A Trip to Remember
June 6-8, 2009
With Gerum, Nick, Eijei, Bingky, Rhiana and Allan
INDECISION
Our trip to Zambales was already planned but due to the continuous rain for the past few days, we were having second thoughts. When the sun showed up Friday morning, we had hopes that the weather will be better the next day so we agreed on packing our things and prepared for the trip.
DEPARTURE
It was still raining when we left ACS Plaza and took a cab going to Victory Liner. On our way to the bus terminal, we witnessed the mishap in the MRT station. A short circuit caused a small fire forcing the train’s engine to stop. Commuters evacuated the train and walked along the rails of the MRT Cubao station.
DESTINATION
We had to cut trip and took an ordinary bus from Pampanga to Zambales. It was still raining lightly when we reached Pundakit, San Antonio Zambales after 4 hours or so. I am not sure if it was Bingky who pointed the tricycle terminal across the road when we got off the bus. I suddenly felt excited that we are almost near the beach despite of my empty stomach. Everyone was starving and exhausted from that long hour of travel so we decided to have lunch in one of the diners in the town’s marketplace.
KIKO – THE MISCHIEVOUS MONKEY
After checking one of the resorts along the road of Pundakit, we moved to another resort named gNora’sh. In front of the resort’s gate was a cage with 2 adult monkeys and 3 little ones. While Gerum and few others checked the place, I took some pictures of the baby monkeys. It was as if they were posing before my camera phone so I felt so elated that I didn’t notice that I was closer to the cage. Until it was too late to back off… I was dumbfounded when the adult male monkey snatched my cellphone!
I only managed to shout gCellphone ko!h as he jumped to one of the branches of the tree in the middle of the cage. He watched cautiously as the others came closer and checked what happened. He was holding the cellphone too tight scared that we might take it from him. The resort employees helped out calling the monkey by his name gKikoh. I clearly heard the snap as Kiko bit off the front casing of my phone. We sounded stupid while begging Kiko not to sink his teeth into it again but were so helpless when he took small bites. Kiko only dropped the phone when one of the resort keepers came out with handful of cooked rice.
After this out of town, my next destination to Greenhills to have my cellphone fixed!
THE RESORT
We finally settled in Royal Patio Resort and rented two huts. Each hut has a single room and veranda. The first hut where Eijei, Bingky and Allan stayed has a single queen size mattress laid on the wooden floor. The second hut I shared with Gerum, Nick and Rhiana has a double deck type of room.
Gerum, Nick and I hired one of the tricyles going to the town market to get all the groceries we need. It was still raining lightly so we spent the rest of the day in our hut enjoying the food Nick prepared. After dinner, we chat over a bottle of Baileys.
TREK IN THE MORNING AFTER
I woke up early and found Nick and Gerum preparing for our trek. The weather was surprisingly ideal for hiking. It was so perfect that you will see no sign that it rained for days. I put on my shirt and jogging pants over my swim suit and paired it with sneakers. This getup is more comfortable rather than shorts and slippers.
We started our walk around 6:30 in the morning with two guides, Michael and Freddie.
We passed a wide field and all we can see were the mountains surrounding the area. There were streaks of white on the mountains and those were actually waterfalls. I was walking side by side with Michael leading the walk and was busy asking him questions about the place – mountains, groups he previously guided on the trek and more.
I felt thrilled as we started the climb. According to blogs, it usually takes three hours to complete an average climb.
We reached the first river to cross and the current was strong. I was one of the first few who was able to cross. When everyone was on the other side of the river, we stopped to take some pictures. The river formed a small jacuzzi like laggoon and we bathe in the cold water. The current was really strong that I had difficulty climbing the rock. Eijei had to help Allan pull me up.
As we continued the hike, there were other small watercourses along the way. The course of the water left red stains that according to Michael was actually residue of iron. The higher we went, the more enthralling the sight was. At the same time, it was noticeable that some of us needs to rest! Haha!
When we reached the peak of the mountains, before following the trail down to Anawangin cove, we rested and took another set of good pictures. I was really fascinated of how beautiful it was up there! Far down, we could see the white shore of Anawangin cove and on the other side, all the greens and lines of the falls and streams.
We marched down, more eager knowing that we were near our goal. We passed through trees with the sound of water lingered in the background. We crossed the last river… the current as strong as the first one. But this river was wider.
My favorite sight was the swamp like body of water lined with tall trees almost touching above serving as the river’s canopy. This was the nearest channel of water to the beach. The water has more touch of red than the usual relection of the sky’s blue or the tree’s greens.
WE CONQUERED
As my feet touched the white sand of Anawangin cove, I felt glorious. The five-hour trek (two hours for resting) paid off! We filled our stomach first and enjoyed the waves after. You cannot really swim… as in gswimh because the waves were so big. We just had fun running into the breakers.
SCARY MOMENT
We decided to go back to the resort by boat since everyone was already exhausted. I honestly worried about going back by boat because of the big waves. There were two boats and I went with Gerum, Allan and Eijei.
As our boat’s motor came to life, I had goosebumps… gHere we go…h I thought.
The boat reached farther and that was when I had the scariest moment of my life!
Two consecutive big waves hit our boat. The first one made the boat looked like a skateboard up the ramp and the second big wave enclosed us!
In split second, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and gripped the sides of the boat tightly. I was expecting to be thrown out of the boat. Good thing, we managed.
Whew! I can’t believe what just happened there. The water seemed like a wall in front of my face. It was all blue that I saw and gasps I heard.
CONCLUSION
We reached the Pundakit shore safely. During that boat ride, I was speechless – praying that there were no more big waves as we journey.
Despite of what happened, I could say that I enjoyed everything. I can bravely say that I’ll do it again!
The rest fo the night was spent on the shore with bon fire. We sat on the tent we laid and took delight of grilled of Tilapia, porkchop and hotdog. We had shots of Tequila and Baileys while talking over what we had experienced within the day.
We didn’t stay up late because we had to travel back to Manila early in the morning.
I had so much fun and this trip was definitely a story to tell!
