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This trip technically does not count as one of my travels because I've been to Batangas and Tagaytay a countless number of times. However, this trip has been so significant for me so here goes...
They say travel helps cure a broken heart. This is the story of three broken hearts (in different stages of recovery and varying degrees of manic-depression) and a weekend of Fs -- “fetted shets” (fitted sheets), freeloading, fun fun fun, and fabulous friends). A and Cat, this is for you! For broken-hearted girls, there is nothing worse than long weekends. Nothing -- except long weekends which you forgot to make plans for because you were busy crying your eyes out. So there I was last Thursday, panicking, because I totally forgot about the coming Labor Day weekend. I wanted to hit the beach but it was too late to make plans so when Cat sends an SMS for a weekend get-away at Punta Fuego, I was beside myself with joy (and relief).
Saturday, April 29 We were supposed to leave for Batangas by 7:30 am but when I got to Anna’s place around that time, I find two girls na puyat at
lasing at di pa naliligo. So while A fixed herself and everything else we needed (ayan A, may acknowledgment na ang iyong pagiging mother hen), Cat and I fed ourselves with toasted pan de sal and Tata’s yummy tuna salad. After a few more minutes of chikahan and make-up retouch and picking up stuff for the trip, we were finally able to leave Alabang.
Syempre, hindi puedeng dire-direcho lang ang trip… kailangan maraming makalimutan at maraming hintuan. So first stop was in Sta. Rosa in search of an ATM machine and a Mercury for A’s drugs. After a few minutes, we were finally off to A’s place in Tagaytay to 1) drop off some of our stuff as we were sleeping there that night and 2) look for sarongs, banigs or mats we can use in the beach for our agenda: sunbathing.
Ok. Let me tell you that I was so glad to be in the company of people who considered getting to our destination part of the fun in traveling. So it goes without saying that some of the major highlights of this trip include the crazy goings-on inside A’s car consisting of any or a combination
Terrazas de Fuego, Labor Day Weekend 06
Chill-out at Purok Cinco: To world peace!of the following: an iTrip that refuses to work, laugh-til-you-drop conversations, palaging gutom na passengers, ang giant pimple ni A, at ang walang patid na kantahan. Here’s a sample conversation:
Where: Access road from Sta. Rosa to Tagaytay Cheche: A, did you bring your camera? Mine has been in Canon for 2 months now, kainis tapos na ang summer!
Anna: Yes, of course! Kuhanan ko kayo marami pictures mamaya pang-Friendster ninyo.
Cathy: Game game!
Anna: Sige pero dapat lalagay ninyo sa pics, taken by Anna T.
Cheche: Oo naman! Have you seen my Friendster pic, the one you took of me in Shang Mactan? It says “Beauty shot by A at Mactan.”
Anna: Oh yeah, I also saw your new pic, yung pic of Palawan which says “A, I still owe you a date here.”
Cheche: Haay. Oo nga. Grabe Cat, super ganda talaga ng Palawan. Kung wala lang kampon ng kadiliman doon, I swear Palawan is the most beautiful place in the Philippines.
Cathy: Di bale ateh, someday babalik din tayo dun… pag ok ka na.
Anna: Ay naku langya yang Angel na yan… (takes hands off the wheel and breaks into an Alanis song complete with face and hand movements) “Isn’t it ironic, Angel is my name… Isn’t it ironic, I am demonic”.
In the background, Cathy and I die of laughter.
We finally arrived at Purok 5 - A’s place. A takes us on a short tour of the new house and we start looking for anything that we could use for the beach. We land on the attic where we discover A’s mom’s penchant for anything that remotely resembles a comforter - all the closets were stuffed full of the darned things! We finally pulled out a folded sheet which we thought would serve our purpose.
Ok na yan, tara na! Once more we hit the road. And after just a few minutes, stopped again -- this time to check out the hats being sold by the roadside. Before you can say “uy, hats!”, we’ve made a U-turn and were busy trying out the colorful hats.
Naloka si Manang dahil nag-picturan pa ang mga maaarte sa tabing kalye. Naloka din ang mga dumadaan at kailangan pa huminto dahil todo posing ang mga babaeng maliliit ang damit sa tabing kalye. For the nth time, we hit the road again, this time armed with hats that match our outfits for the day
(arte!). We hit a road jam near the Tagaytay market.
Cathy: Nagugutom ako.
Anna: Grabe ka naman! Kumain kayo kanina ng pan de sal di ba habang nag-chichikahan at ako naman ay nagmamadali pag-aasikaso ng lahat ng dadalhin natin (bitter bitter bitter!)?
Cathy: Oo nga pero kasi ganun ako pag sobrang aga kumain, buong araw na ako magugutom.
Anna: Grabe… kakaiba ka…
Cheche: Uhm actually ako rin A, nagugutom.
Anna: Grabe kayo!!!
Cathy: Ayun o, quail eggs, puede na yun!
Anna: Cat, mabaho.
Anna: Ayan, mag-mani ka na lang.
Cheche: Ay naku alam mo ba yang mani na yan, nakakain ako ng hilaw na ganyan. I-serve ba naman sa outing namin, sabi ko bat kaya matigas at parang may lupa lupa pa ang balat pero since kinakain ng iba, kumain na din ako. After a few days, bumili sina Atch ng ganyan sa SM, binigyan ako, dun ko lang na-realize na shet hilaw nga yung kinain namin sa outing kasi ibang-iba ang itsura ng luto.
Cathy: Ayun o, fish crackers, masarap yun.
Anna: Cat, mabaho. We crawled through traffic until we passed by the source: a collision involving a van and a motorcycle. A wonders why the van’s windshield was broken - we said it could only mean one thing - the motorcycle driver was thrown against the glass. Being the ideal conversationalists that we are, the talk moves on to motorcycles.
Cheche: Alam mo ba Cat, nag-motor kami ng 6 hours from Puerto to El Nido. Kalahati nun rough roads ha… Shet espasol ang dating ng lola mo! At nagkabali-baligtad yata ang internal organs ko dahil dun.
Anna: Oo nga grabe yun Che but those are the things worth writing about. Super adventure!
Cheche: Sinabi mo, kundi lang si Mr. Ironic ang nakasama ko dun, sobrang adventure talaga yun. Pero seriously ha, ang sarap din mag-motor. Iba yung high ng speed. Feel na feel mo. Pero alam mo, I just realized that men who choose to ride motorcycles even when they can ride cars are of a different personality.
Anna: Oh yeah… (proceeds to make kwento about her pilot friend who took his Vespa on a 3-week tour of the Visayas and Mindanao - take note, with an extra helmet - para sa kung sino man ang mapi-pickup niya along the way hehehe).
Anna: Ako nga rin nagmo-motor dati until naaksidente ako… (proceeds to make kwento about her stupid drink-then-drive-bout with a YIELD signpost in the middle of a street in BF Resort and how the embarrassment of scattered pots and pans in the street and of attending a party in blazer and jeans because of her wounds stopped her from ever riding a motorcycle again).
Again, in the background, Cathy and I die of laughter.
Anna: Actually, second accident ko na yun sa motor. Nung high school, naaksidente din ako… naka-uniform pa ako, angkas ko 2 malalaking classmates ko. We were on our way to a slumber party and yung mga pockets ng skirt namin, punong-puno ng nail polish. Tapos natumba kami! Ayun, umuwi kami lahat with red, pink, fuschia nail polish sa mga palda namin! Kala ng mommy ko ano nangyari sa amin!
In the background, hindi pa kami nabubuhay ulit na Cat sa kakatawa. We finally hit Batangas. Cat and I were still hungry and A was thirsty. We drove with the windows down and with UltraElectroMagneticJam on the player. The damned iTrip still won’t work.
In Nasugbu, we stop at a bakery cum sari-sari store and loaded up on food and drinks for the day. Enter the famous bread with red filling so unglamorously called (excuse me) -
pan de regla. It would mean more to us by the next day but for that moment, it saved Cat from starvation. I, on the other hand, settled for the tig-pipisong Spanish bread.
We finally reach Terrazas de Punta Fuego. Being guests, we were ready to shell out P500 each for the fees. We present our identification, park the car, unload our stuff and then…
“Tito Jake!” -- Cat sees a relative of an ex - and from that moment on, we would become freeloaders for the day.
Tito Jake and Tito Jason asked us to join them in the van going in which meant -
Yahoo! We got in for free! Apparently, they were attending an event and there was free food so they invited us to lunch. But we were
kinda shy so we declined and proceeded to deposit our stuff in lockers and went on to find a spot in the beach.
At the beach: Choose a tent, drop bags, borrow a beach lounge and then… out goes the folded sheet.
Kung sa pelikula ito, dapat slow motion - tatlong magagandang babae, naka-2 piece, naka-shades, naka-hat… nasa ilalim ng tent… inilabas ang baong higaan, binuklat at que horror - may garter! Isa siyang FETTED SHET! Isa siyang MAKATI-MED-MINT-GREEN-FETTED SHET! Isa siyang MAKATI-MED-MINT-GREEN-FETTED SHET sa beach ng uber-sosyal Terrazas de Fuego! Potahshet! Matapos ang makapigil-hiningang eksena na yun kung saan ang tatlong Freeloaders ay nag-tuck-in ng mga garter ng Fetted Shet, tuloy ang ligaya! Tito Jake comes over and offers us his sticker so we can get food from the buffet table at the event. So dahil namamatay na kami sa gutom at dahil wala na rin naman kaming ipagmamalaki dahil sa fitted sheet encounter ay nakipila na rin kami sa lunch. Unfortunately, they ran out of food and we were only able to get a plateful of a seafood dish and three cups of iced tea hehehe. The waiters were asking us to wait for some more food but since Cat and I were severely underdressed (God knows why on a beachfront event, on a hot Saturday afternoon, we were the only ones in swimsuits), we hied off with our stash and chilled out in the tent with the fetted shet.
Pictures pictures pictures ever -- Friendster here we come! A few minutes later, Tito Jake and Tito Jason, yet again, appears with freebies - sangria and margarita! Yeeeessss! Free delivery pa!
Ang kakapal namin! By 4:30pm, we were a trio of medical cases - may masakit ang ulo, may masakit ang tiyan, may nahihilo. So we ordered food, packed up our stuff, folded our mint-green fetted shet then showered.
We left while the sun was setting and it was, by far, the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And Anna’s camera was dead. Dammit.
We rode out with the windows down, wind against our tanned faces, and Oo (our national anthem by Up Dharma Down - see my Friendster blog for lyrics) playing non-stop. Perfect. The trip went unbelievably fast until we hit a jam in Tagaytay. And then the issue of music came up - you see, A had only 4 CDs in her car, thinking the iTrip will save us from boredom. One was Eraserheads’ UltraElectroMagneticJam which has served its purpose going to Fuego, one was Up Dharma Down which has served its purpose going back from Fuego, one was Lenny Kravitz which refused to play and the last was Astrud Gilberto which Cat and I violently opposed to after 2 songs. I do not remember how we managed to get to Antonio’s Grill with no music.
Dinner was uneventful and so was the stop-over at 7-11 to load up on booze.
We arrived at Purok 5 to find a dimly-lit house hehe, with A’s parents welcoming us with beer, music, TV and DVD.
Oh, how we love you Baloi and Bawai! Staring out the wide windows into the starlit sky, with the Tagaytay breeze fanning our sunburned skin, cold San Mig Light and Vodka Cruiser on the table, matching cheese cupcake, mallows at choco crunchies as pulutan, chill-out music from the salamat-naman-at-gumana-na iTrip, fab friends Jepoy “Kambs”, the SOCOs, and beautiful couple Jen and Ninoy, aaahhh, this is the life. The night ended with Jepoy and A unable to sleep
kasi hindi pa sila lasing. We woke up the next morning to a beautiful Tagaytay sunshine. Had tuna sandwich and hot coffee over great conversations on love. Chilled-out, had Bawai’s super delicious pho, nagpa-pedicure, nagpa-manicure, watched an insane movie called Asylum, had another bowl of pho, walked up to the French resort, decided that
“For world peace! To Purok Cinco!” would be our battlecry whenever we needed solace.
Late afternoon, we set off for Manila with happy faces and malalakas na loob - girl power ng mga sawi - “World peace! Purok Cinco!”. Life is perfect. P.S. Actually, di pa doon natapos ang storya -- nag-shopping pa kami at nagpaganda sa Alabang Town Center. Pero masama ang loob ko kasi ang pangalan ng taga-Nars na nag-make-up kay Anna for her dinner party ay Angel. Talaga nga naman.
P.P.S. Nun nga palang umuwi ako Sunday night, nakita ko sa bag ko ang (excuse me) pan de regla ni Cat. Hinagis ko sa trashcan, parang tumalbog yata. Tinext ko si Cat na ang tindi ng buhay ng paborito niyang tinapay. Sabi niya, parang tayo yan, buhay pa rin kahit ang daming dinaanan. Mala-“Bread of Life” natin siya. Kaya ngayon, bukod sa fetted shet at Purok Cinco, ang mga babaeng sawi ay matatawa/maiiyak na rin pag nakakita ng pan de regla.
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Cat Ganda
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bread of life
Cheche Uy!!! Ang galing mo talga ateh. I'm laughing then suddenly im crying. Leche!!! Pero, talga, un na ang pinakamagandang sunset na nakita ko sa buong buhay!!! Hayyy!!!