A GIANT TALE
Indeed, the Philippines is far too beautiful to stay in one place. I am overwhelmed by it all. This year, as has been the annual hoopla, a group of six disparate and “single” individuals (as someone from the group likes to refer it) took it gigantically. Literally and figuratively. You’ll know why. The original plan was to visit Potipot Island in Zambales but after a slight turn of events we eventually decided to go for Plan B. Initially, I was a little upset as the amount of bucks I have could go only for the original plan. I was worried that I might not be able to go. Being a full-time student surrounded with yuppies can make you a perennially broke individual y’know. And then big-hearted Noyli and Jayson came to the rescue and so suddenly we were all thrilled at the fruition of our most fervent fantasy for the long vacation.
We took the night trip, slept most of the time so the 11-hour bus ride, didn’t really give us much pain in the arse. hehe. In the morning though, still half-awake we were able to get a glimpse of provincial folks with their rural way of life, living in houses oblivious to the fact that it’s in the middle of nowhere. Much simpler than people living in the city. Thinking about it makes you either go wishing your life was rather just as simple as them or be grateful that you had this stressful yet fulfilling job to make you feel important. A self-stamped validation of what you have achieved, accomplished and amassed. Makes you truly wonder, what really matters. But let’s save that for another topic.
After a series of wacky misadventures, (yes, series not just isolated ones) we finally got to see the illustrious and almost flawless perfect cone beauty of Mt. Mayon in Albay. It really is breathtaking despite the Cagsawa Ruins few kilometers away from its ground which reminds you of how nature unleashes its fury. Seeing Mt. Mayon was kind of surreal. I mean after seeing it too much only on elementary textbooks and postcards, its real life perfect glamour could easily rub out all your acquired cynical conjectures about it. We were left with nothing else to do but to take pictures of it, perhaps wishing to capture the whole experience in photo. Or even a facsimile thereof. But you see, trying to capture everything in a still image never do justice. Certainly, there are things that are meant to be experienced with your full senses. The kids who were there trying to show tourists how to make illusions out of their pictures was fun.
After taking pictures to our heart’s content and since time is a lost friend of ours (blame one of the wacky misadventures), we took off right away and head ourselves off to Donsol, Sorsogon. We got there late in the afternoon so we decided to spend the night off doing something that doesn’t require much energy. There’s this collective excitement building up for every hour that pass as it gets closer to the time that we’ll be meeting the gentle giant, Butanding. (FYI, this is the biggest whale shark in the world) And so, that evening we went off firefly watching at some river. (Sorry, forgot its name) and boy, did we saw thousands of them. Full moon, firefly-lit river while on a boat and the incredible stillness the night represents, it was stunning.
Enter next day, this time we couldn’t hide our excitement. We hurriedly got ourselves ready, immediately hired skin diving equipments, even skipped breakfast and almost in no time we were already on the boat with our Bioman, Mang Gerardo. Just in case you’re wondering, Bioman is a nickname for Butanding Interactions Officer. Now as we were happily listening to the tales and accounts of Mang Gerardo, the Spotter in the middle of it announced a sighting which aroused us off our seats and gone berserk. It was all too fast. Now this chronicle is just the tip of the iceberg for me, since all the while when this is all happening I have a little battle of my own going inside me. I don’t know how to swim. It’s my first time in open water and my first time to go snorkeling. What motivated me to do it, only heaven can tell. And so with a life vest on I jumped in, leaving all my worries and fears on the boat. Ok, not exactly. My other hand was tightly clasped around Mang Gerardo who was kind enough to guide me. Hehe. And finally, finally I got to see the famous whale shark. It was unbelievably huge and beautiful and I was smitten. It seemed that there was an undeniable force of animal magnetism that she somehow exudes and I couldn’t help but to succumb to its allure. And then I whispered something to her telling how thankful I am for letting me bask in her awesomeness for the few moments we had. For three hours, the Gentle Giant was obliging enough to show herself four times. Cute show-off. and of course, we don’t mind at all. This experience left us all captivated, overwhelmed and rejuvenated. It is indeed a giant experience. It really is. After that, we found it really hard to leave Donsol. We’d like to repeat the experience and this time, in slow motion. To get moving though, we suit ourselves that this won’t be our last. After a hearty lunch, we got ourselves ready for another long ride off to Caramoan Islands in Camarines Sur.
It was already late when we get to the ferry boats station that will take us there. Now as if to balance our beautiful experience at Donsol, this time we were out of luck. Our planned island-hopping to these islands were ruined by what-perverse-stroke-of-fate-would-arrange-it so that the popular reality tv show “Survivor” was shooting there at the Gota Beach, our exact white sand beach location in the itinerary. It was however disguised in a public notice as “massive development.” Hopes still up that by some miracle we would be able to go to Gota, we settled ourselves to the 30-minute boat ride island of Aguiringan in the meantime. instead of one and a half more bound to Gota. It was a little unsettling, since we were all willing to travel a not less than 10-hour ride from Manila to get to it, even carefully spending money during the whole trip to make sure we don’t compromise this one. But by the time, we set foot on Aguiringan, by golly! it is nothing less of a paradise either. It was an unspoiled haven in every sense of the word. No hotels, no houses, no electricity. Only one comfort room for the whole island and I won’t even go to the details as to how it looked like. It was wild! We arrived there at about 8pm-ish and there were probably around only 20 people on the whole island. I couldn’t describe the feeling when I got there. Imagine a windswept island, a desolate white beach under a star-filled and full moon-lit night surrounded by calm sea and the whispering mountains. It was almost magical. I’m glad we didn’t entirely lose heart over the Survivor thing. Indeed, good things come to those who hustle. After being mesmerized and calmed down by this island’s charms, we decided to kill nothing but time and spent the night off exchanging stories we promised to leave there. Hah. And then something happened while I was having my call and response to the moon in appreciation of its mystery and companionship, suddenly _______’s face was there smiling at me and oh, I think just winked at me. Lovely. I blew him a sweet little kiss in return. Haha. Ok, that didn’t really happen. I just made that up for the romantic suckers. Sorry. :) Seriously now, that night was my first attempt to arrange and re-arrange the stars which by the way looked so untidy that night. Go figure. 
Lying on the sand made me feel like the Earth was caring for my being there as if massaging my spirit and that I was absorbing some of its energy while I’m slowly adapting to this way of life. I’m stoked to be here. Yabba Dabba Doo.
It was not long after that Noyli and I, along with Jayson and Jhoms felt it has gotten seriously cold we decided to end the moonlight-staring contest and shelter ourselves in our temporary encampment. Tin and Jil were already dozing off. Now this is definitely part of the adventure. Remember, there were neither houses nor hotels here, and our “co-islanders” have brought their own tent and we have none. And so we settled ourselves with the little cottages they have here. And OMG, it was friggin’cold. We didn’t get much sleep, understandably. But after seeing much beauty, we’ve tolerated our fair share of torture until the wee hours of the morning. We were up early but not earlier than Noyli and Jayson. I like this time of day when the earth in the morning had a night to cool off in the darkness and how before the sun actually comes up there’s this enjoyable period when the Earth is lighting itself up anxious to get spinning again. Now I just wanted to take hold of time, nail it down and keep myself at a standstill. It is just too pretty around here. I took a moment to take it all in before I split again. I tried to capture the moment in my head determined to carry these memories back to mainland. And I did.
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