DAY ONE: Anawangin Cove. Word of mouth about an unspoilt and secluded natural cove north of Manila had Rach and me scrambling for means to explore it on travel-peak April. So straight from a busy Friday night, we met with the Travel Factor Group at around 6am in McDonald's Quezon Avenue for the Zambales tour we signed up to. To get to our destination, we rode for some 4 hours to San Antonio, Zambales. Boats for island hopping can be rented on the Pundaquit beach stretch. What really drew us to the trip was the secret that was Anawangin: nature at its most serene, untouched by chain resorts and huge crowds. And indeed it held true to its promise. If you just don't bother with inaccessible bathrooms and stuff. When our boats docked on shore, there were already other campers who were set up in the island. But that was not a problem since the beach was big enough to accommodate hundreds. Greeting us was a trail of pine-looking trees that led to a fresh-water lagoon. The lagoon stretched long, parallel the beach, which was cropped by interesting rock formations. When sunset came, we headed back to camp. Rach and I bought a sleeping bag and a tent (the mountaineers helped us set up) prior to the trip so we got to sleep together, and apart, from our pre-arranged assignments. I had a headache, which attributed to what she called my zombie moments at beach, so I slept early and skipped the socials part with the other tour participants, but through Rach's prodding, managed to catch around midnight big, big shining blue stars amid the whistling wind and the prattling of nocturnal birds.



Day Two: Capones Lighthouse. Since I left my backpack at the van in Pundaquit (instruction was to bring only bare necessities) before the boat ride to Anawangin, I only had my cargos on (which Rach argued were jogging pants) to wear to the trek. So it was uncomfortable because half of it soaked wet with sea water from the boat hops. But it did turn into shorts when I unzipped its leg parts, much to Rach's surprise. Pebbles instead of sand for beach -- really slippery -- but I was the only one to had a big butt bump. We climbed up to where the lighthouse stood. The lighthouse was charming although it's mostly worn down. The skyline from its top overlooked the sea, revealing ridges from afar and patches of grasslands below. After lunch, we got back to the resort, where I most enjoyed soaping up. We had a long, good talk about the future ahead of us on the beach before dinner. Seeing that there was no TV in the bedroom, I asked Rach if she didn't miss mass media and all. She of course took it as my being bored. I explained, invoking my Comm Theory classes that made this trip a necessity for reclaming sanity, that we urbanites were like fish in the aquarium, unaware of the sensory environment that ubiquitous communications technology wean us on. But yeah right the sea was our frontyard that time so I shut up and slept tight.



Day Three: Camara Island. Rach and I were having a beach breakfast when a man who claimed to be a Badjao approached us and sold pearls and other such sea gems. Later we found out of an apparent overpricing, but never mind. The agenda for the day was to go to the nearby island across the resort we stayed at, where the beach was made of fine corals. Come to think of it, it was only there we bathed at sea the whole trip. Even as we unwound with the gentle waves, I blurted out something mindless that led Rach to snob me for about an hour. She only recovered after arranging our dirty laundry as we prepared to leave (she packs really well) and recovered some more after eating Eaji. My stupid mouth. One extra realization: I might need to do crunches as my tummy bulged in our pictures upon review, haha. At the end of the trip, I remembered my former boss's text message before my St Paul trip last year. It read: "Travel deepens love of places and people. Laugh off your blunders." And indeed, I loved Rach more more more after her seeing me snore and slip on my flipflops, and got to laughing off my bloopers on hindsight -- zombieng out, wearing jogging pants at the beach, saying something crass in front of my girlfriend. In all it was a really nice trip, and quite value-for-money affordable -- our thanks again to the people of Travel Factor.