I received a message from a reader turned friend for a getaway in Batangas last March 24-25. I don't remember the last time I got out of the city when it was Holy Week so it's a little refreshing. We'll be going in this private beach (and also secluded) in Laiya Batangas with my fellow author Race Darwin and some of his readers too. When Sic learned about it that same day, he joined us on the spot since he's just also in Batangas.
Our meeting place was on JAM LINER'S terminal at Buendia. I arrived past the meeting time, which is 2pm, because of the traffic in Shaw and a little too, in Guadalupe. Good thing that when I arrived there, they're already complete and the bus we got in to was already leaving.
We met with Sic in SM LIPA where we got a van to San Juan Bayan.
My mom kept on calling me just to make me realize that what she said about how far the place was true. Lol. It's damn far plus the traffic we encountered. We arrived at San Juan Bayan past 6pm. Race Darwin met us there then we went to their home first to eat then we went to Alegre after a few more minutes.
Since it's dark and Race doesn't really remember the whole road from the last time he came there with his sister, we had to ask where's the road to Alegre. The road were rocky because it's far from the highway. There's only few houses around, then the rest is just fields or coconut trees. We had to stop once and walk since the motorbikes and the tricycle might not make it because of the big rocks on the road. Then the next time we walked, we had to walk down the cemented road. That's when they saw the place, but it's dark.
When the person in charge welcomed us, he told us that it's dark because of the brownout. We settled to the room until a few minutes then the electricity came back.
We were talking about night swimming on the way but just decided to rest since we can't drink the Tequilla we bought because someone forgot to bring lemons and salt! Sayang.
Anyway, we have plenty of food. We were even joking like "Are we staying here for a week?" or something like "Is this a 3 days 2 night trip?" they bought a lot of chocolates too!
The view the next morning! It's low tide but we still enjoyed it.
This is our spot! After a few picture takings, we plunged in. A few more minutes and Race's mom and sister came with us.
Sic getting the right angle. Lmao.
Then we just explored the beauty of the place. When we arrived that night, only one family with tents were there. The next morning, 2 more groups came but it wasn't crowded and we enjoyed the free space and just playing around.
Apparently, the motorboats from other resorts that we saw passing by with a lot of people are going to the nearby Alegre Cave. It was at the left part of the place we were in but a little too far so we just went into this little cave. It was said to be the cave where Ann Curtis filmed Dyesebel.
Then more picture taking at the rock formations and the super clear water! We really enjoyed the clean water and the small fishes we're chasing to play with.
Our accommodation, on the other hand, is old, but big!
The good and bad thing about this place is that it's far, secluded and minimally maintained but even though the trip was far and a little bit exhausting, we enjoyed the seclusion of the place. We didn't feel the need to find our own place at the sea and the shore because we owned it. The other families were just dipping for a few minutes then they would go back to their cottages.
This trip was way out of my budget but damn it, no regrets that I paid more than I expected! All of us had our fun and we were even talking of going back already soon! Clear blue waters and feeling like you own the place and the beach, heaven!
This is the road going up where our service are waiting. We learned our lessons. We should hire a four wheeler service next time. We could have, but since we arrived in the evening already, it was hard to find a jeep for us to hire. So we had to stop for four times because we're been dying already of exhaustion.
With the team before we leave this little paradise!
The rocky road. Most of the road we passed by were like this and some with big rocks too before we finally got to the main road. The funny thing was, the tricycle I was riding with Kenneth and Jenn had a misfortune. We just heard a loud bang, turned out, it was one of the wheel. The funnier thing is that the tree where the tricycle stopped had this sign:
So we had to wait a few more minutes for the help to come.
While waiting for the rescue!
We had some more chitchat when we arrived at Race's home. His mother and father were very accommodating. They even had us halo-halo! His father was expecting us to stay for the night and drink the left overs of the Tequilla we had but I have to go home since it's my mom's birthday and I'll be going home straight to Novaliches.
So the long travel started again. There's no direct trip to Cubao among the buses in SM LIPA. I bought two boxes of Buko Pie for pasalubong. So Cristy and I just rode a Star Mall Alabang route bus. From there I rode a bus to Cubao, then to Novaliches Bayan which was very hard! I got into the first bus I saw almost thirty minutes after I went down from the bus in Cubao. I bought a small cake roll in Bayan.
I arrived past 11pm in Novaliches and I was so exhausted but again, no regrets, just love!
.png)
.png)
0 Comments