Ang Pagtatampisaw, Pagtalon sa Bangin at Pagpapakita ng "Laman"

The three of us (Ces, Haze and I) against the world... We, braved our way to one of the most exciting vacations we, at least I, ever had. The Road to Galera was "unknown" but nothing can stop us from making a last hurrah before we ironically lose our "independence" again on Independence Day (classes will start on the 12th, just in case someone didn't get it). It was a string of decisions that had to be made amidst the discouraging rainy weather that we were faced with. The ultimate question was, "Should we or shouldn't we?" and the decision was final... WE DAMN WELL SHOULD! So, the 3 Stooges that we are began our journey.

The "Bus"

Special thanks to Tim, Haze's brother, for allowing us to compel him into driving for us to the Bus Station. Our first plan was to ride Jac Liner, but the elitists that we are refused to ride an Ordinary Bus... we cannot afford to have frizzy hair at the beach. So we chose to ride the Jam Liner... had to pick Ces up at Ali Mall / SM where she courageously walked around amongst the anonymous faces of Cubao. Like proud mothers, Haze and I called out her name, continuously teased her for her "pakikipagsabayan sa pagbubukas ng mga empleyado ng mall" and I was so sure that Tim wanted badly to kick us out of the car so he can continue his interrupted sleep, hehe.

For the bus ride, we were forced to watch The Breed, a no-brainer film aggravated by the fact that both Haze and Ces are dog lovers and they had to endure watching all these dogs being killed because they have gone blood-thirsty due to a (surprise!) scientific experiment. It was the perfect example of a "I know what's gonna happen" film. The stupid blonde girl died a really tragic death, the black guy survived along with the protagonist couple. There... before we knew it, we were at the Batangas Port.

Rock the Boat

Voila, we wwere bombarded by all these fixers trying to get us to "ride their boats". But we knew where to go, err, we guessed where to go... we were supposed to catch the boat MB Natividad. At the exact moment that we arrived at the window of the said boat, it was announced that the boat left. Luckily, they have a "sister boat" the Golden Hawk, we bought our tickets and looked forward to more kamalasans.

Sino ang napagalitan dahil nilagay nya sa machine detector and baon naming empanada at sandwiches? (taas ng kamay si Eunice), ang nasabi ko na lang, "Edi kung may dala pala akong drugs tapos nilagay ko sa stryro maipupuslit ko ng mabilis kasi ayaw nila i-check un food?" Fine, palusot ko lang un.

Of course, the brilliant girls that we are, we had no idea which gate we were supposed to go to. We asked the "receptionist: for lack of a better term, where Golden Hawk was gonna dock and she said Gate 3, I had to double check just because we're OC didn't want to miss our ride. When it was finally our turn to ride the Golden Hawk, there was a sudden moment of confusion because the boat that was available was Golden Falcon, we were susequently informed that the Golden Hawk is also a "sister boat" of the Golden Falcon which is also a sister boat of MB NAtividad... Whew, they have quite a big family.

Ano ang natutunan ko sa pagsakay ng bangka? NEVER EVER WEAR A SKIRT AGAIN especially if you don't want the other passengers to know what undies you're wearing. I swear, after that obstacle I was ready to walk around in my bikini because there's nothing to hide anymore. Hay naku. Haha.

Beh BOAT-e Nga!

The only thing that was going on in our minds was the fact that we are on our way (finally!) to the beach... that we actually pushed through our plan and we made it, well almost. It would've been more fun with the rest of the gang, but we promised ourselves that we will have a blast in Puerto Galera." I just wanna be on the beach, sun-burnt..." was the familiar lyric for that boat ride. We temporarily panicked when the boat stopped at a really ugly place, we gladly welcomed the idea that it was just a stopover. And thank God it WAS merely a stopover. The white beach welcomed us with open arms and we submitted ourselves to the call of the sand, the sun and the sea...

Bahala Kayo.

Ces and Haze were kind of low bat after our trip so after we ate, they decided to go back to our room to sleep and prepare for the night life that was waiting for us. I was not in the mood to go to bed so I told 'em that I'll walk around first and go sunbathing. Yes, my goal was to get as tanned as possible and I kind of really achieved that. We all prayed for a clear night so we can party really hard... I bought a few white pieces of clothing to complete my wardrobe and went back to our PERFECT room. Why is it perfect? We had the best view of the beach, the party scene was right in front our very own veranda.... WE ALL SMILED and said, "THIS IS THE LIFE." Since Ces and Haze were still sleeping and I kind of got tired after my "solo frolicking", I went to bed too to get some energy.

The Night is Young and so are We but only God can Help us Three.

Surprisingly, the skies were clear on our first night. We were more than happy to go down and start our Mindoro Sling fest. We had dinner and feasted on inihaw na pusit and inihaw na manok... A pitcher of Mindoro Sling after, we still were ok. So we ordered beer, and Haze ordered her margarita (without our approval, hehe)... While ordering our beer, I got to chat with the manager of the place, Diane. She asked me about my school, who I'm with and we ended up chatting about hot bisexual guys that she met a few nights before... She offered to bring our beer to my table and I added her to my list of newfound friends. After a few minutes, we brought our beer with us and sat by the beach to contemplate on how great our lives at present are, we went star-gazing thanks to Ces and we talked about a lot of incriminating things that I cannot blog about... Then it started to drizzle. It was our cue to go back to our lovely room...

This is IT!

On our second day, Haze started out with a headache, which of course burdened not only her but all of us, hehe... after having breakfast ( I ate arroz caldo, this decision was made the night before, when I saw it on the menu), we decided to walk around a bit, Haze went back to our room while Ces and I continued to walk around until I decided to get a henna tattoo. That's where we formally met Ivan, the manager of the Tattoo Place, who by the way has nice teeth and a sort of hot tattooed body. Ces and I informally met the the magicians (Derrick, Oliver and Mark) who was teaching Ivan a few tricks. One of the tattoo artists was sorta witty when he said, "Ang bagay sa'yo (to Ces) rose, sa'yo (to Euns) dolphin." We all laughed and I jokingly demanded for an explanation why mine has to be a DOLPHIN. Hmm.... after a few laughs, I decided to get a Phoenix tattoo... Ivan asked me if it was ok for me to be under the sun while he draws the phonenix because the copy was outside, I smiled and said, "Adik ka ba?" I think he's kinds cute, especially when he said, "Sa'kin walang mawawala maitim na ako, ikaw ang kawawa." The long-haired tattoo artist suggested that I should get a tattoo that will be placed on my chest slash breast, I was like, "I don't need more attention for that part of my body, thank you very much." It was a fun experience. After my punishing Ces to wait for me, we bought a childhood drink, the SCRAMBLE. Yebah! We got into a kwentuhan with Manong about how good the group of magicians are... we had no idea that we'll get a private show that night...

We went back to our rooms to wait for my henna tattoo to dry up and decided to go BANANA BOAT riding. I totally forgot about the henna tatoo and I was disheartened when I realized that I sort of ruined it by wearing the life vest. Luckily, it wasn't really destroyed, the part that was not needed was the one that was washed up by water. The banana boat ride was amazing, we met two girls, kids actually who were practically cheering while we were riding. We dropped twice, it was FUN FUN FUN. Syempre pa si hazel, Nagkauntugan pa sila nun isang bata. MAlas talaga, haha.

After the ride, Haze had a brilliant idea to walk to the isolated part of the beach so we can go sunbathing and swimming. But no, sobrang lakas nun waves sa part na un at uhmm, mejo malalim sya. BRILLIANT. Haha. But we got to achieve naman the sunbathing part, took a lot of pictures and eventually had to retreat to our rooms because it rained hard.

WE PRAYED LIKE WE NEVER PRAYED BEFORE FOR THE RAIN TO STOP. WE DIDN'T WANT TO SPEND OUR LAST NIGHT IN GALERA INSIDE OUR ROOM.

God answered our prayers and we went downstairs and got ready for our LAST NIGHT. The night to remember. It started out sort of slow, we sat at the bar, chatted and Diane said Hi... she called me DYOSA, sosyal. Then we transferred to another table, Diane asked us why we don't have boys with us... well, we don't really have an explanation for that. Haha. The whole night became interesting when the group of magicians arrived. They performed and I was targeting their non=magician friend, Mark. He's cute, nice abs and nose... But no, before you get your prize, you must hurdle a few loser obstacles... When I went to the bar alone, this bald guy in orange approached me and TRIED TO ESTABLISH A CONVERSATION. I didn't even pay much attention, but followed me around even to my table. All I said was, I'm with my friends, sorry. and that "I'm not really interested." He eventually backed off, only with a vengeance. When we unconsciously left Haze on our table, the same desperate guy approached her and asked for her number. She of course panicked so we went to our table to back her up and we all went to the bar to watch the show. I strategically sat on the chair to block our the outside world because I wanted to concentrate on the magic show. Derrick, one of the magicians, was also cute. Then I think a couple of loser guys approached Ces and Haze and in my eavesdropping, I overheard one guy asking Ces, "What if I tell you that I know that Magic too?" I stopped myself form laughing because dude, he was a total loser. That was until they decided to make an ungraceful exit, and premise MADILIM, they all brisk walked their way to our table while I was left with the other guys asking me if we were leaving and why, all i said was, "Yes, sorry." and I, without even thinking jumped... yup I FUCKING JUMPED. Ngyarks. I almost twisted my ankle, dyahe. Kasalanan ito ng dalawang mahilig mag-panic kong kasama.

After the whole pagtalon sa bangin incident, they were resigned to the idea of going back to our room... I told them, "I refuse to let those guys ruin my last night in Galera. You guys sit down and I can handle them." pagkatapos naman sila mahimasmasan, naupo na rin sila... I was happy. Then I went back to the bar to ask for ice, and to establish some conversation with Mark. Successful naman. As a gift, I even managed to convince the rest of the guys to do a "private magic show" for us... Well, ehem, di naman sa pagmamalaki pero I made the night INTERESTING, haha... Aminado naman sila that they OWE IT TO ME. Kung hindi, nanuod lang sana kami ng cable sa kwarto. How sad.

Then we formally met Derrick, Oliver and Mark... the magicians. That night, we were the Magicians' Groupies. Sabi nga ni Diane, my newfound friend, we found na daw our boylets... We stayed until around 2 in the morning just chatting with them and letting them wow us with their magic tricks. One of us got "more than a magic show", ehem... And as for me, I managed to get a "relationship proposal" from Oliver, it was funny really... haha... They were really good guys, I hope to bump into them soon. As for my crush Mark, well, sayang, I should've said yes when Derrick and Oliver volunteered to set up a date for us since Hazel nonchalantly declared that I went to Galera to look for a boyfriend, hence making me vulnerable to sudden attacks, haha. It was a great great night, it was apt for our last night in what for me now shall be called as the "Sanctuary". We shall go back really soon.

In the morning, we went swimming and sunbathing again until it was time to go home. We got more than what we hoped for and we went back to Manile not only with smiles on our faces but experiences that are forever gonna go down as worthwhile memories... We went back to Rockwell and attended the Orientation Seminar to parade our sun-kissed skin. Woohoo, to Ces and Haze.... Good vibes mga Dude Pare!

We're tanned, tested and ready for a new Semester. Bring it on!