Tour de Batangas, the great escape - may 1-2 2005.
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.
