Pangasinan Getaway

[Weird_O]

April 2004 - Pangasinan Weekend Getaway will be entered into the anals of fourbee history as one of the best experiences to date. The pain, suffering, and joy experienced in the three day Baler Getaway will never compare to this one unforgetable weekend road trip. The time is brief but we have covered almost all of Pangasinan. Unbelievable? Maybe... coz we ourselves has yet to grasp the fact that we did and we have experienced it... it feels so unreal that it felt like it never happened, that it is just a dream, but real it is... it happened... and we were lucky to have experienced it.

"Wishes do come true..." - ask Sugar. Don't just wish for anythin it might just come true.

"It's so unreal, it feels like it never happened...", and so what was real? I dare not answer, I'm still having doubts. Its like waking up having a really bizzare dream... and the weird thing is you can feel travel lag, you have sun burns, and you have cuts and bruises to prove it. So what was real?

In the middle of the week, I'm peacefully working [or appear to be in defference to my new officemates innate knowledge that I am an industrious and resposible employee which I am as far as I know]... but let's leave at that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and that is hardly the point of this article.

So the point is, Sugar called me up asking me to pack up my things and join the trip to this god-knows-where-place I've never been to. I don't want to go, from the simplest alibi that it's too soon, or I don't have the money, and you know that too, to having a period... err I mean my periodic bouts of laziness to go pick myself up and do something else other than stare at my monitor and do nothing err work.

After a lengthy and really brain cell draining explanation from Sugar, she finally convinced me to come to the promise that she will finance this trip and my allowance for the next two weeks until I get my first paycheck at the end of the month and pay her when able... sound reasonable ain't it? So I grabbed the chance to go out of town on the weekends without any money and with a promise.

Since I won't be able to come home on weekends I gotta do my laundry thursday night so I will still have undies for the next week and I won't have the embarassment moment of wearing "Side B" and soggy undies on the next working week... that would totally be uncool. So I did my laundry at Sugar's, washing machine, water, and soap freely provided. Finished at 12. Went home and had a worried night sleep thinking what tomorrow will be like.

Frankly I was worried who this people are. Most important thing would be, can Steph afford having to finance my nuances? Not that I have many, still... you'll never know what will go wrong. I hate not being on top of the situation and being helpless... no way!

But, still as a good follower I am, I went because, one, I don't think Sugar will be keen on going with Jeanette and Randy only for companion. And that I would probably add a balance between Jeannetes legendary temper and Nilo's uncanny ability to irritate anyone within a mile without even saying anything... and if you ever believe that you're as nuts and weird as I am... but since you have already have reached this far, do me the favor and continue reading these rantings. c",)

Ok, since you're still here... I'll go continue my rantings... Steph as usual, being the "let's try this, its fun!" attitude is the leader of the pack and as usual as excited as ever.

Of course as usual the trip, starts with a little witty package from Nilo... we will meet him at Makati Stock Exchange at around 6 PM and he wittingly described that "I am wearing a blue hat" ... for good intentions of course - that we may be able to identify him easily amid the throng of people plying the busy stock exchange area. What can I say, we did found the dude with a blue hat, and guess what? It's Nilo and not Randy... sheesh!

Tomorrow naman... am really wasted.

[Weird_O]

After waiting for around 10 minutes, here comes Jeanette or Posh [well you know her]. She's late as usual. This is shaping to be a hell of a trip... nobody thought of bringing any camera except of course their phone cameras. I thought, how would we document this trip? Hell... bahala na sila.

I'm having seconds thoughts about this early in the trip. I feel that this won't work. Everything feels so wrong. I don't have money that's one. We're not prepared for this trip, that's two. And three, I just don't feel like going. I missed home and I missed Sean.

Small consolation for a change, our Ride came. I thought this would be a battered, no aircon, no sound travel affair, I'm wrong... this is the RIDE. The driver seemed friendly enough and having "Art" for a name seemed harmless enough for my two companions... but there's two guys afront of FX, one the brother of the driver and the other a friend... I thought they'll be joining the trip. I don't like this. I don't like this one bit. If push comes to shove, I can't be able to defend my friends let alone myself. Am weird so bear with me, they are a harmless lot... but like any other male I am a little over protective with people I care about.

We picked up the next member of this trip (a lady - that's how I will describe her) at Crossing's and I'm surprised that the two afront got off and left. What the...? Turned out they're not going with us. Ok, two points for this trip. Heck, this might turn out ok. The next one at Sta. Mesa (the snob lady) and then the serious guy who looked like chinese in origin we picked up from god-knows-where. It's dark so we kid around that this is going to be the place for us to get "salvaged". Heck whatever, its a creepy place.

So as it turned out when everything is settled, everyone is introduced... or tried to introduce themselves... (Please! Stop. There's no stage in here to imagine us having to introduce ourselves to the whole world... It's more like awkward at first... ) Lady Jing the one we picked up at Crossing, she's cool, dark wavy hair, a little chubby, big round eyes, and a little aloof from the group, I don't know what she is about but I still like to think of her as the lady. And there's Jason, he was introduced as recently graduate of medicine (a doctor!). This one is a serious looking dude. Prim and proper kind of guy. Neat looking, long hair (ala-F4), chinese, and serious. There I go again with the serious thing... guess this guy is really that serious huh? Alright there's Art, the designated driver, Nilo's officemate, and Jason and Jing's friend. It must be too dark that night that I didn't notice if he is really chinese (as he claims to be! - peace dude!)... hair ala-F4, dark, tall, and really cool. The Fourbees Nilo, Me, Posh, and Sugar. And of course there's the haciendera. The first time I met this gal, or was introduced to me she just ignored me. I'm there but am not, sort of feeling. I don't know if she's pissed at me for making her wait to finish my food or she's just that. I can't blame her, I really am a little slow devouring food. Wow superlatives! Devour. Jen isn't to be triffled with. Straight to the point and snob. That's my first impression for this gal. Asked whether she's beautiful... I said, she's ok... she really is guys, except for being snob... she will pass up on my scale of nice people. I just added that she remains to be seen, maybe am wrong and she proved that I really am.

So that's the group. Now the Ride. A super Sound System, leather seats and cool air con. What can we say? This is the RIDE. with all the capitals!

It turned out that the "haciendera" has a mango farm... mind you farm in their huge hacienda aquino. Hmmm... remember teleserye with the mango tree? Imagine that, that's close to it. Actually, that's the start of the conversation... at first we were talking among ourselves... nobody wanted to talk to us so we started to really put in gear or this trip would be a bore. As usual, Posh's legendary tempered flared up with the irritant Nilo. I was worried at first how the people would take Posh's backlash at Nilo. Would they be offended?

.... to be continued... uwi muna ako.

[Weird_O]

It's hard to imagine much more believe that this 8 people from different walks of life, connected through friends and officemates only would come together and form this trip. Well, actually its not that easy at first. Most would probably cower to one side and die of boredom. And there's us. Not much in the history of fourbee where they aren't talking. And if you don't find them talking, they're eating or better yet talking and eating at the same time. Superlatives again! [sobra na ito!]

So in his usual role, Randy/Nilo provided the entertainment on the first part of the journey. Is there a second part? Why of course, when the two gals run out of gas they visited dreamland for a short while... while we wallowed in the relative peace and tranquility of this moment in the trip. About an hour later close to the border of Tarlac and Pampanga the two gals found their wits, partially recharged and rested broke the silence.

Another time another place, we didn't know if we're lost or not. We have to stop and ask directions. Some times we have to do it twice because either the direction is vague or we we're just pointed out to a direction. (This incident will be repeated several times all throughout this trip)

It's a really dark night on this trip. The moon wasn't up (either she was resting or behind the hills and clouds) and purposely (I think) and does not provide the extra grace of her moonlight to guide us on this journey. Maybe it was the added excitement of driving around in the dark and the creepy place behind us where we've been that Art really puts the pedal to the metal. After a long while we came up to Camiling, then down to the first town of Pangasinan. Another hour and we're close to San Carlos.

And then the Aquino Hacienda as we fondly called it, we finally arrived.

It's almost 3 in the morning and the guys are really feeling the travel lag. Aches and pains and bloodshot eyes. Still feeling harrased and craving for a bed to put the tired body, everyone sat there drained and wasted. Eventually everyone slept. I chose the hamock, I thought I could sleep easily with the swinging and all. I was wrong! When I wake up I was feeling like I was doubly harrassed, my body aches and my eyes feels like shutting and never wanted to open again.

So groggy and harrassed, we started the trip to Alaminos. Joy, Jen's sis joined us on this trip. So we've got five Js an A, an O, and an R and an S.

The trip is really nice by this time. It's new even to me. Long rolling hills big flat plains and some bridges over beautiful rivers really has put the tone of the trip from harrasment to adventure. Maybe because of the weather and the prospect of seeing the "islands" really put everyone at an extra level of excitement.

After over 3 hours of travel we finally arrived in Alaminos. We registered and rented a boat that will bring us to the islands offshore. After awhile we're off. Armed with cameras and lotion and shades we're off to a good start. The guides quickly pointed out some really big islands. Prominent among these are the Quezon, Children's, Monkey, and the Governor's Islands to name a few of them. The guides really knows their way around the islands. We just toured around one part of the islands and we can't decide where to drop anchor and claim one island for ourselves. In the moment of indecision a lot of islands has already been occupied so we boat around the islands looking for a suitable place to swim. We chose the Governor's after surveying place. We didn't make the wrong decision. It is the place... to sleep he he. After eating brunch (breakfast and lunch) I slept. While the guys take a swim and climb the top of the island hill and viewed the whole 100 islands. I missed it, I was off wandering around dreamland chasing mermaids and mermans (term used in a movie). When I wake up I swim around and earned some cuts on my hands and my feet and a jelly fish sting for the effort! It was really painful. Ouch!

The guys got back and decided to swim the waters around the Children's Islands. Its for children's only, but there's no sign and nobody stopped us. Besides there's adult on the islands too. So we did. Randy and Jen catch some fish, the guys slept, I swim and raze hell with the children. We wisely steered Jeanete out of contact with the children. She might make "babag" the children and we get thrown out and chased out of the islands.

Earned the tan and sun burns and wanting a real beach for a change compared to the islands meager beach fit for children we decided to take this trip to Bolinao. I don't know at this time if our luck will run out, coz we managed to get ourselves entagled at another van. After a brief moment of hysteria we sped out of the parking lot to escape the authorities (this is really hair raising) he he... thankfully there's not much damage to the RIDE. So we're off to Coco Beach near Puerto del Sol in Bolinao. As usual we managed to get ourselves lost a couple of times and a lot of asking for directions before finally arriving at the beach.

A long stretch of beach, white sand, big boulder of rocks placed on the beach presented the backdraft of this enchanting place. The sun is conviniently on the upper south east so you will have a clear view of the whole beach. This would be a picture perfect place if I just brought my big cam. Coconut trees dotted the whole resort and beach houses conviniently located near the beachfront. Nice place.

The five of us Jen, Sugar, Posh, Joy, and me hasn't taken a shower after leaving hundreds. My first priority is shower and eating. I did both ahead of everyone and finally eat. We tried to pull some prank on the guys by placing a bottle of sea water on the table. It didn't work, Jen has the presence of mind to even open the bottle. Darn! Sayang!

Beach beauties and drunk guys we leave Coco beach with a beautiful memory and glowing from both tan and the memory of both.

Would you care if I tell you that most of this getaway is spent travelling? Its like half of our time is spent on the RIDE. Not that we are complaining, the ride is smooth and relaxing especially with the sound in full bass and treble.

Around 9 PM (actually I'm too wasted to even remember what time it is) we arrived at Hacienda Aquino, dined and prepared to sleep. We were herded off to the next mansion with a really huge dog.

We chose the last room but I can't sleep so I made some noises. I think everyone is asleep or just resting, alarm went off but I just don't want to get up. Bahala kayo. Or am asleep but I don't want to get up. Whatever, they told me there's an earthquake that night. I didn't know, I thought randy is just in one of acrobatic sleeping modes. So early in the morning, I woke up early checked the place if the dog is out. And did my morning routine.

Randy climbed the tree while I did the mango with the stick. We get almost worth of 10 kilos out of that little tree.

We will leave before lunch to eat at Randy's relatives at another town. Showered eaten and ready everyone jumped up and bid goodbye to the folks.

... to be continued...

[Weird_O]

After another two hours of travelling, we came up to another town. This time, Nilo would be the guide. He was telling us about this uncle of his <*censored*>... anyway, if that wasn't much he (I think intended to scare us) led us through a narrow road flanked on both sides by cornfields and everysort of farms you could think of... in a way it was beautiful, until you remember the movie the Signs by mel gibson... I wasn't afraid, it was just creepy. Wait, there's more... that road leads to another lonely road flanked on the left side by a cemetery and the cornfield to the right. I thought, if it was night that we came here, everyone would be on their ass. So we survived the little prank concucted by a puny mind.

So we arrived at Nilo's relative intact and still feeling adventurous but really hungry. They set us up a huge bed of food... yeah literally because it is "papag" where we ate. We had "tinolang manok" and pop cola for lunch.

So this is where it gets a little bit crazy... after wolfing down the food (and as usual am the last one to finish!) we rest for awhile and talk shop with Nilo's relatives. The talk drifted off to where we should buy pasalubong. I don't remember who started mentioning baguio but everybody is sort of... "ok, we are here... Baguio is 2 hours away... " and the thing is everyone is interested to go up to baguio but doesn't want to be the one to brought it up to the group. Jen, is in agreement so's the two lovebirds... Art sorta endorsed the idea that hey let's go... the only surprise and least of our expected reactions is Nilo... he was adamant that we don't go which I will later learn that we don't have the finances for this part of the trip when we came up to gas. I don't want to expound further on the situation that we've been put forth of. You see, you're eager to go to this very place, excited and charged up but you came up to a problem which for the most part would be a total disaster. It's kinda... unpleasant. But the problem quickly solved itself out. I have my trust AIG card [naks dapat bayaran ako nito a! Plug in pa ng advertisement ].

For the most part this is a sorta Lakbay TV. From Nilo's relatives, we came up on the famous SARS village. Then on to still huge rolling hills, farmlands, beautiful rivers, crystal clear waters and the likes.

Next stop Baguio.

[Weird_O]

... on the road to Baguio.

The concluding part of this unforgettable Pangasinan Getaway is the sweetest yet bitterest of all coz like everything nice in this world it has to end. And like most concluding part, the Baguio trip signaled the end of the fun part... well, almost.

The usual banter; and shop talks; and trash-talking our favorite friend Nilo almost made it seemed like a normal part of the trip... well its not. You could feel the tension. The anticipation of seeing the place. Of feeling what's it like to be there again. Would it be different than I last saw it? or Would it be like what I imagined it to be? or What would it really like - Baguio? Thoughts that must have run on everyone's minds. Personally, my mind's running on another thing... what would it feel like with someone to go along with to this place. It must be different. It must be nice to fall in love here.

Flashes of everything, of distant memories, of forgotten things, and thing fresh still on the mind comes streaming on my mind as we started the ascent. I haven't had an opportunity to view it all and appreciate it the last time I visited the place.

In plain view, and still in full daylight, it was a sight to behold. Truly breathtaking. But marred by man's greed, it was dotted by billboards (mostly of telcos) making the city highly commercialized. But that's another matter... it still is beautiful no matter what you say about it. Pollution is slowly creeping in. Smog - smoke and fog combined loomed over downtown baguio like an impending storm to come.

Still all in all, Baguio is just Baguio, like every city in the world. And like every new place I've been into, I'm thinking of sharing it with everyone. The feeling of warmth and humbled by sights and sounds is enough to trigger my sentiments/emotions.

Was it different than everywhere else? Yes on most accounts, its in the mountains and its cold. One thought crossed my mind on this very subject actually... the city's personality is not what is in it... but what was the people view it would be. Like Paris and Love and so was Baguio and Cold. It wasn't funny, but the comparison is ironic.

We drove around the city, added additional fumes to the air, bought some stuff [we didn't coz we're really out of money] raise some hell, conquered our fear of heights, did some "love yourselves thingys" and blew up a tire. I guess our luck's has been used up already. Fortunately, we had a spare, a jack and the tools and the *ahem* skills to change tires.

Of all the places to eat --- shakey's. Huh! Gone to Baguio just to go to SM. What kind of a nuts are these people? Actually it was kinda neat. The view is spectacular and the ladies are gorgeous.

After eating, we started our way back home. Ending what could be one of the best getaways fourbees has ever experienced to date. Life lesson learned: "Wishes do come true!" -- ask Net and Sugar.

As for me, life isn't all about work and tackling every problems. To appreciate life is to appreciate life could offer. Embrace the best and worst that life could offer. Without the latter there's no triumph there's no celebration in life.

End.