CELEBRATING EDS’ BIRTHDAY AND LOWCAL’S SIX YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP

True friendships are not formed overnight but is tested and made stronger through time. This is the kind of friendship the Lowcal guys share, which I am lucky enough to witness and become a part of.

Every year, the gang celebrates their years of friendship by going out of town. This year, the trip coincides with Eds’ birthday. Below, I wrote down the accounts of the trip for posterity. J

On April 1, we went to Eds' house to have dinner and celebrate her birthday. That night too, we had our evening trip going to San Antonio, Zambales. We planned to celebrate Eds' birthday and LOWCAL's six years of friendship by camping (Hunger Games-style) and being one with nature. Last year's destination was Anawangin Cove, also in San Antonio, Zambales. This year, the chosen destination was Nagsasa Cove which was a bit farther and less crowded than Anawangin.

Happy Birthday Eds!!!

From Eds' house in QC, we went to Victory Liner terminal in Caloocan where Eds and Faye had our seats reserved in advanced. Our trip was scheduled at 11:00 pm. Since it was night time, the trip was quick and traffic-free. There was a bit of commotion however in the bus as a drunken passenger refused to pay his fare. Other than this, the trip was uneventful. We reached San Antonio, Zambales town proper at 2:30 am, which was still too early for us to take the boat trip immediately. So we had to spend the early morning waiting. Good thing, there's a 7-11 store where can stay.

Our tour guides came to fetch us at around 6am. However, we weren't able to take the boat trip right away as our boatmen were still not ready when we arrived. We were informed they were still sleeping then. So the boat trip actually started at past 7:00 am. The boat trip took about an hour. The waters of the cove was clear, the sand fine, which was actually the kind that I prefer over the pebbly beach of Anawangin.

CAMPING AND SETTING FIRE

There were very few campers when we came, which again was more preferrable. To get settled, we started pitching tents and prepared to cook food. Making fire was a challenge. Our camping skills were so little, it took us time to set fire. Good thing our guides and kuya, who is a resident of the cove, were helpful to us. They gave us a little kerosene and also built cover for the fire we are preparing. Most of us were so sleepy given that we didn't get proper sleep during the night so we had to take turns doing the cooking. Porfie and I took care of cooking rice. Eds and Ron marinated the chicken. Ron and Faye took care of grilling the chicken. At around 12:30, our lunch was ready.

AFTERNOON DELIGHT FOR THE NERDS

After lunch, the nerdy conversation began. The topics of conversation ranged from guessing the Tagalog word for air - which according to Faye is not hangin, not himpapawid & most importantly not hutoty but hayhay - dwelling further on Filipino language then moving on to scientology and aliens, the planets, the universe and so on. This group undoubtedly knows their hard science too. Then, there was the Colors of the wind moment too where they enlightened us about what the “blue corn moon” means, among others.
Before the "hike that never materialized" after the nerdy chitchat

After the nerdy conversation, we decided to take a hike to the mountain. Unfortunately, we were told that we cannot hike anymore at that time as the water in the river would already be high and would only make it difficult for us to hike. So, we decided to just go swimming. However, the sun was still scorching hot so we decided to wait a little for the clouds to cover the sun, but to no avail. Eventually, we decided to take a dip to the waters after we judged it wasn't that hot anymore. It was low tide when we decided we'll go swimming but the water was still deep we can't go very far from the shore. We had a snorkel but there was not so much to see underwater except a few black and white striped fish. A few minutes before the sun set, we decided to return to camp.

We spent the night preparing for dinner which comprised of grilled pork, grilled tilapia and salted eggs. While the others prepared dinner, Porfie and KC set our campfire. We shared our dinner together with only the light from the campfire and a few of our flashlights. There was electricity however on the house near our camp where they play pop music, which we did not expect.

After dinner, we gathered round the campfire to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. Roasted mallows were already good but tasted even better with Fenetti coated on it and sandwiched between Graham crackers.

By the campfire...

Right after dessert, I urged Rafi to take a stroll near the shore. The sky was clear and made up for a romantic moment. We talked about us, reminisced a little and waited for shooting stars - there's none we saw unfortunately.

Since I was already feeling sleepy, we returned back to camp where the girls were also staring up the sky, stargazing. The two boys, on the other hand, were playing. I told Rafi he can join the boys if he likes too but he decided he'll accompany and watch over me first as I fall asleep. I'm not sure what happened next but I was told the boys stayed up until 12 or 2am playing monopoly card game. The night breeze was soothing but it turned a bit humid already in the early morn, or it was probably because we had our tents closed already.

Breakfast the day after. Sayang walang picture yung Rafi's scrambled eggs. :(

The next day, I woke up to the sound of wood being chopped and realized Faye was up already. She has an appointment in the afternoon so we had to prepare early. Rafi was already up too, so I got up already so I could help prepare breakfast. As usual, I prepared the rice. Rafi assisted Faye in cooking our viands, this time consisting of corned beef, spam, hotdogs and eggs. The scrambled eggs were a bit weird because we had to use soy sauce in lieu of salt. It tasted fine nevertheless.

Boat ride going back to reality

After breakfast, there was nothing else to do but pack up since we also need to be back to Manila before 1:30 pm. We left the cove at around 9:00 am, reached town proper at around 10:00 am. There were no buses however going directly to Caloocan so we had to take a bus going to Olongapo instead. The fare from San Antonio to Olongapo cost P44. There, we took the bus going to Cubao. The trip cost P207 each for the bus fare. The trip back to Manila took us longer. We reached QC at around 2pm which was already late for Faye's appointment. I hope however that she still got that job despite that delay.

I wonder where the gang will head next but wherever the next destination may be I know that the memories will always be sweet for it is not the destination that matters but the journey you share with the people who matter.

Till next time Lowcal! :)