The Summer that Was, Part 2

More Puerto Galera Memories


2. Family Life with Friends. At Galera we stayed at Portofino Resort where we rented a residential unit, a condo-hotel that had 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a porch. Carmz and I shared one bedroom, Mabz and Maze took the other, and Carlo (because he's a boy) slept in the living room on a very comfortable couch (hehehe). Living under the same roof with my friends for 3 days and 2 nights was quite a bonding experience - it transformed us into a temporary family of sorts. I also made a number of discoveries about my dear 'ol friends. I would never have guessed, for instance, that Carlo was a "home buddy" (is that what you call it?), who could cook and was OC about getting sand inside the house (Hello? We were at the freakin' beach! hehe love you Kado!). Carmz apparently liked to sleep a lot (which doesn't surprise me), Maze as well (which again doesn't surprise me), and Mabz as it turns out had an adventurous side to her, though she's rather accident-prone (actually, unlucky seems to be the more fitting term - most of the mishaps she experienced during the trip weren't really her fault). As a family-of-sorts, on our first day we went to the market (actually it was more of a tiny grocery / convenience store) to buy the stuff we needed for dinner (Carmeli's spaghetti which she first made for my 18th birthday). Surprise, surprise, it was Carlo who took charge of the whole cooking experience, under Carmz's watchful eyes. Four girls and one guy in a house, and the guy takes charge of the cooking? How very 21st century. The world has changed indeed. Anyway, I think it was I who suggested we have our meal outside, so we set the table at the porch and had a nice, simple dinner. Nothing spells family like a group of people having a nice home-cooked dinner together. Makes me feel all warm and cozy inside. Hehehe. We then had our desert in front of the television in the living room - chocolate chip cookies used as spoons for vanilla ice cream. Talk about pigging out.

All in all, family life with friends was rather interesting, in a reality TV show kind of way. "What would happen if you have five friends live under one roof for three days and two nights, and put them on a tight budget? Who will win custody of the bedroom with its own bathroom? Who will have to sleep on the couch and use katol as protection from disease-bearing mosquitoes? Who will fight over sand inside the living room? Who will be...the ultimate survivor?"



Much to your disappointment, I'm sure, all of us survived, and we actually had a lot of fun. Hmm, I don't think my experience is going to sell as a reality TV show after all.



Some other temporary-family-of-sorts memories outside our little mansion:

1. On the second day of our trip we had lunch on a tiny cave at an empty beach. We met a boatman who offered to prepare lunch for us at a really good price. We thought it was a good deal, so we agreed. By noon the boatman had brought us rice, fish, chicken, pork, some mangoes and set up a grill inside the cave. Needless to say, our lunch had a very prehistoric feel to it - we were seated on logs inside the cave and we ate without utensils. For a while, our family-of-sorts became a family-of-cave men (and women). You don't get to experience that everyday.

2. At White Beach we rode a banana boat. It was the first time ever that I had to sign a contract which stated that should I gain any injuries of whatever sort, the company who rents out the banana boat would not be held responsible. I was to hop on a "pencil in a bun inflatable ride" (as it turns out my friends didn't quite agree that the banana boat indeed looked like a banana, and went on to make their own descriptions of it) at my own risk. There wasn't much risk into it, however, and the 15 minutes was pretty harmless, and a lot of fun.



If there was one thing that I think we missed out on during the trip, it's that we never had the time to try the legendary Mindoro Sling, which is supposed to be really good. Otherwise, the Galera trip was an amazing experience, a great way to welcome summer. I'd love to do it again during the sem break - summer lasts forever, after all. Man that is cheesy! Ciao for now! Other beach stories next time (If I'm in the mood to write about them).