First of Summer 2013

I'm going on a adventure! This is what I thought when I found out that I'll be traveling somewhere I've never been to...alone.

It's not the first time I'll be traveling alone, but it rarely happens. I refused to drop by Baguio to join the others because the thought of going to a place for the first time excites me. I take pleasure in such simple things.

I've been to some beaches in La Union before, but it would be my first time to go to Caba. Mind you, I've never even heard of this town before. A friend from Australia is coming over and asked us (his blockmates) to plan something. We originally planned to go to Pugad Adventures in Pugo, La Union. But at the last minute, we changed plans because we thought it would be more practical to go to this resort in Caba instead.

I went straight to Villa Navarro from Manila. The travel time was cut short because it was easy to slip out of the metro on a Thursday night. I barely slept because I was seated beside this man who shared his life story to me. A sad one. And he showed me a real-life Quentin Tarantino kind of film. While showing this gory video from his phone, he asks, "Haan ka nga maaryek?" (Aren't you grossed out?) I said, no. But I really wanted to say, damnit, you already showed it to me. I already saw the blood and all. Why don't I just finish it til the end. That robbed me off of some precious sleep time. I had to pretend I had to sleep just so he stops talking. The younger me, would've chosen to stay up and listen to him talk about his life because it could be a material, for... you know, a story. Those days when I used to want to be a writer.

I arrived in Caba at half past 5 in the morning. The bus conductor even asked this girl who also got off at Caba Plaza to help me because I didn't know the place. But I didn't want to inconvenience anyone so I just pretended to be waiting for someone at the shed. I zombie-walked down the highway. Sheepishly walked to the gas station hoping there would be a snack place where I could stay for a while, but it didn't have one. I hesitated to go straight to the resort thinking it might still be closed at that time, but tricycle drivers said it's already open. I even hesitated talking to the drivers because I wasn't sure if they speak Ilocano. In some places, when the locals learn that someone is new to their place, they charge higher than the usual. Luckily, they were honest people. Living in Manila has really tainted my thinking. Good thing I went to the resort even that early because the morning view outside the resort was splendid!

The guard at Villa Navarro resort let me in and talked to me and let me roam around the place until his shift was over. I would've preferred to get some more sleep but the resort officially opens at 8 am, when the front desk person arrives. For several hours, the resort was all mine.

We sure had a lot of fun in those seesaws.

I walked up to the northern end of the beach because I got curious about this structure which can be viewed from Villa Navarro.

By the time I got back to the resort, the staff were already there, and upon learning that they already have a guess, cleaned out a room for me and let me get some rest, even though check in time is not until noon.

I wanted to take a dip into the pool as soon as I was settled, but the front desk person assumed I wanted to rest. She didn't give me a pool stub when I asked if I could use the pool already, hehe. I didn't insist and just went to our rented room, read until my eyes grew tired. I was just few minutes into slumber when the first set of people from Baguio arrived. Then we went to the market for food. And cooked lunch.

The balikbayan wanted all-Pinoy food, but we couldn't really cook in the resort. We're free to use the griller and stove but we had no utensils, so we just opted for everything grilled, and easy-to-prepare salad.

Magnum, haha! Because our Aussie friend knows how big a deal it is in the PH.

We immediately went swimming after lunch. I mean, them swimming, and me dipping, because I can't swim. We had the pool to ourselves. I think there were only two groups checked in to the resort that day.

We went to the shore, stayed in a cottage for a while, but didn't go into the water because of the scorching heat of the noontime sun. We could go again tomorrow morning, we thought, then went back to the pool.

Manananggal momentsss. We had a lot of fun with Lian's camera's gif feature.

In the afternoon, five other people from Baguio arrived, and they immediately rummaged through the leftover food. I, together with the early batch, were already done with the waters then. I took a nap just to avoid the grilling session for dinner (haha!), but then I missed the sunset because of that. The sun had already sunk deep in the horizon when Lian and I went to the seaside.

After several hours making dinner, with different people taking turns grilling and chopping vegetables and fruits, we had dinner. But not before Jom's prolonged version of the Grace which instantly caused laughs even before it's over. (Some of us are evil like that. I'm looking at you Lenz.) But then who would't lol with the line, "Please bless this rice to make us nice." Though he also said something about praying for each of us. Instant redemption!

After dinner, we just sat outside the porch--chatting and watching TV. Then drinks, of course. Isn't that what we're there for? :p Milton brought a bottle of Patron and Bacardi 151° which took the house down. Those drinks could really bring our the wild and crazy in people.

After breakfast the next day, we all went back to the waters, dipped in the sea for less than five minutes, and went back to the pool because it's more fun in there, hehe. Bangs would've preferred to stay in the open water longer.

We left for Baguio after lunch. Took the bus to Bauang (around 30 minutes trip) and thank goodness from there, we found a van that took us to Baguio, we needn't ride different buses.