Batangas

How do I explain my vacation…? I don’t really know if words could carry the same sort of peace and awe and wonder for the three days and three nights we’ve spent in a beach in Batangas. I could go over the enire trip recounting all we did from start to finish and you won’t get it. This is one of those frustrating times when I feel like I fail the world by not knowing how to express how beautiful it is.

Anyway, mornings in the beach are peaceful. You wake up to see the full moon still clearly visible in the great blue sky stretched out with the even bluer sea. The sun comes out from the mountain behind our tents reflected in the shimmering sea and lighting the world as the moon slowly fades. You see the fog lift up from neighboring islands if you’re awake early enough, like clouds kissing the mountain tops. Everything is peaceful and there, that peace is normal even as you watch the ‘bankero’s go about their morning routine. Nothing can break that peace.

After the flurry of coffee and breakfast, there really is nothing much to do but enjoy that calm. Most of what we did was snorkeling. It is amazing what you see underwater, it never gets tiring… there were different types of fishes of different types of colors (which of course I can’t name), a lot of sea urchins, blue starfishes, other spiky things of the sea urchin family (accdg to someone)… I wish I could swim. And dive. And not drown?

For variance, we dabbled in learning to boat. I won’t say it was a complete disaster but I guess bringing a can to scoop water out of the boat speaks of how good we were at it. They make it look so easy… do you know how frustrating it is to try and turn a boat for a beginner? For goodness sake, the first time they tried it, the boat capsized as the wannabe boatmen was getting on (I hope there was a picture). I always wore a life vest; it’s fun to snorkel in deeper waters.

Late afternoons are too hot to swim, none of us wanting to get burned. The sea is too bright to even look at from a distance. We eat lunch the lounge around for the rest of the afternoon until the heat can be tolerated. Afternoons at the beach IS the vacation. Mostly we sleep, or they play cards, or I read or stare at the horizon, or drink or … whatever do else to pass the time. I’m thinking about it as I’m writing this and the soundtrack of our afternoons is The APO Hiking Society… talk about old school.

Then we go back to the beach… another round of snorkeling or boating or horsing aorund. Friday we went to Dive and Trek (http://www.diveandtrek.com) that was just a few minutes boatride away (just around the seacoast…) I don’t think I could describe how beautiful it is and how amazing it is to be surrounded by so much beauty. Pictures aren’t even enough. One thing to note though, they had this dog, a golden retriever named Bogart whose version of fetch involves jumping to the sea and swimming. I want to take that dog home.

Aside from waddling in the water, snorkeling or our futile attempts at boating, we went trekking. We went partly up the mountainous terrain behind camp. I don’t remember when was the last time I trekked (if I ever did) but it was cool. The sound on the tree-filled wilderness is way differrent from the beach. Everything seems to be alive and teeming with life.

Evenings are something different. The sky is clear, the stars bright. The moon was full for the entire time we’re there (until now I think). After dinner, we hang out before turning in. We had a bonfire Friday night with the boys (where I got plastered and hung over the next morning, I blame it all on Bones). We had set up tents to sleep in. As great as it seems to sleep on the beach, it takes getting used to sleeping on tents.

We ended up staying for three days and three nights leaving early morning of Sunday. Taking vacations are exhausting - I slept most of the day. I wanna do it again!

I’d have let the pictures do the talking but I don’t have it yet…