summer daze
Manila, 22 May—First off, I would like to apologize because this week's letter is late. This is because I spent most of the weekend catching up with friends at the beach. This year, we went to Klub Keluarga in Laiya, Batangas.
Anyway, I hope this letter finds you well. We're already halfway through this week. Humpday here we come :)
I usually organize these annual trips to the beach, whether for family or friends. When I was still with the newspaper, Holy Week was usually a good time to go out with officemates, as it was truly the only time we could all go on a leave together. We called our group the Maundy Thursday Group, because our trips were often on this day, one of two days in the calendar when newspaper work is halted in observance of the religious holidays (hence no newspapers on Good Friday and Black Saturday).
We still talk about the most epic Maundy Thursday trip--it was one from five years ago, when we went to Baler. BALIKAN. Oh yes, that's right. SIXTEEN HOURS ON THE ROAD Y'ALL. I know, I know--what were we thinking, amirite? But yeah, for a group that made a Balikan Beach Trip to Bolinao the previous year, I suppose it was par for the course. (LOL sa dami ng Maundy Thursday trips may tag siya sa lumang blog. Nakakamiss mag-blog nang hindi ka galit sa Internet/mundo in general. Sigh.)
TINY BEACH PLANNING DETAILS. Klub Keluarga's daytrip rates are P650/head, inclusive of entrance fee, lunch buffet and use of facilties like the pool and the common toilets/showers. Their open huts are at P1,500/day, good for 8 persons. I think their room rates are at P4,000/room, triple sharing, but that's basing it off a brochure. They're full, so better book in advance if you're planning anything. To get here, one follows the usual Skyway/SLEX-STAR Tollway-Ibaan exit to San Juan route to Laiya beaches, and making a left upon seeing a giant Kota Keluarga sign. It's a bit of a drive from there, and halfway through it the road gets really rough, so vehicle-wise that might also be a consideration.
I'M A BEACH PERSON. I truly am. They say there are only two kinds of people, the mountain people and the beach people, and while I do not entirely subscribe to this dichotomy, I'm more of one thing than the other. The mountains and I are not very good friends because I'm afraid of heights. And because of gravity. I've written far too many things that are set on the beach, fiction or otherwise. I have many fond memories of drinking warm beer while baking under the sun with friends. I did the Boracay Pub Crawl once, before a couple of friends decided to have a baby. Facebook tells me I was in Boracay this time six years ago with my siblings and Auntie. Younger, I gave surfing a try, but surfing just wouldn't try me (yes, all those four or five times). Before Baler, it was La Union--na balikan din, Linggo pa, duty pa kinabukasan. Eleksyon! Haha. I miss my 22-year-old body. (Pausing for a moment to turn to my girlfriend and give her my usual, When I was Your Age I was Fun, Too!-speech. Haha.)
Are you a beach person? Do you have fond memories at the beach? Does your heart break when you think about Boracay and what this government is doing to it and to its people?
Mine does. Yours probably should, too.
THE WEEK SO FAR IN WHAT THE FUCK
The CW reboot of Charmed is... I don't know what it is, it just makes me so mad. They had the gall to cast a Prue lookalike as the mom! Travesty.
If you're following the whole Buhay Carinderia/Tourism Promotions Board/Cesar Montano brouhaha, this will make your blood boil.
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