05.01.2006
15:07
Ofc. (Long Beach, Punta Fuego; picture borrowed from puntafuego.com)
As promised, I’m giving an account of my summer escapades for info, details, plain reading or other what have you’s… now let me do this by starting with the most recent trip…
Punta Fuego… (the repeat)
Pre-trip
Last weekend, my barkada from way back along with our significant others (with the exception of the Igorot guy =) ) went to Punta Fuego for an overnight getaway. Our group, composed of me, my Mojacko, my brother and his girlfriend, left at around 0730, Saturday morning. SLEX was already bumper-to-bumper, cars packed with people longing to getaway from Manila life just like ourselves. Inspite that, we got to Tagaytay to meet up with our other friends and a little perk me up drink at Starbucks sometime past 0900 (which I must say was still a relatively good time since our ETA at Tagaytay was 0900).
It was my first time to have coffee at the second floor of Starbucks, Tagaytay and in that hour too. Usually, we go there during the night (or the wee hours of the morning) and marvel at the expanse of blackness where residential lights can be easily mistaken for the stars or its reflection in the water or vise versa. This time, the sight confronting me was a perfect view of the Taal volcano. It was like looking at a gigantic postcard… where the volcano was snoozing in so calmly, the water surrounding it acting as its comfort blanket and the sky was so clear. The sight was so breath-taking, you can’t help but be taken in and feel that you’re one with nature… (wow! Sounds like a commercial.. hehe) No matter how relaxing the view before us was, we grew increasingly excited with our Fuego trip and so off we went for the 2 hours or so drive to our prime destination… Peninsula de Punta Fuego.
Getting There
From our past trip, we knew that WAG (that’s our car) was in for another literally, breath-taking (so to speak) ascent. At one point, we had to switch off the air-conditioning amidst the growing heat. That being said, your transportation is a major consideration when taking the Fuego trip. Slope’s are quite steep, turns are abrupt, there are no railings and there’s practically no room for mistake. See to it that your car has ample supply of gas (nearest gas station is a few hundred meters away), your radiator’s water supply is full (you don’t want to over-heat in the middle of the steep roads), your brakes are good (you don’t want to fast forward any descent by skipping the road and free-falling) plus you’ve really got to shake off every ounce of sleepiness… trust me, you don’t want to doze off and never wake up or at least have a missing limb or a broken bone. I also don’t advice traversing that road at night time or when it’s raining and the roads are slippery. Though the road itself is well-paved, drivers who are not very knowledgeable of the way can easily miscalculate turns and land 50 or so feet at the bottom of the steep cliff.
Once you’re past that, you’ll be passing a small quiet town with a few restos and sari-sari stores where you can practically buy things you might have forgotten in Manila. (I’ll go into detail on that in Punta Fuego Part I). That single road leads to… (finally!) Peninsula de Punta Fuego!
Finally there…
When we got there, the house that we’ll be staying in was still occupied by a previous group, thankfully, that was my mom’s party… so, we got to stretch our legs while we prepare for lunch and at the same time tidy up a bit. It was past 12 and I knew we were all hungry but my friends being happy and content with the place, seemed to forget about lunch and paid particular attention to the game room and the trellis down stairs.
We finally got to lunch at almost 1:00. After lunch, the girls did some cleaning up while the boys started their poker match (which will soon prove to be very addicting for me). We unloaded the cars and proceeded with room assignments (Thanks to the Igorot boy, my mojacko and I had the privilege of escaping the playroom and sleeping in a nice comfy bed!) After the short drizzle, and constant coaxing for the boys to quit their poker game, we fitted in to our bathing suits and headed on to the beach! The question now was… which one?
Beach hopping
Punta Fuego has several beaches. My favorite is the Fuego Beach. It’s located a few miles off from the Peninsula gate. Though the water was crystal clear, it was filled with sea plants making it icky to swim in if you’re not wearing aqua shoes. For me, its definitely not the swimming water that’s the prime asset of this place well, come to think of it… it probably is.. I think the reason why people who like this beach, just as I do, come here is because of the secluded-ness(? Somebody give me the right word for this..) of the area. I guess the prime reason why it’s so secluded is that the waters aren’t really swimm-able or snork-able or fishing-able. The sand is white but it isn’t sugar fine, in fact, there’s a portion of the beach that’s to a point... stony. But the sun shines perfectly on this beach which all the more adds to my plus factor… imagine, sun bathing in a secluded beach! Heaven!!! Hahaha!
During the time we went there, a few tourist such as ourselves were already enjoying themselves. Thanks to them, I enjoyed my sun bathing with endless chill-out music. Plus they were too busy (or drunk) to mind that somebody twice as big as them was out there getting her skin all tanned up! Haha! Meanwhile, my friends were not so having fun in the water. After an hour, they prodded me to finish up so we could transfer to a much swimmable beach.
We were opting to go to Long Beach. That was the most sought after beach stretch that’s most ideal for swimming. It has fine white sand breaking the splashing of the waves. It gets deep after a few feet off the shore. Unfortunately, known to many for its traits, a lot were already enjoying themselves on the beach. Cars filled up the parking lots and the sides of the road. Knowing that this would be another flop, we headed to the next beach of my choice… Crescent Beach.
Crescent Beach is my mom’s favorite beach. It’s name is from the crescent-shaped sand bar that appears during low tide several feet from the beach. The whole beach is covered with Mango and Camachile trees causing the gray sand to be dotted with its leaves, twigs and fruits. The area from the beach to the sand bar is not that clean. I have trouble traversing that piece of stretch seeing seaweeds and sea plants mixed with (sadly) a piece or two of candy wrapper or a wash out beer can.. ewwww!!!! I guess the beach is more prone to garbage brought by human activity since it’s the beach nearest the entrance plus the shade the trees provide makes it so inviting to eat lunch or chill with friends over beer and snacks. I know it’s not a reason, but we can’t help if some people think that the whole universe is one big trashcan that they can share with other trashy stuff like themselves. (oops… pardon the rant.. it just gets so disgusting sometimes) After the icky area, you won’t feel sorry you crossed through that, the sand bar gives you time to breath and snap out of the ickiness… then, dip in the cool water that stretches far far out into the sea. The sea floor is covered with fine sand with the same color as the sand in the beach. You wouldn’t have problems with sea weeds or corals or stones… it’s just a long long long stretch of cool water and fine sand! How would I know that it’s a long, long, long stretch? Water level only rises up to your neck area after half a kilometer (at low tide), I guess. Unlike the first time, I didn’t swim as much now. We brought booze and chips, set it out on the public table (that you don’t have to rent and pay for) and reminisce and kid around with the rest of my barkada. We stayed there until 6 at which we headed home to prepare dinner.
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I’m posting this first… it took me 3 days to write this.. and daldal ko! I’ll be posting the continuation soon…
Unfortunately, our trip to Puerto Galera has been cancelled… urghness!
