shooting the rapids...pagsanjan falls

I lived a third of my lifetime in and around Laguna but I have never been to the world renowned Pagsanjan Falls. I was short of falling off my seat when sis extended the invitation to come. The objective was to guide two of her Korean English students, Brad and Angela (Park Inkyu and Choi Hyun Mi), to the area for the weekend and to see them off for their exit from the country (via Clark).

I literally ran from the house to the airport. Earlier, our Entrepreneur class had an excursion in Bohol. We almost didn't make it to the Pier in time for our ferry trip back to Cebu. A hearse marched before us in Panglao and the wait almost took forever (or it seemed).

The flight going to Manila was uneventful. I was met at the airport by sis and niece Lyla. It was a long way to Pasig but I opted to stay there if only to reunite with cousins and nieces whom I have seen last in 2000 when lolo passed away. The driver attempted to quiz us of our familiarity with the area. I kept mum the whole time as Pasig has never been a part of my homes away from home back in college. God is good! We arrived safely but clearly taken advantaged of.

On my first morning there, we left with Fatima who dropped us at the mall on her way to the office. We took the MRT (my first ride-it was still under construction when I left Luzon for good) in going to sis' Hotel in Ermita. They (sis and her two Korean ESL Students Angela and Brad) were already set to go. We took a taxi to Buendia for the Southbound buses. The airconditioned trip to Los Baños cost Php 80.00.

Except for the Robinson's Mall in front of the Catholic Church, everything looked pretty much the same in Los Baños.

We went directly to ACCI Dorm (inside the UPLB Campus) and checked in for a night's stay before taking a jeep going to South Supermarket where Ate Jenn (the same who adopted me during my stint at CMI in San Pablo) agreed to meet us.

Going to Pagsanjan wasnt difficult. The resorts that offer "shooting the rapids" excursions were only a short walk away from the hi-way. At the town center, PUJs can be hailed right in front of the Jollibee store where we had a rather heavy lunch.

The rates presented to us were the same as published in the town's tourism website.

With our (ate jenn's and mine) combined weight, our bangkeros were quite challenged in navigating the bangka, especially upstream.

There are two stops upstream for meals where vendors would ply their wares and convince the tourist to part with their money playing on

There was nothing special about the falls itself. The amazing part though is that one needs to ride a small boat upstream to get to it. The boulders fazed me so much; it renewed my amazement to the creator who so designed it.

Almost back at the resort and about to disembark, I sat back right in when I felt a cramp as big as my fist on my left leg. It must have been the cold (we didn't bring a change of clothing) and our sitting position that didn't allow much leg movement that caused it.

a wedding in dumaguete

December 18, 2004 was the wedding date of my high school classmate, Richard Ginete. I was lucky it was set on the first day that the office shut down for the holidays. Days before that, I agreed to meet Rollen and the other guys (George, Jet and Ritchie) at the Pension house where we will be spending the night.
I took the Cebu-Santander-Dumaguete Ceres route. Still feeling the effects of the bottomless draft beer I imbibed in the Company Christmas party only hours before I was due on the road, I slept for the most part of the Cebu land trip.
Ceres left the South Bus Terminal at 3:00 a.m. It was already light when we reached Santander (which took about 3 hours). I struggled to keep my eyes open when I saw the majestic old houses along the highway in Oslob on my right and the sparkling clear sea water on my left. But sleepy as I was, the next time I knew the barge crew was shaking me awake to collect my fare (Php 35.00 for a 30 min ride that it took to cross the sea separating Santander, Cebu and San Jose, Negros Oriental).
When the bus was back on terra firma, I endeavored to keep myself awake for fear of missing my stop. The konduktor had the driver drop me off at the Bethel Guesthouse. Wow, that was easy.
I met the groom at some beachfront resort. Apparently I was one of the early birds except for the the best man, Toke, who arrived from the US days earlier for the event and Marlon, the groom's older brother whom I almost failed to recognize for all the weight he'd shed from triathlon.
Lunch was uneventful. We (Rollen and family, George and Mabel) ate at Manokan (?) which was just a stone's throw away from the Guest House where I promptly slept as soon as my back hit the downy mattress.
A non too gentle dent on the mattress roused me from a much needed nap. It was Jet, who was intent on my joining the living, with Ritchie on his wake. It was already past four and there was only enough time to prepare for the wedding.
Having practically grown together, I never expected Richard to be so sweet. I got misty-eyed when he articulated his vows to Anne. I guess, I never really got to know my friends enough to see through their juvenile blunders.
The following morning, I barged into the boys' room and demanded breakfast. I learned that they went out for some beers at the boulevard the previous night while I caught up with my much needed sleep.
Jet, our guide for this trip, brought us at the local market, just behind this old bellfry where we had stewed fish and rice. Coffee followed at Dunkin Donuts a few blocks away. We had one picture taken with the Silliman U church behind us shortly before we (i reluctantly) left this seaside haven for a long trip (5 hours) home via Mabinay.

dapitan...

is the very first place in Mindanao that i ever set my feet on. It was on the occasion of Nessan's wedding in Dapitan (where national hero Jose Rizal went on exile). The motley crew from Tokiwa is composed of Aki (his wife and two kids), Opet (with his mom and his mom's officemate), Ems and myself (who dragged sis and fran in). We took a ferry that left the pier on a Friday evening.

The sun was already up in the sky,
boding of a great day ahead, when George and Peters docked. At the pier, the van driver from the resort welcomed each of us with a lei. The summer heat was chased away by an ice-cold tea served at reception minutes later. There was a little problem with our booking. A big-time townie needed the rooms for a wedding reception. Good for Dakak, they honored our booking, else...
Ems, Fran, sis and myself took a cottage to ourselves (Php 2200). It
was a duplex with a big bathroom (2 shower stalls), 2 double beds, a
refrigerator (in which to keep snacks leftover from the wedding reception ... hahaha) and a veranda overlooking other cottages. Our hut was meters away from the beach but nearer to the adult pool (where Opet & I had to ourselves for most of the time we spent there; its depth apparently a deterrent).
I wonder how many vans Dakak had but we were late for the processional march as the driver had to fetch a visitor from the pier when we were set to leave for St. James Church where the rite was held.
The whole thing (dinner included) was finished before we knew it. We even get to see a bit of the beach wedding back at the resort.
We spent most of the evening in the pool which water was still warm from the sun. But the next day, we all
explored the beach (except sis who was indisposed - monthly red) from morning till past noon snapping pictures here and there.
Hungry, we occupied a table neath a
tree. The food took forever to cook. Even with tummies protesting, we had the kitchen crew pack our food and took our leave as the van that would take us to Rizal Shrine was already waiting. Since it was already mid-afternoon, we lugged our stuff into the resort van so we can go directly to the pier after the brief (occupied mainly by another endless photo taking) tour.

It was at Jo's Inato in Dumaguete where we finally appeased the growling monsters in our stomachs with a feast of grilled chicken, lots of rice and "buko-halo".

tulang gamay, camotes islands

April 16, 2004 - this is one of those rare occasions when i didn't have to plan the weekend getaway. Actually, the organizers from the North Am team have been unceasingly sending emails about the trip but the idea did not warm up to me until the unexpected news hit. My saner self debated that I would be better off someplace, else, I will find myself moping around all weekend. So, when I finally joined the crew at Hi-way at around 5 AM, the PUJ bound for Danao lurched forward before I have even seated myself in its overcrowded interior. With reckless driving and frequent tests of brake reliability, we gratefully arrived at Danao pier in less than an hour.
An outrigged pumpboat seating about 50-75 heads that took us to Camotes for Php 140.00 left promptly at 6:00 AM. It was an open vessel with 5-seater benches arranged in rows. A heavy tarpaulin overhead protected us from the sun away but not from the smell of burning fuel. It took more than two hours to reach our destination as the boat made a number of stops at tulang daku for other passengers to either embark or disembark. When it was our turn to alight, the boat stopped in the middle of the two islands and paddle boats that were only slightly bigger than a dinghy approached to take us to the shore (for Php 10.00 per head).

A hearty brunch awaited us in the cottage owned by Rhoda's aunt. The rest of the morning was spent on pitching tents, after which the real fun began.
We had the white sand stretch and the clear sea water to ourselves. By the end of the day, the spent energy was replenished with a rather heavy dinner of fried fish and tinolang manok. Coco tody aka tuba was served to warm the body while we were entertained by the island kids with their talents, well after a little prodding from Charlotte.

Like other small islands, tulang gamay has no potable water source. We bought water for rinsing at Php 5.00 per container. Trips like this remind the Asiong Aksaya in all of us to count ourselves blest to not have to deal with water shortage problem on top of all our self-invented issues.

paradise that is bantayan (sta.fe)

One important lesson learned during this trip

was "follow strictly traffic sign" (and beware of shortcuts - the characters of "house of wax" didn't know this).
The week of April 9 has three consecutive rest days so when I heard that Leah's group from college are spending the weekend out of town, Ping and myself decided to tag along. It was a late birthday present for myself.

We agreed to meet at the North City bus terminal at 5 a.m. so we could take the earliest ferry leaving Hagnaya that day. Our van driver

took the matter into his own hands and brightly announced that he's taking a shortcut. Everyone didn't mind as he exuded confidence that tell he knows the place like the palm of his hand, even when he took the turn despite the signage that said "no entry". Well who would have thought that at the end of the road stood guard a tanod who was to be commended for his unbending decision, that is, we trace our path back to the main road. That took about half an hour of precious travel time and we found ourselves an hour later waiting at the wharf for the next ferry trip.
After a rather short yet bumpy ferry ride, we found ourselves mobbed by PUJ drivers at the sta. fe port. Another short ride, and the jeep dropped us at Sugar Beach. Since we meant to camp, we settled at a locally owned resort that rented out shacks at a measly Php 200.00 for a night. Well, we didn't need a big one. What we had in mind was some place to keep our valuables when we were out exploring and some privacy for changing. The owner lent us pots to cook our food with but building a fire (without waiting for the viand to cook on the camping burner that I brought along) has proven to be a challenge.

The days we spent under the sun, with an hour or two bathing in Ogtong cave (Php 50.00 entrance fee for daytime visitors).

At night, as we gathered round the bonfire, Karen brought out the ice cream she bought for our (Esther and myself) birthdays. Then a long "truth or truth" session began which the "kids" so loved. It's fun to hear their love stories. Oh, what a balmy night out on the shore under the starry skies can do! Ping regaled me horror stories before we finally hit the sack.

Having taken the last trip back to Hagnaya, we found ourselves stranded on the pier with all the vans out for the day already. It didn't help that both July and Adrian were so wasted having imbibed a whole long necked bottle of the alcoholic beverage by themselves. It took about a 10-minute tricycle drive to Bogo before a welcoming sight of a city-bound bus greeted us.

...an account of my travels (travails?)

Alas! The ignorance of youth. Who would have thought that of all the Elective subjects in high school, Geography would be most useful when a person comes of age. I remember still how we all scrambled towards enlisting ourselves in Agronomy classes (which teachers gave the highest grades) and Geography was dissolved due to zero enrollment.
Travel blogs have been most useful in my itinerary planning.
I expect that many will benefit from the bloopers and successes of my own backpacking (mis)adventures that will be posted here.