Monthly Archives: June 2011

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hanging out in the howling winds

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i decided to travel to catanduanes only because i rarely heard of it and second, know next to nothing about it. my formula for adventure.

so i went to the bus terminal, only to find out that trips headed there are fully booked for the next two weeks. but the ticket seller said she still has tickets to albay and that i could take that and just hop into a ferry from tabaco, albay to virac. 800pesos. sounds like a plan so i took it.

it was a long trip to puraran, where the majestics is, my beach destination for the weekend. the bus left cubao at 4pm and arrived in tabaco a few minutes after 4am. it was a long uneventful ride. except for the pits stop in quezon where they served overpriced overly salty dishes. i could have eaten the saucer of pork binagoongan with a pot of rice just to balance out the taste but decided not to. since it was night time, there were no scenic views from the window, only from the seat across where a hot momma was seated. i just listened to some music, fell into short naps, some occasional glancing, during the whole 12-hour ride.

it was cold and drizzling in tabaco that morning. the ferry leaves at 6am. so i killed time playing with my camera. it was a four-hour sail. 200 pesos for economy but sneaked into tourist class quickly after the usual crew inspection, and dozed off most of the time. stepped out into catanduanes island at 10am. the land of the howling winds, second to batanes as  the top destination of typhoons.

as per google, i have to walk out of the pier and look for the road warrior jeep which will drop me off in the highway going to barangay puraran. followed as ordered. the jeep was huge, more like a bus. it sits passengers parallel to the driver like a bus. we passed by bato church which is along the highway. nice and old. it was almost a two-hour ride. 45 pesos.

a short steep,downhill walk from the highway to the beach. the view of puraran from the hilltop is indeed majestic. though the name majestic was coined as a description of the waves,not the beach in particular,by some american during the 80’s(yata).

the beach was serene amidst the big, rolling waves. very few tourists were in the area. less than 10 all-in-all at ako lang yata ang pinoy. i arrived in puting baybay(resort) around lunchtime. definitely the best accommodation in all my travels to date. 300/night for the kubo. and i got a balcony fronting the pacific.
a serving of dorado(fish), pickled vegetables and rice consisted my lunch. i liked it so much that it was the same meal i had every single time during my whole stay. sarap kasi anlutong nun isda tas sasamahan ng atsara. haaay. nagkakaliskis na nga yata ako lol.

there were only four guests in the resort that time. shinjin, a japanese who temporarily escapes the havoc in japan, and kenji and his dad from hawaii. all surfers.

the beach somehow reminds of marinduque. sand is not that white. only difference is that there are rocks on the beach. inuman sa hapon with shinjin. after 6 hrs and a liter of emperador plus beer, basag na. good times. dont remember much though. i know i woke up the next morning with severe hangover. lakad sa dagat tas ligo. spend the rest of the morning walking around the area taking pictures of anything and everything. may nadaanan ako nag-iinuman, gin, tapos humirit sila ng picture. request nila was to take pictures of them kapalit ay libreng tagay. ayoko sana dahil umaga pa. pero yon napilit din.

para sa kin the best part of going to the beach is doing nothing at all. sarap tumambay ng walang inaalala, walang nang-aabala. inom ulit nun gabi, lasing.. si shinjin parang yon fukushima naglabas ng toxic waste.. sobra suka.

like typhoons, i should visit this place more often.