Anawangin. Capones.

day 0, May 23. this trip was something we talked about. partially planned. the day before the trip, i had to check with the PAG-ASA for possible LPA's. raech and i talked about its details and just imposed them to everyone else. the catch of it all, up to the last minute, raech didn't get any confirmation with her permission from her dad. and to get his approval, i had to show-up. with the possibility that i might go back from Laguna alone and canceling the getaway, we still gave it a shot. it turned out irresistible with the backing-up of raech's mom and brothers. the mood was set and i was tagged along their family dinner in North Park - Alabang Town Center. the post-dinner was supposed to be moviewatching. apparently, tickets ran out for that screening time. who could still be watching Ironman on its third week?! oh, jinx! we ended up roaming around, buying some havs and playing with the elevator. boohoo!

day 1, May 24. At 2:30 in the morning, raech woke me up and by four, we were already sneaking out of their house trying not to make some noise which was hard as i bumped into some shelf with my big fully packed The North Face and coolerbag. we opted to just walk out of their village as waking up his brother to bring us to the bus terminal or calling for a tricycle would possible attract attention. we arrived after mel, abby and liss. seph showed up shortly. and where is jere?! he overslept, but luckily we were on board the Victory Liner bus going to Zambales at 6am. after more than four hours of traveling and enduring the winding road, we arrived at some town and made our way to Apo Baket.

(the view from Apo Baket Resort, the Carmelita overlooking Capones island on the right,
while waiting for Gino)

we had our brunch and purchased drinking water and booze! we boarded the Carmelita as soon as Gino arrived. just imagine how the boat in the photo above could fit 10 people. the roughly 40-minute boat ride was full of anticipation and excitement. upon setting foot on the shore, we surveyed the area. camps were already up. and since "kame ay nakakaangat sa buhay" we set-up our tents on the other half of the area where there were comfort rooms, running fresh water source and caretakers to attend to us. this part was something i'm still proud of and without hesitations, taking cedits for. it took for a gay-guy to put up all four tents! boys, it wasn't at all hard! well, i just felt the need to be able to make a tent stand erect after watching Brokeback Mountain. seph, mel, gino and jere who were itching to get their Anawangin-water dip, hit the beach; as me, liss, abby and raech looked for the infamous lake or lagoon or whatever body of water was that and had our photo-op.

the ashed shores of Anawangin.
the other side is blocked by a stretch of mountain that, much to my dismay, concealed the sunrise.
'tis where we played the cardio-intensive improvised frisbee
where gino and seph ran-after and massacred the poor hermit crabs
where raech and seph held hands while walking.



my taste of sunset.

(pine trees outnumbered the coconut trees)

whatever-body-of-water.
with the craziest thoughts,
scared us the way Lake Placid did
its mossy bed might have been hiding snakes
a log from a distant transformed into an Anaconda
which made us all lucky to hear Abby let out her first-ever swear.

infamous. boat. the famous boat.
where the bed is of powdery white sand
where the hot and cold portions of water doesn't blend into a lukewarm.

day 2, May 25. thinking we'd be running out of food to last til 4 in the afternoon, we asked for our bangkeros to fetch us after lunch. and thinking that it was still too early to go home and with the feeling that we hadn't had enough of the beach yet, we opted to do a side trip to Capones Island. after some negotiations to get it for a lower price, we boarded and went on a 30-minute ride to the island.

Capones. Capones! Capones!!
better swimming spot
powdery white sand
clearer water
found Nemo!




we're thankful that we pushed-through with this side trip!

boarding back the boat, i couldn't locate my Havaianas Surf until we reached the Apo Baket, where i was already planning to turn Carmelita upside-down just to find it. i found it hidden somewhere where am sure the bangkeros hid it intentionally. not funny!

we boarded a minibus which was not at all comfortable going to the Olongapo bus terminal. we were all asleep on our way to Cubao.

it was a thrift trip. i made sure of that as i was saving for my Coron, Palawan trip two-weeks after. i won't be able to account for the expenses, but, i am sure it didn't cost each of us Php1500 bucks for everything.