Valentine's Date with Nature :)

During my rendezvous with Marvsz at Baguio last Christmas, we discussed some of the travels that we are planning to do for 2015. One of the destination on our list is Mt. Pinatubo. Since my February is full, except February 14, we decided to do a Valentine date with nature :) Good thing Tripinas offers Pinatubo tours every Saturday. We availed their Mt. Pinatubo tour for PHP 2090 with round trip transfers, 4x4 ride and other fees in Pinatubo.

Meeting time was 2AM at Mcdo El Pueblo in Ortigas so yes, I did not sleep because I have to leave the house at 1AM. We bought our lunch at Mcdo since there are no restaurants/fast food chains in Pinatubo. The trip from Manila to Brgy. Sta. Juliana (base camp) is 2 hours. From the base camp, we were assigned to our 4x4 and tour guide. The 4x4 ride was exciting at first but after a few hours of the ride, my butt started to hurt. If not for the beautiful scenery, the 4x4 ride would be hell (HA HA!)

Waiting for the sun to rise

Before the trip, we were told that we could choose the long or the short trek. Since our group opted for the long trek, we walked for around 1 and an half to 2 hours. It was fun except that I have been inactive for a long time so it was really tiring. 

There were a lot of river crossings so it's advisable to use trekking sandals rather than rubber shoes. Good thing I have ninja moves to avoid getting my shoes wet. Hehe. We arrived the crater lake after a few hours and lo and behold, the 4x4 and long trek was worth it.

It was truly majestic. I have no words for its beauty. After a long sense of awe, I got hungry so I took out my chicken nuggets and ate while enjoying the view. It was love that I felt for nature and this country when I saw the crater lake. It was one of the best Valentines to date. (Well, I don't really go out during Valentines ever since because I don't like crowded places haha!) There are really more places to discover here in the Philippines and I'm just starting :)

Anyway, at around 11am, we started going back. I badly want to go home because I was super tired already (LOLA VIBES FOREVER!). On the way back, we only had a 15-20 minute trek then we rode the 4x4 again. I was really tired and the sun was scorching hot so I did not enjoy the 4x4 trip back. 

My travel buddy

We left for Manila at around 3pm and arrived Ortigas at 5:30pm. I was super hungry so Marvsz and I had dinner at Metrowalk then headed to Citigolf for a few drinks. 

It was a fun day despite the sweat and energy lost from the trip :) Over drinks, Marvsz gave me tip for my upcoming Pulag trip and I can't wait! I conquered Pinatubo, next on my list... MT. PULAG! Woot!

Impromptu Boracay Trip

DISCLAIMER: Photo heavy entry

My cousin from Canada arrived the country last Jan. 14 without any plans and itinerary. She just knows that she's going to Ilocos with her aunties then wants to go to Boracay for the rest of her trip. Since her mother doesn't want her to go alone, I accompanied her to Boracay. 

I just went to Boracay last November so I just suggested to her the things I did last time. 

We drank beers, 

watched the sunset,

Cotton candy clouds

joined the pubcrawl,

met new friends,

read books at the beach,

para sailed,

Christmas at Baguio

Disclaimer: This post will be photo heavy.

This Baguio trip was planned months before Christmas and we were all excited because it will be the first time that we will not spend Christmas at home. Few days before the trip, we were buying jackets and scarves. It was so hard for me to pack because I realized that almost all of my clothes are suited for the beach (that's why I have to buy). I am a beach person, not a cold weather person!

Dec. 23. We left Manila a few minutes past 6am and the trip was fast. We arrived there at around 12 and we immediately settled at our little home for the Christmas at Camp John Hay Cabins, just a few minutes from Manor. 

Setting up the tents for the kids

 ANG KYOOOOT!!

There were 16 of us so someone really has to have roles for the trip. We even had a planning a few weeks before the trip haha! As for me, I am either one of the coordinators or the money keeper every family trip and this trip, I volunteered to hold the money. During the planning, we all agreed that we will be buying from the market and just cook at the cabins because it's such a hassle for us to eat out (with all the kids!). My afternoon was spent at the market with Kuya Mark, Sining, Ate Lyn and Ate Reshel. It was so exciting to see fresh veggies around. 

The whole market experience was supposed to be great but we encountered super bad traffic in the city :/ I got traumatized (CHOS!) and swear to never go out of John Hay haha!

On our first night, we had bonfires and drinks to enjoy the cold summer night in Baguio. The cabins was such a nice place to stay and I think we got one of the bigger cabins :) Yay for us! 

Dec 24. I love waking up to the very cold breeze in Baguio. It's so hard to wake up actually but with all the kids playing as early as 6AM, there is nothing left to do but get up and play with them. Di ka rin naman makatulog sa ingay nila! :/ Anyway, after eating breakfast at home, we had tsokolate, turon and bibingka in Chocolate de Batirol.

Surigao Adventure Part 2: Surigao City/Butuan

Part 2 of our Surigao adventure was supposed to be Siargao - Sohoton trip in Surigao del Norte but unfortunately for us, we were stuck in Surigao city because all ferries are cancelled because of Typhoon Ruby. So I'll just tell you how we killed time and made Surigao City fun (for us). 

If you read about my Surigao del Sur trip, we came from Hinatuan bus terminal. There's no direct bus going to Surigao city so we have to go back to Butuan. The ride was again 5 hours from Hinatuan then we rode a bus in Butuan's bus terminal headed for Surigao City. Travel time was around 3 hours. 

When we arrived Surigao at 7pm, we hired a habal habal driver to take us to a good hotel near the port. We were still very hopeful during that time that the weather will get better and we will be allowed to cross to Siargao. We stayed at E.Y Suites and it was so-so. It was okay for a night but if you're staying longer at Surigao city, I do not recommend this hotel. We slept early that night because we were too tired from the 8 hour travel we did. 

The next day, we woke up early (5:30am) to check on the port's situation. We arrived the port and we saw that trips are cancelled but we were still very hopeful so we stayed there for a few hours. We made friends with the stranded people there and most of them are stuck there for 2 days already. We left at around 9:00 because we got hungry and we decided to just give up and try again the next day. After breakfast, we looked for a better place to stay for the night and we found the best hotel ever in the whole wide world. Char! We stayed at The Grande Suites in Surigao City. Okay. Here's the best thing about this hotel, for the price of 1380, we had free dinner and breakfast (which were both yummy, mind you!), free ride anywhere in Surigao (as long as Kuya Kent, the driver, is there), free wifi and super nice rooms. They even upgraded us from Standard to Deluxe for no particular reason. Plus, the staff are super friendly and funny :) It was one of the best staycation I had just because of the staff there.

Anyway, after settling in, we decided to visit Mabua Pebble Beach. The winds are getting stronger but this did not stop us. What is amazing about Mabua is the pebbles in the beach. People doesn't even know where the pebbles came from. We just stayed there for a while to have pictures then left afterwards because there is nothing left to do. Also, the waves were getting stronger because of the storm so we had to leave for our safety. Kuya Kent told us that if there's no storm, we can see Samar and Leyte from where we are standing so that's how near we are from the storm which kinda scared me.

The rest of the day was spent at our hotel because it's raining and the winds are really getting stronger. We just watched the news the whole day and updated ourselves with the storm. We really felt unfortunate that we are stuck in Surigao but also fortunate that we found a good hotel with the most friendly staff. 

The next day, we tried going to the port again but still no trips for us. We gave up on our Siargao dream but we promised to be back. 

The faces of people that will be back!

We just decided to hear mass at their cathedral even if it's in Bisaya. 

The closest to Siargao that we can get

Surigao Adventure Part 1: Surigao Del Sur

I love piso fares just because I get to travel cheaper here in our country. I suggest everyone to grab the opportunity when piso fares are being held. So Last June, Cebu Pacific had a piso fare and I booked for Butuan with Ter. Honestly, I have a very limited knowledge on what to see in Surigao but I booked anyway. When I researched about it, I got real excited because there are numerous places to discover :) This will be the first time I will blog in details (itinerary, budget and all) just because I had a hard time researching about Surigao del Sur-Norte trips. I hope this can help someone in the future.

We only have 6 days to visit both Surigao del Norte and Sur. At first, I thought it will really be easy but we didn't know that Surigao del Norte and Sur are very far from each other. Plus you have to travel back to Butuan to travel to both provinces. We planned on going to Surigao del Sur first then to Siargao. What we did was go to Britania group of islets first then see the Enchanted River and Tinuy-an Falls. I will post detailed IT and budget at the end of this post.

So we arrived Butuan then headed for Butuan's bus terminal. Just ride a multicab in the airport that is headed for the bus terminal. Ter and I preferred riding the bus rather than the van because vans get really packed and hot.

We arrived the bus terminal and rode a bus going to Tandag. Just tell the conductor that you will go to Britania group of islands. If they don't know that, just tell them to drop you off at Brgy. Salvacion at San Agustin. Travel time is around 5 hours going to Britania so ready your butt for the long ride!

We reserved one night at La Entrada and it is one of the best resorts ever! We arrived there at around 7pm already. Good thing their restaurant is still open because we haven't had dinner yet. The food was great and the price is reasonable! Everyone was really friendly there. I SWEAR! The rooms were nice and we were assigned in the area where it was surrounded by mangroves. We didn't see it when we arrived because it was so dark already but the following day, the beauty of the mangrove trees greeted us a good morning :)

Mangrove trees around the restaurant and rooms

We asked if tours will push through but they were  unsure because typhoon Ruby is slowly entering PAR. It was very unfortunate that Typhoon Ruby joined us on our trip :/ While waiting for the confirmation of tours, Ter and I just took photos of the islands (because we thought that that's the closest we can get to Britania group of islands) 

Good thing the administrators of La Entrada allowed us to see 2 islands of the Britania group of islands. Normally, there are 4 islands available for tour but we are super okay with 2. 

Vitamin SEA

Ma'am, sir. Parasailing, helmet diving.

I'm not a big fan of Boracay because I always prefer a quiet stroll on the beach rather than the drink-until-we-get-wasted-on-the-beach scene. But it's nice to go back there once in a while and I'm glad we went there in November, less people. So last weekend, I visited this beautiful island with Mariz, the Boracay virgin. Char! Our flight was at 5:10 in the morning so I haven't slept yet because I drank with my friends the night before. We booked at Frendz resort days before and availed of their airport transfers so it was very convenient for us. We arrived Frendz resort at 7:00am and planned on getting some sleep first before going to Mt. Luho but unfortunately, check in time was at 2pm. We didn't have any choice but to go around and do pasalubong shopping (I felt like a walking zombie roaming d'mall while Mariz was buying pasalubong.) We decided to have lunch at around 10am at Smoke then just rest on Frendz' beach beds.

We slept at their beach beds until 1:00pm (SUPER HOT) then headed to Frendz. Good thing the room was fixed earlier. Frendz has an okay room for budget travelers. It's also a place where you can meet new friends (hindi frendz), mostly foreigners. So our original plan was to rest for a while then head to the beach to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, we overslept! I woke up and it's 7pm already. I guess I was that tired. So our first day was really not well spent haha. We just had dinner at D' Talipapa (best seafood in the island) then decided to see the sunrise at Mt. Luho the next day.

Unforunately (AGAIN!), we overslept and wasn't able to go to Mt. Luho for the sunrise viewing. Harhar! We just had a quick breakfast then hired a tricycle to take us to Mt. Luho viewing deck. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. It was my first time to see the whole island and the vast ocean of Boracay. Seeing views like that always give me a sense of awe and amazement. I just can't believe how beautiful this country is.

We went to Puka beach after for a quick photo op. Waves there were pretty crazy and I can't believe that some kids can swim with that kind of waves.

Oh Baguio, you're so pine!

I was having dinner at my brother's house one evening then he asked me if I wanted to come with 2 of his friends to Baguio since the others can't come. How could you say no to an offer of rest and silence for 3 day, plus free accommodations? So yes, that weekend leveled up my being kaladkarin.

So we left last Saturday. My brother told me that he'll pick me up at around 5:30am. Major fail because I woke up at the sound of the car honking like crazy bwahahah! They waited for me though to fix up then off to Baguio we went! It rained the whole day, even in Baguio, so I wasn't really ready for the super cold weather. Forgot my scarf and I should have brought more jackets but I survived :)

It has been a while since I last saw Baguio this foggy so yes, I became more excited to do my itinerary for the day: SLEEP.

Under the sea

I found a new love with the sea and its creatures. Ever since that first visit in Bantayan Island in Cebu, I've been addicted to discovering more of the beautiful beaches in the country. I went to Panglao, El Nido, Siquijor, Camiguin etc. and I feel more in love with the beach.

This new found love keeps growing every time I go somewhere and this made me want to try diving for the first time. I was very excited when Ter invited me to join their company's intro dive "outing". I immediately said yes because it will be very cheap since we are a big group. Although I don't know anyone from Ter's company, I still went. She also invited Jerms and Rache, Ter's friends from Citi.

On the way to Anilao, Batangas

Days before the trip, I was feeling really sick because of my colds and cough but this did not stop me from going on this trip. We went on the weekend of June 28-29. We were scheduled for the Sunday dive so our Saturday was spent roaming around and just chilling. It was also good so I could rest and pray that my colds will be gone the next day.

It was great meeting new people and really loving their company. It was such a fun and relaxing Saturday.

I'm a sunset-over-sunrise person so I was sure I won't miss seeing the sunset at Anilao. Of course, God did not disappoint me because the sunset was amazing ♡!!!! We watched the sunset with alcohol in our hand (Thanks to Ter's boss for sharing his vodka)

Summer in pictures

The rain is starting to fall and the weather is getting cooler every day. Which only means one thing, SUMMER IS OVER. I always love summers, not because it's my birthday but also because I love the beach and traveling. So before the rain falls today, I say goodbye to my summer 2014 and hello to the rest of the year :)

1. Random lunch/merienda/dinner/inuman dates with friends. I can be the most kaladkarin friend you can have and this summer, I texted almost everybody when I don't have any hangouts. So there were a lot of catching up done this summer :)

2. Finishing all my book buys last year. I have bought so many books after my breakup last year, thinking I will have more time to read. But no, all my reading time were allocated to my gimik nights. So now, the every night gimiks were lessen so I had more time to read this summer :)

3. Yes, I turned 24 today. I still kept forgetting that I'm 24 but hey, I would always look young. It was a night of celebrating with my family :) Just had my favorite steak and pumpkin soup c/o Ate Lyn :)

4. Bayani Challenge 2014. I blogged about this here. 

5. Dumaguete-Siquijor trip. Yes, I found a new place if I want to slow down and get away from the city. I also blogged about it here.

6. Sining's 7th birthday. (For those who doesn't know Sining, she's my niece) I can't believe she is 7 already!! I saw her grow up and now she's so beautiful and modelesque. Sining, true to her name is a true artist that's why her birthday party theme was an art fair where kids painted, drew, made button pins, colored and decorated a cookie. It was a fun children's party.

7. Subic trip with the clingy friends. This trip was supposed to be cancelled already but Nina texted on the day itself that we will push through with the trip. So I took a half day leave at work to go to pack and do some grocery shopping. It was one of the best unplanned trip ever where we started drinking at 10am. Good times.

8. Papa left for Canada last May for a 2 month vacation. So this summer was full of facetime/viber call dates from him :)

9. Day out ng mga tita. I swear, ang lakas maka-tita vibes ng spa date. Ter treated us all for a massage date just because we are all stressed in life. I really never liked massages because I get tickled so easily but since this is free, I went. I was laughing and giggling the whole time. Good thing my masseuse was very patient with me :)

This was one of the best summer of my life. I love catching up and going out so yeah. BEST. SUMMER. EVER.

(mis)adventures in Dumaguete and Siquijor

One November night in Starbucks Drive thru, Marvsz and I planned 2014 to be a year of travelling. We listed different places that we want to go to and months when we're available.  I was having second thoughts if everything will go as planned because of financial constraints. Luckily, this year entered and our El Nido trip last February pushed through and we also finally saw Siquijor last weekend.

DAY 1. Our itinerary involves touring around Dumaguete city, snorkeling at Apo Island, discovering the beauty of Siquijor then back at Dumaguete. We have 4 days to squeeze everything. We left Manila at around 2 already (delayed flight c/o Cebupac!) without having any lunch yet. The flight is about an hour and 30 minutes so imagine the hunger I was feeling when we arrived/

From the airport, we rode a tricycle (P 120) to go to our hotel. We reserved a room at Harold's mansion weeks before our trip but there was a miscommunication and they weren't able to reserve a room for us. The owner of Harold's was very accommodating though to look for a new hotel for us and offer free breakfast the next day. We stayed at K-lodge, a minute walk from Harold's, for a night. It was in favor of us since they offer cheaper lodging (P 700/ night). When we finished settling in K-lodge, we decided to look for a place to eat lunch since Marvsz and I were starving!

First meal in Dumaguete

We ate at Jo's Chicken Inato just along Siliman Ave. They offer unlimited rice for only P 97, it was the cheapest meal we had for our Dumaguete trip. After eating, we headed towards Dumaguete Church and Belfry tower.

Dumaguete Church

Belfry Tower

#21 Try something daring

CLIFF DIVING!

My recent trip to Siquijor really challenged the adventurous side of me. I am afraid of a lot of things and heights is one of them but since this is the year of spontaneity and adventure, I went for it. I was super excited when Marvsz and I were planning this trip because we read about how enchanting Siquijor is. We got more excited when we saw that they have a cliff diving site in Salagdoong Beach and the tarzan rope at Cambugahay falls. I was pumping myself out to do this because I might chicken out (haha!)

When we got there, it took me an hour to jump off the cliff and another 20 minutes to jump again. There were a lot of people watching which made me more scared to jump (most of them are locals there). But I did it. After everything, Marvsz and I couldn't help but smile on the way back to the resort.

We were just so happy that we can finally cross another item off our bucket list!

#leyteracay

"Let us not abandon our country. First, never stop hoping for this country. Second, never stop caring for our people. Third, demand greatness from yourself as a Filipino. And fourth, inspire greatness in other Filipinos. Then poverty will end even before 2024."  -Tony Meloto

Normally, Gawad Kalinga's Bayani Challenge is a one week event where volunteers from all over the country come together in one place to build houses for the poor. This year, the Bayani Challenge (BC) is extra special for the victims of Yolanda, Bohol earthquake and the Zamboanga siege. Gawad Kalinga brought the BC to the next level when they announced that this year, it will be held for 2 months (April 9-June 12) in 12 provinces. For this year, I joined my family and friends in Leyte to serve in the Bayani Challenge family edition :)

The kids ready to go to Tacloban

DAY 1. We arrived Tacloban on Friday and this is what welcomed us. 

Airport's arrival area

You can still see the massive destruction Yolanda left. Everything was manually done, the checking of baggage, giving out of check in baggage, checking in etc. When we toured around the city, you can see more damages that will really break your heart. I can't imagine how strong the winds were that can destroy buildings and warehouses. :( We also saw different mass graves and pictures of kids are everywhere. I can't help but cry.

We went straight to the site in Tanauan, Leyte to start building. We had a scrumptious lunch prepared by the residents there then went straight to work. 

The GK site in Tanauan, Leyte

With party music blasting on the stereo, we started sifting sand under the sun. During Bayani Challenge weeks, I never worry about my color. This is the only time that I know I can be dark and be proud of it. After 2 blisters and several calluses, we decided to start painting houses. We were joined by the Cruzes, Santoses and Wilk's children. Seeing the little ones paint houses for the victims of Yolanda is very inspiring. 

Diwa, the youngest BC volunteer!

Since the kids overtook the painting scene, my brother and I decided to dig for septic tanks. I dug my first septic tank in Gabaldon and ever since then, I have been an expert (GK Ateneo is famous for septic tank digging). It would always be an honor for me to serve alongside my brother who is an inspiration to me.

Ateneo represent!