When life doesnt seem to be adding up… Blame math.

The nice thing abut driving in Batangas is that the roads are oober nice. The asphalt hugs the tires of the cars and there is barely a sound the reverburates with the car. You can actually hear the engine humm instead of hearing the buzzing cement running under you.

The Batangas outback provides scenic views of dozens of mountains. One awesome view was that of Mt. Maculot. Famed for it’s rockies (the mountain’s shoulder with a rock formation to the delight of adventurers and thrill seekers)Mt. Maculot musters all respect being in the middle of the Batangas province. For a hundred kilometers around, this relativeley easy mountain to climb offers a sight for sore eyes. The rock face that rivals El Capitan in Yosamite in the States is like melted icing off of the face of a green cake.

Not to be outdone is Mt. Makiling. It’s stature requires respect and reverence. Mt. Nasugbu and a host of other mountains on the western seaboard of Batangas provides breathtaking backdrops for those on the side of the road shots. Another odd looking piece of nature is Mt. Batulao. It’s jagged peaks makes it unique. Note to those who wanna climb it. It’s easy.

Back to the road.

One thing that pisses me off sometimes are tricycles. Tricycles and National Highways can never mix. When driving behind a tricycle, the tricycle always seems to drive with a speed thats irritatingly slow which makes you want to overtake it naturally. But, once you engage on overtake mode, the tricycle always seems to speed up. Whatsup Manong? And the size. The size of the tricycle is just right for it to occupy 2/3s of the lane. Two friggin thirds of the road. Not enough for you to squeeze by it. What makes it worse? They come in packs. Just when you thought you just passed one and your ready to have the wind blow through your hair and have tha MTV moment on the road, another one is right in front of you.

Arriving in Nasugbu, the group wanted to see Punta Fuego. Well, Punta Fuego was crossed out of the list becuase it’s expensive. And going there is only for the the v6’s and v8 engines of them rich people. I stopped at a local tindahan and asked the most reliable people I could see. A group of 5 men without T-shirts drinking bilogs and lapads at 10am in the morning. Being the omnipotent all kowing lasenggeros that they are, the pointed me to a place where it is not too expensive and is in the vicinity. A place they called, "Kay Enrile" (the senator that has plotting coup de etets as a hobby).

We payed 50 pesos to get in and 400 for a hut for the whole day. Not bad for a beach near punta fuego. The water was clear, although not as prestine as Zambales or Bohol, and the cove protected the swimmers from too much waves. (sorry wahines) At the end of the cove is what seemed to be a hill made up of limestone. With our rappelling equipment in hand, camera’s and guts, we walked towards the end of the cove. There, we did a crash course in rappelling. It was enjoyed by the BAdgers and the Photos members. Tapos we walked along the side of the huge rock hill to discover a hidden area with small quiet caves and hideaways - hard to describe.

After the bout with the heat, we all settled down to eat what was left of our provisions. Like good brothers and sisters, we shared the loaves of bread with peanut butter, one glass, ice and coke. Tapos, since there was a difficulty in getting fresh water, we went in the car without ligo. Hehe tapos starbucks tagaytay!

Then, home…

We did find a beach that we could only have imagined. We saw landscape that we didnt think existed. But, above all of that, we as friends enjoyed the journey. Up till the end, the destination didnt really matter. We sang together, awwed together, joked and picked on each other, we didnt mind if showering was the last thing on each others minds, we didnt mind sharing one drinking glass, we didnt mind eating peanut butter sandwich.

The roadtrip was the best ever for us - the group. If we had more or less people, could we have enjoyed it? If we had more money or a better car, would it have been more fun? We will never know.

Journey to an unknown place, discover, realize - do it with friends you love and enjoy spending time with. It’s a short life -

Up next? Lucban, Quezon - the Pahiyas Festival…

Disclaimer - This trip was unplanned and not motivated by another entity - it was though, music to our souls.

May 01 (sunday) - Woke up early in the morning to be able to catch the Mechanics who will close by lunch time. Last night, JC (the 94 Honda Civic I borrowed from my cuzin) broke down. I checked the date of the battery and figured, it’s past its waranty so it’s about time to buy a new one. So, I did. Apparently, that wasn’t the problem.

Without showering, I woke Leo up to go with me to get the car fixed. We finally found someone who would fix the problem and after some phonecalls, we proceeded to have it fixed. Who knows, the problem might not be as serious as it may seem.

It wasn’t. But in that span of 24 hours, I spent around 1,600 + 1,500=X.

When we got back to apartment. We realized it was too freaking hot to live in that hell hole for the next 2 day holiday - so, without much hesitation, we packed out bags with food, water and clothes to go off on an adventure.

Destination: Unknown

Cuplrits: Jab (driver), Townee(lone gurl na boy na yata), Kadyo(the ectomorphic percussionist), Nigel (newlybald), Jack (the dismissed), Leo (the one who likes butts) and Edward (the silent bitch). You counted right, seven people.

With Camera’s loaded and more rolls to spare, with a fund for gas and a little for food, we headed to the - well, where the road lead us.

We gassed up in calamba and procured a map from the shop. We figured everyone from Los Banos will be headed to Laiya, and according to sources, Laiya is packed and there’s no way for it to be cheap. It won’t accomodate seven pennyless kids packed in a civic.

As percieved, the road trip was musiced (past tense of music used as a verb) by E-heads, the Circus album. Then, we had Dave Matthews ( a favorite of everyone in the car, to my delight of course), Keanne and a host of other road trippable songs.

It was late in the afternoon, we were past Batangas City and realized we need the precious sunlight to capture good photos. After a quick grubmunch in a carinderia on the side of the road, we drove to the next interesting town: Brgy. Balisong in the Bayan of Taal. The road had stalls and stalls selling Balisong and knives, a specialty of the province. And, lo and behold, our first beautiful place, the Church of Taal. Took pictures, prayed and played with the kids.

Then, we all realized we were feeling icky so we needed water - To the beach! We had several destinations - Nasugbu, Lian, Calatagan and Calaca.  We wanted to catch the sunset.

So after beach hopping, asking for rates, judging if the places we checked out were safe for us to camp out on, we finally found a place. It was an abandoned rest house with the least most inviting beach front. It was hell - haunted. Fun! The caretaker wanted 700 for the hole (this aint a typo) night, I haggled it down to 400. We cooked dinner, talked, took pictures, shared stories and slept. Upon waking up early in the morning, we felt what teenagers feel the most in the morning (next to being sexually thirsty and wanting more sleep) - Hunger.

We drove to Balayan Batangas and within 5 minutes of discussion, we found ourselves sharing Jolibee meals like brothers and sisters letting each and everyone taste each others food.

Next stop, to look for the best beach that is affordable and not too Posh. (that just crossed Lago de Oro and Punta Fuego off of our list). Drove off. Got ready -  and wahoo!

TBC. (to be continued)

Note to self (put up photos).

PS - The car is in very good condition, we have become so attatched to JC we make sure she is feeling better than us. Great car - memorable - and now we are eight.