Remembering Bolinao

3 years ago, during the short break between the 2nd semester and the summer term, I found myself hopping on the bus to Pangasinan to stay at a friend’s house for a couple of days of RNR.  There wasn’t much to do or see in their part of town, Mabini, but I remember vaguely the group of Miss Gay contestants having their awkward poses at a fountain in the town square. It was fiesta season, but that didn’t register glee or excitement in me. To break the monotony,  we decided to embark on an adventurous journey to Bolinao to somehow catch a glimpse of their famed beaches. The trip was unplanned and we didn’t know know where to go exactly. We didn’t even know how to tell the bus conductor where to drop us. But I have this blog entry on my multiply site to remind me of the perils we faced to reach bolinao and hear a bird insult us with the only word in its dictionary: PANGET.

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SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 2008

Bolinao Express

I’m in pangasinan right now. Yup. My who-the-hell-cares attitude and my thick amphibious skin got me here in the first place. Imagine, we went to Bolinao which is almost 2 hours away from where we’re (Cesar and I) staying and all I got with me is Cesar’s blue body bag containing sunblock, a change of underwear, deo, my phone and my wallet. I was already clad in a bikini beneath my purple top and black shorts for time-saving purposes.We got on the bus, not knowing where and when to tell manong driver to pull over and drop us off. When Ces asked me where the fuck we were, I told him with an irritated look in my eyes- “NOWHERE. WE’RE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.” The travel was tough. I had a big box of unknown stuff between my legs (care of the dorky girl beside me) and had a pineapple sprite float profusely wetting my left hand.

Taken from our EVER interesting conversation on the bus:

CES: “Haggard na ba?” MOI: “Super haggard! Zigzag* EVER!”

CES: “Kadiri mga ktabi ko… eeeewww… Malagkit ung skin. EVER.”
MOI: “For friggin’ Pete’s sake, stop being a sissy!”

(*- referring to the scarily one-slightly-wrong-turn-and-we’re-dead zigzag road en route to bolinao.)

And so when we saw the “Welcome to Bolinao” signboard, we got off the bus with that bewildered look on our faces and really got a “warm” welcome from the tricycle drivers pushing each other aside to take us as passengers. Shit. Just pure haggardness. We got on the tryk with the driver who had the lowest bid (yup, 30 pesos) and had him decide on where to drop us off. Yeah we were daredevils. Living life on the edge and entrusting it to a manong driver. Good luck.

We got off at some “Rock Garden Beach Resort” and all our efforts were paid off. The beach was okay but what topped it off were the exotic animals in their mini-zoo. There was a wide variety of fowls that had nothing more to say than a well-practiced “PANGET!” and “PANGET KA!”. Yeah, just the thing we need after a life-threatening and exhausting travel. But what the hell?!? It’s not everyday that I get to do this stuff.

I took of my shirt and swam while cesar had a chat with a long lost friend. Of all the places he could meet up with Noreen (whom he hasn’t seen and lost contact for almost 2 years since their botany class), why Bolinao? And why on Rock Garden Resort? Freakin’ amazing , right?!

After some “bastusan” encounters with some tambays, after a long wait at the bus stop, and after some gastrocnemius-enlargening long distance walking, we finally reached Cesar’s house. I already called it a day but to our surprise, cesar’s mom and sister, Honey, were still not home. If I call our Bolinao trip EXTREME, theirs was an even more extreme trip. XD

P.S. Tita and Honey went home at 12 midnight. WTF?!? (We played “PARENTS” that night and actually had our minds preoccupied with worry. Add to that so much stress from that freakin’ trip.)

P.P.S. This stupid computer (in this stupid hole-in-the-wall net shop) is fuckin’ slow!! Snail-paced!! Gonna post the photos soon…XD)

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I never realized I wrote like that back then. and the rock garden resort has a pretty neat website now. haha. http://www.rockgardenbolinao.com/

On my way back to Manila after my short-lived vacation in Pangasinan and Baguio (oh yes, I visited some friends who were having their OJT at a mine and I traveled alone from Pangasinan to Baguio, but that’s another story), I had an unforgettable digestion disaster that actually made me write the next blog entry while I was on the bus. Yes, I was typing it down on my phone, and saving it in my drafts folder.

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2008

Longest Hour 

      The longest hour in your life comes when you become stuck in a nauseating non-airconditioned bus, on the edge of your sanity, on the verge of pissing and pooping, and on the thin line drawn between wishing to just die there and then, and actually dying.

       Yesterday, I was on the bus for a 5-hour trip from Alaminos, Pangasinan to Manila. Thirty minutes passed and I felt like I was shivering. Cold sweat trickled down my face and then there it was… That tingling sensation in my guts… Fucking shit and a half!!! Why now?!?

       I thought I’d have control over it. Like an innocent stranger in some torture chamber, I mustered all my strength to endure this fucked-up state for another 30 minutes. I crouched forward and leaned my head on the seat in front , tucked my stomach in, closed my eyes, pretended to be asleep, and cursed under my breath… P.I.!!!

       I was actually considering the fact of just dropping off somewhere and finding some “place of comfort”. But when I turned my head to face the window, all I could see is green! Shit! There is no way I’m gonna drop shit in these wastelands!

I returned to my crouched state and the next time I opened my eyes, SIBILISASYON! Mangataren, Pangasinan. I told Kuya to pull over and clearly without hesitation, I told him, “Najejebs na po ako eh!”… He got to the compartment and lowered my backpack. I left it beside some unknowing candy vendor and asked him where I could poop. God was truly hearing me out. There I saw public restrooms painted green and found myself sighing with relief.

       Tissues! I needed tissues! And whadyaknow, toiletry products were sold outside the restroom. I grabbed a handful of neatly folded ones when Ate blurted out, “Miss, piso isa nyan!” I was thinking at that moment, “Ate, even if you sell those for a hundred apiece, I’d still buy BECAUSE I BADLY NEED THEM!”

       I finally let it all out with ever shaking knees and friggin’ relief. I got out and paid for the tissues and the additional fee for pooping and splashed on some alcohol. I went back to the candy vendor to find out that my bag wasn’t with him anymore!

And then I saw the bus… My bus… And I saw my bag!

       Kuya, I love you na! You’ve waited for some lady to finish pooping. What a heroic act!

       First thing I need to do when I get back to manila is to have a monument built after you…

       P.S. When the bus pulled over for a stop at Tarlac, I hurriedly got out and searched for a store to buy some Loperamide and a bottle of Gatorade. And then when I was about to pay… 97 pesos?! For a teeny weeny capsule and some Gatorade?! Fuck! But I’m left with no choice other than paying for the stuff and cursing the store owner under my breath…

ABUSO NA!

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I didn’t have a camera back then, but the photos I took with my Nokia 6300 are relatively decent. They bring back memories as vivid as though it happened just yesterday. And the thirst for adventure that I have back then is still in me, if not intensified.

at a creek near Cesar’s home. I remember searching for the perfect pebble (because Goodluck Chuck was such a good movie!).

This was taken at a princess-themed(?!) birthday party where Ces and I were mistaken as a couple. oomaigaahd. (I felt the need to show my teeth. ktnxbye.)

Now, photos from rock garden resort:

Now here’s the foul-mouthed parrot!

The resort actually had a mini-zoo.