Holy Week in Galera

It was in 2004 when Vange, Vince and I decided to spend our Holy Week in Puerto Galera. It was not properly planned but when Holy Tuesday came, we already packed our things and headed for a long vacation. It was a good escape. We had a hard time looking for accommodation due to huge crowd having exodus from city life. We tried to look for the cheapest place as we even tried to check some houses that offer home stay. NO offense but we found certain houses that reminded us of outreach programs that we usually do before. As we head back to the beach front to think of our future, Kuya Eloy and Ate Rica approached us and suggested their place. We were hesitant because it was far from the beach front and we assumed that it was a home stay arrangement. It was a long walk but to our surprise, it was a new house with several rooms. It has a living room, kitchen and its own fence. They gave the best deal so we gave in knowing that we can also buy and cook our own food.

That night, we sat by the beach and met some Korean friends from our school and drunk some booze which continued for the entire week. What’s funny was we found out that our budget was becoming limited so we even debated on whether to buy drinks or not in our last night because we would only have less than a hundred pesos and ATM machines are available either in Calapan or Batangas Port. We paid our accommodation using our well-treasured bills and coins.

That place (it has no name) is highly recommended for groups who want to have a quiet place in Galera. When we had our office planning and teambuilding on that same place, we reserved the place and made it our own. They even left us as they were out to celebrate their anniversary. Ahahah…They were very accommodating and trusting. Given a chance, I would choose that place instead of a beach front with a possibility of tsunami (kidding).

Mindoro Sling

It’s not about Mindoro Sling that you may drink in Puerto Galera. It’s about our once in a lifetime adventure in Mindoro. Vane, as we fondly called her, and her family has a mini-farm in Mindoro and her photography group with Franco, Mike and the rest of members decided to have a trip. Me and Jo decided to join even if we don’t have professional camera and not members of that group. Franco and Mike slept in my apartment so we would be early for the first trip from Buendia going to Batangas port. We took a Super Cat going to Calapan where Vane’s mom fetched us. We stayed in their rest house in their farm. The following day, we trek the river side going to the mountains until we reached a tribe of Mangyans. At first, we were questioned by the elders because of the cameras. They later understood there was no malice in visiting the place, it’s just that we were exploring the area

As we went down the mountain, we took a different route that almost made us explore the entire place. There we were fetched by a jeepney going to our rest house. It was so tiring. They even tried to teach me how to swim in the river with no success. Hehe…Though I can swim with a life jacket. After several nights in their farm, we went to Talipan (I hope I remembered it correctly) in Puerto Galera where we were welcomed by the white sand beach and calming sea waters. We even saw the Tamaraw Falls on our way there.

It was a memorable trip. I wonder where Vane is now…