NP: Lotte Milan, Valentine
Hourlies
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| pundaquit kids |
11:40 PM By now we've settled into the dark of the bus right along the aisle. That reflector vest kuya lied - there were no seats left. We couldn't exactly leave the bus either, as we ended up right at the group of seats at the end due to our remarkable running prowess. We were trapped with a shit load of groceries and our bags. Since we opted to ride from the Pasay station, it meant that we would be riding through EDSA Traffic on a rainy Friday night while standing on the aisle. I decided to sit, crossed leg (or Indian sit, as what we say. Funny how an indian sits, eh?) right there smack on the aisle to get some much needed sleep and rest.
12:40~ish AM: Finally crawled out of the hell that is EDSA. I looked around at the windows and was reasonably pleased; there were no billboards or tall buildings. I had left the city.
1:30~ish AM: Bus stopped for a 15-minute stopover at this pitstop. We immediately alighted to stretch our legs, as it had not been an easy journey. Sure, we were sitting on the aisle, but the air and floor was cold and the space miniscule. But gdmn, who cares. We were moving.
2:00~ish AM: Touchdown Olongapo!
2:05~ish AM: Touchdown another bus it seemed. We were now bound for San Antonio. We were halfway though the whole journey, but guess what - we were still standing at the aisle. Life has a funny way of continuing to do things.
3:00 AM. Finally, touchdown San Antonio. The road was pretty deserted. What'd you expect from a sleepy town at 3 in the morning? Good thing a 711 was open - we and a whole bunch of other travelers gravitated towards the light. I'm guessing this was a pretty common occurrence for the store staff as they nary even batted an eyelash at us. Imagine bleary-eyed tourists with large bags trudging through the doors of the convenience store.
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| Like moths to a flame |
4:00 AM: We, with the help of some local tricycle drivers, we began the ride to the local market to buy our meats and fishes. It was a market alright, complete with burly and meaty men wearing sando and shorts carrying literally <b>literally</b> a pig(!) sliced vertically on their backs.
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| a carp at sunrise |
5:00 AM: With our 2 tricycles filled to the brim with our bags, groceries and meat things, we finally began the trike ride to Pundaquit, the drop off point for the boats to take us to Nagsasa. I was at the entryway of the trike, and I was holding on to the groceries inside for dear life as the trike sped along the unpaved roads with reckless abandon. We passed an overflowing part of the river - water entered the trike then and for the most part, just a man-made path snaking between the trees and houses.
5:30 AM: At Pundaquit. Finally, a glimpse of the beach and it's glory. We had a few hours to kill until the boat left, so Shan and I scoured the few open stores to get some alcohol.
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| one... |
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| ...two. |
7:00~ish AM: Boarded the boat.
7:01~ish AM: Boat started moving. We were with a family of four, and i'm guessing it must have been quite a sight to see us all piled up. Five tired-looking kids with red and bleary eyes with that sort of glazed-on looking faces full of adventure and wonder. Huge rocks of green and brown surrounded us on the left, while a vast expanse of ocean and sky greeted us on the right. I took a deep breath and looked around at my companions; I knew i was going to write about this someday.
7:20 AM: Weariness kicked in. It suddenly hit me that i've been on the go since 5 AM yesterday, and i kept on nodding off to sleep. I wasn't alone there - Bren lived in Cavite and had to wake up after just a few hours of sleep and right after OT~ing on Thursday, too.
8:00 AM: It was around this time that we sighted Nagsasa beach. It was bonkers beautiful; pretty white sand, huge expanse of green here and there, and i could just spy the river that connects to the sea. Best of it all was the water - clear and clean and cool. We were given log piles in order to start cooking our food and two tents for us to shelter in later.
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| prolly should've turned around and shot a photo of the campsite, but wth |
8:01 AM to 5:00 PM: We spent the rest of the day setting up our tents, cooking food and rubbing sunblock on every inch of our skin. Having no electricity means doing things analog - starting the fire, cooking rice and food, storing huge blocks of ice on styrofoam coolers to keep the meat cool enough. Most of the time though, we were starting the goddamn fire. I have never before appreciated the magic of matches or lighters than on that day.
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| mang jani, our reliable boatman and weekend hero |
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| everywhere is possible, i guess |
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| around noon |
5:01 PM: Around this time, the sun was starting to sink - our first sunset here on the cove. Suddenly, everything was precious and swathed in beautiful yellow light.
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| (c) @Jani. go stalk her; just google jani |
The right word for it would be.. tender. Everything was soft. Everything was tender, like doing anything except watch would be a sin. The realizations came in waves:
- This was supposed to be a trip to Magalawa in 2011. It didn't push through, but it was changed to Coron in 2012. That didn't happen either. It became Tagaytay, Baguio, Pulag, Batangas and a whole host of other places before this trip to Nagsasa happened.
- When we first planned this out, we were, in total, more than 10 people. It was supposed to be our graduation getaway, a trip to herald the ending of days and the beginning of new others. Slowly, through the trickle of 2 years, our numbers dwindled and our numbers - though at first so great and mighty - dwindled to about half. Only five people made the trip.
- If you asked me a few weeks ago if the trip would've pushed through, I would have said no. But here I am, days later, writing all about it. Circumstances have a funny way of making plans, and right now, I'm glad that the trip pushed through anyway.
- I'm not a religious person, and at best i'm an agnostic and a theist. But at this moment, Infinite. Thank you, God, Universe, Gaia, that you created such a beautiful way to end the day and equally beautiful people to spend it with.
6:30~ish PM. The sun finally set. The day was over; night had begun.
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