Nature Retreat: A Zambales Adventure!

So last Saturday, I went to Zambales. The way this trip arranged itself was that Keav's friend Karlo asked him if he wanted to go since he and his girlfriend, Flexy were planning on going out of town for the weekend. And Keav asked if he could take me--obviously, seeing as how I am writing about this, Karlo said yes.

It was my first time meeting Karlo and Flexy and I swear to goodness, they're one of the cutest and most chillaxed couples I've ever met. Hahaha But more on that later.

For me, this adventure began earlier than it did for everyone else. Zambales is up north, near Subic. And Keav, Karlo and Flexy are all from the north of Metro Manila--the Mandaluyong/San Juan/QC area. Being from the south of Metro Manila, in one of the most inaccessible albeit secure villages ever made it would seem, I was up at 4:00 am on Saturday--a challenge for me as Friday night was spent downing beers with by brother.

At 4:30 I was speeding down (or should I say "up" since we were going North) SLEX with Kuya Will, our dear driver. I got dropped off at Taft around 5:00 and I was on the Doroteo Jose-bound train by 5:15. By 5:45 I was on the LRT-2 line, heading for J. Ruiz station where they would pick me up. Taking the train at that time of day is wonderful. The train feels clean and everyone smells like shampoo and soap. Also, it was nice listening to the young medical professionals (mostly nurses) talking about their lives--one girl's boyfriend hated that she had the early morning shift because he was a call center agent who had the night shift and they never saw each other, another guy was scared of being fired for messing up someone's charts by accident. Very nice.

I was at J. Ruiz station by around 6:10; Keav and Karlo were on their way. But just as I got out of the train area and the machine happily swallowed my ticket, nature started calling. Motherfucker. So I had to beg the lady guard (who was on the train with me earlier) if I could kindly use their bathroom. And wow, high-five J. Ruiz station! They had a pretty clean bathroom with running water and everything. Also, thankfully I'd brought along liquid soap, tissue and perfume. Hahaha

After the boys picked me up, we went to pick Flexy up at her house. And we were off!

Like every good trip to the central plains of Luzon, we had a short stop over at one of the gas stations along NLEX for breakfast. Keav and I had some very good Jollibee breakfast.

The rest of the ride was smooth sailing. Or rather, speedy sailing. After about 30 minutes of driving from the gas station, Flexy took the wheel and damn--that girl can drive. If there was ever a Fast and the Furious movie set in the tropics, they should definitely cast her. Maybe as Vin Diesel's distant cousin. We were going at a speed of 120-140 the entire time but the ride was so smooth that aside from the occasional rolling around in the backseat from a sharp turn, you wouldn't know it until you noticed that there were almost no cars ahead of you.

The view along SCTEX was very nice. We saw a lot of very interestingly shaped trees and mountain ranges although I was only able to snap a couple of photos: one of a bird house in the Subic area and another of the sea as we were going up a short zig-zag.

Adorable bird house along SCTEX. I want to buy/have one made for my dad's lovebirds.

Hello, there ocean.

We arrived at the resort--a place owned by Karlo's family--around 11:00 am. The place is called Montecruz and is beautiful. It's very well-kept but also very intimate. I was able to count only around 7 or 8 cottages lining the sea front. Also, there was a wedding happening when we arrived: it was an intimate ceremony in the gazebo area. The people were very nice, too. They invited us for lunch afterwards.

Flexy and Karlo during lunch under a tree

Me and Keav at lunch; that's Keavin's "camwhore" face.

After lunch, we played a lot of video games on Flexy's iPad and spent most of the early afternoon just lazing around in the cottage. One thing I loved about the cottages was that they had names; for instance we were in the Ilang Ilang cottage. 

Our giant ashtray :))

View of the beach from our cottage porch

Roof details of our cottage

Outdoor shower by the cottage

Keavin playing videogames

At around 3pm, we headed to the beach. The waves were gigantic, to the point of becoming almost terrifying. Got played with by the ocean, was literally riding a wave, and was about five feet above the actual shore. Keavin got swallowed whole and spit out, landing on the shore like a piece of driftwood. Also, he lost his glasses meaning he was blind for the rest of the trip.

Karlo digging; trying to build his "iron throne" out of sand

A newly-blinded Keavin taking "pictures" of the sky

After hanging out by the water, chafing from all the sand in our pants, we decided to head back to the cottage, wash up and watch the sunset.

Photo by Keavin Mutuc

Photo by Keavin Mutuc 

Photo by Keavin Mutuc

That night and the next day, we spent most of our time playing cards, video games and videoke-ing. :)) Also, eating like pigs, on the menu were: bagnet, grilled liempo, chicken barbeque, corned beef + hotsilog and barbeque chips.

Karlo singing, with feeling

Videogames + Videoke

Left Zambales at around 2:00 pm yesterday and got back to Metro Manila around 5:30. Two train rides and a bus ride later, I was back home in Alabang (at around 7:30). :) All in all a good and very relaxing (but tiring) weekend. :D