to go back to Talisayin cove once again.
The boat we rode on to and from Nagsasa didn't have a tarp roof. So by the time we were about to reach Talisayin's beach, skins were now becoming stingy because of the sun's rays. Kuya Paul allowed the boat to first stop in the middle of the cove so we could go coral-sighting. Although I didn't see any fishes and I had a pretty good hunch that all the corals we saw were now dead, I still enjoyed looking through the water with goggles, wriggling my feet and diving while trying to reach the sea floor. Pretty soon, the engine was again started and we hanged on to the boat's outrigger hulls as it headed for shore.
That afternoon, we started packing our things up. The group reached the consensus to have lunch on the trip back. And while we snucked up on the shed to catch a nap, some of us went to Kuya Paul's abode to pick up some mangoes as pasalubong and meet some cows. Then, we were off to Pundaquit.
On the journey back to Manila, we passed through Subic and stopped by KFC for our 6 pm "lunch". Then the rest of the trip was filled with Clinton, Tala and Ronron belting out songs one after the other. Pretty soon, the trip was over and as we hunched back to our room in the Casibang compound, we were completely drained from the trip. "A feast for the eyes", that's what Tala said, and it suited the whole escapade quite nicely. Soon after, Kuya Vhong, Pansit and the rest of our colleagues returned from their own escapade from Baguio.
Good thing I didn't ask them the one question Clinton kept asking over the weekend: "May ganito ba sa Baguio?"
4 comments:
do you really have to compare baguio and anawangin? hai nako!!! tsk tsk tsk...
lame
baguio and anawangin have their own unique beauty. you cannot compare the two.
Oh yes we can!
And oh, Pao, I think you need to elaborate more the things that transpired on that Saturday night?!?
Heva, sisters, booze?!? Ring a bell?
Ahahaha
Post a Comment