I really thought I won't be going anywhere this summer, so it was a pleasant surprise when my sister told me she and her officemates are going to Pangasinan to spend a few lazy summer days, and that I'm welcome to tag along. Of course, I readily said YES! Beats having to suffer through hot humid days in the apartment. Besides, my entire being is screaming to be submerged in the clean, cool, salty beach.The trip started Friday evening and ended Monday at around 5pm. Three nights and 3 days. The following are the "highlights" of the vacay.1. Met up sis at 7pm, met up everyone else around 10pm. However, since the van got caught in traffic and we had to convoy with another van ( which appeared/met up with us around 12mn), we left Manila at around, whew! 1 in the morning. Way to start the trip!
2. Arrived in Pangasinan at 8am, grabbed a quick breakfast, left things in the cottage, changed outfit, and travelled for a couple more hours towards our Day 1 activity, spelunking! This isn't my first time so I wasn't really that excited. The differences between now and the first time:
a) I was with my sister.
b) I had my own headlight ( the first time some used flashlights, the guides had their own head light, I was empty handed. Now, I shudder to think what could have become of me had I strayed away from the group in the Twilight Zone).
c) There was water all throughout the 2km cave and some areas are around 15ft deep. With the first cave, only some chambers had water, the rest are dry. The most difficult part on the first one was that we had to swim through murky water to get through a hole underwater which is the only entrance to the next chamber. With the second one, the challenge came early on. The main entrance to the cave was wide but soooo narrow that we practically had to crawl our way in military in. Both were good physical exercises though.
3. Had to do some hiking going to and from the cave. And then we had to go through the 2-hr travel back and were so bushed by the time we get to our cottage that we didn't have the time to do some night swimming or bond over a bonfire. We just had a quick dinner and then zzzzzzz.
Day 2
1. I woke up at 4:30am intending to await the rising of the sun. There's nothing like capturing sun rises at various places in the Philippines and maybe someday make a nice little portfolio with it. 5:am. 5:15am. I became captivated with an elderly couple walking and eventually settling by the shore that before I realized it, I noticed the morning was already too bright for the sun not to have risen yet. Turns out we are on the west side so as I sat engrossed in taking pictures of the couple, I didn't noticed the sun had already risen behind me. Added bummer since I forgot to turn the flash off on my last shot of the couple and the husband caught me doing a pazzo on them. I wonder what sort of pyscho he thought of me then. Oh well.
2. At around 8, everyone carpooled into the 2 vans and went through, again, more than an hour of land travel plus a few minutes on boat to reach our ultimate destination: Hundred Island.
We visited 3 Islands: The Governor's Island ( spectacular view from the top!), Children's Island ( everyone thought it was too crowded so we bypassed it ) and Quezon Island. We decided to stay here, had lunch and took to the water like it's been years since we'd been on a real beach. Which is true by the way. It was just a slice of heaven on earth. Of course it's nothing like Boracay but the water was just as glorious. We were basically swimming amidst 2 islands and the water barely reached my chin, so I felt safe swimming this way and that without the usual fear of going too far. It was practically like a swimming pool, just with cream-colored sands, sandwiched between two islands, and much much wider. Everybody was having so much fun it was like a playground. Though shallow, some people were wearing bright orange life vests and others rented kayaks and paddles around the area.
To be continued:
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