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.

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...

Monday it was friggin hott -

Maan, the newly grad, visited kasi she missed her crew - the Ilags boys, now known as the Bonita's Boys.

Morning was quite normal but as soon as the heat started beating down on us, I began feeling fraustrated.

Living in Los Banos is great. Hot Springs are great. But hot springs in your bathroom during the summer in Los Banos aint a good thing.

Imagine going to the bathroom to cool off with a shower. Lo and behold, the water is friggin hot... Duhh, you live on a volcano, for sure the water is hott.

Anyhow, I decided to bring whoever can come, with me to somewhere we can all cool off. Fist thing in my mind? Waterfalls!

Beat that. After an hour and a half of driving and praying we are on the right track, we finally were parking and getting ready on that 15 minute hike to the Majayjay Falls in Taytay, Majayjay , Laguna. The cuplrits: Myself (My Lola called me the Promotor), Luis, Maan, Jack, Toni and Leo.

Campers abound in the vicinity of the falls. People who also want to escape the heat from the urban and suburban. The fresh waters falling of the side of Mt. Banahaw was cold enough to cool your 1.5 coke to drinkable temperatures. We swam, frolicked, swam and litterally "chilled" under the gallons and gallons of fresh, cool, mountain water. We turned off our cellphones and left it in the car, we didnt want to be discovered. Peter Pan enjoyed Neverland without a cellphone.

We ate merienda on the boulders on the stream with the waterfalls some 15 meters away, (Imagine eating merienda with a majestic waterfalls as your view...) and as soon as the sunset, we hiked back up to where we left our car (JC).

It was dark hiking back. We only had my small Swiss Army LED flashlight to guide me. I turned it off though when fireflies started popping up left and right. Like a fantasy, like a dream, dots of light go on and off in the trail, on the side of Mt. Banahaw...

Cool -

PS - bringing them to that place brought me a sense of pride. It's like showing a group of kids something nice, inexpensive and giving them memories they can keep (which quite litterally is what happend). I sensed that this experience of escaping daily life with youthful abandon, with no plans or itenerary, will teach them life is not always grabbed by the horns, rather, it can also be greeted with open arms to free the mind and spirit - to enjoy like we are all 8 years olds once more.

Will go back to camp at Majayjay this Saturday - Locals said there are other more beautiful waterfalls up the mountain.

Need to satisfy my curiousity.

Sunday morning-will wake up to go straight to Lucban for the yearly Pahiyas Festival, Food, colors and a fiesta!

Who's joining me?

Thursday - It's still friggin hott...

I celebrated my birthday about amonth ago - twas fun! So much fun, so many people endless beer - whoopie!

What's better than just going to The Pahiyas Festival???

Sleeping by the waterfalls in Majayjay before and after going to the Pahiyas...

It has been a while since I last slept in the wilderness.

The weekend of May 14 and 15 was something to be remembered for years to come.

Packing like your average Badger, we attempted to hike the higher parts of the Majayjay waterfalls of Mt. Banahaw. Going higher, we found some natural pools and streams with fast flowing and high volume water. It was crazy - we liked it. When we started seeing fireflies, we realized that it was starting to get darker. We have ye to set camp.

Setting camp in the crowded Majayjay area was like finding a jackpot prize. It was most sought for. Deeper into the woods, we finally found one that can almost accomodate our two tents. Almost.

That night, we had dinner and had tons of fun playing with the camera and the light effects that we were able to make out of our lamps. Pictures to come . . .

Early that next morning we broke camp and drove to Lucban, 20 minutes South South East of Majayjay via a dirt road. Upon arrival in Lucban, we were warned by the Police force that we are into alot of stress if we drove 'through' town. It was a standstill, it was like Metro Manila.

WE met with the PhotoS and we finally did our thing. We walked around town and took pictures. Took alot of pictures. It was fun.

It was too hot for us. Too stressful. We all had very little sleep and we all wanted to relax.

Back to Majayjay!!!

weekend - done

Ok ok - Im cheating - But Im trying to catch up. It's been more than a week since I last tabed.

During my last week. I had Finals Exams in Math 11. Partied in pasig with some friends (*more like sit down and drink beer) and flew half way round the world wearing my red board shorts, my dugyut UP shirt and my Mojos.

I miss them. I miss - alot of things. Alot of people.

Im here though, with the WHOLE family! as in!

It was like Kingsville plus plus again! We are all grown up, we are all having fun and there are NO barrier with the Kids and Grown ups, except for the seating arrangements when it comes to the vans.

The other day, we went to the beach in redondo and long beach. Then we hiked along the Hollywood sign trail. It was tiring but again we had fun. I'm starting to realize it's not what your doing but who your doing it with when it comes to judging if your having fun or not. It may just be sittin on a roller coaster waiting for it to bullet out or sitting at home waiting for that time to come to leave.

Crazy huh?

Along the Hollywood trail at Griffith park, we saw the observatory where The Charlie's Angels fought with Demi Moore. Yeah, they blew it up so now the observatory is under repair. Tsk Tsk.

Yesterday we drove down to San Diego - twas - hehe - Fun. Tiring, but fun. Pics to come. I hope.

Off to Vegas!