Wordless Wednesday

 

 This picture makes me smile. It's The Struggle Look again! My cousin will hate me if she sees this. haha!

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I remember posting an entry last week about a place where we went one afternoon. I wasn't able to share where we went after that. After that beach, we went to another one!

I now understand those nip-slip predicaments of some stars being followed by the papz. I mean, they go about wearing those bikinis and expose themselves to the strong current of the waters. We're conservative, you see, so we wore shirts. My cousin's top untangled and I kept on adjusting my shorts. The waves were just too strong. This was actually the first time I have been to a beach with waves this strong, I had nausea! I had a headache that night and my shoulders hurt.

Anywhoo, it was fun and I totally enjoyed it! My brother loved the place too, he said it's now his favorite!

If only I knew skim/wake boarding, it would have been a better experience.

Downside though: We're not allowed to go back.

When my father saw all of our pictures, he said that the place wasn't safe. Especially that somebody said that somebody drowned there. Oh well, it's he beach and he can never stop us!

"Simon"
;-)

Wordless Wednesday

And I really thought I posted this already! No I'll never miss WW! Heck I love taking pictures! :)

I wanted to manipulate the photo a bit but I already love the colors here and I guess there's no need to edit!

This is a view from the cottage, and that there is actually the mainland.

It's from a place called MeDevCo. It actually stands for something (the 'co' part should mean cooperative, which somehow gives you an idea of what it is). Meetings and other special events are held in this place as they have function rooms and large cottages/bars. This isn't a beach resort of some sort but we asked for permission to go inside and offered to pay P5.00 entrance fee. They let us in! :D Very cheap! ;-)

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So there, that's the cottage hidden behind huge mangrove trees.

That's me, sitting by the wooden dike (okay, I don't know what it's called). There's actually a wooden bench at the end and a sort of, door, which opens up to steps leading to the water.

The place is perfect for jumping and diving when the tide is high. Sadly, though it was hot at this time, the water wasn't good for diving because it wasn't that deep. I had a bruised right foot sole and a scratched back. Don't ask me how I got them. ;-)

The island there is actually a watchtower/lighthouse. I've only been there once but wasn't able to climb to the top as it was slippery and dangerous. It's a small island and you actually go there on foot because a path shows up during low tide.

My brother and my cousin playing dead. :D Kulit!

Happy Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday

Me and my brother during our visit to an unfinished beach resort.

And more! :)

click on photo to enlarge :) thanks!

The first and second row photos were while we were on the way to the said resort. I enjoyed the view so much because it clearly shows the local rural life of the area. There are mountains which boast of virgin forests, and there are also plane lands with vast rice fields. I was happy to see that there was actually a big house being constructed in the area and it had a Western touch to its design. It isn't so rural after all. :)


When we reached the place, I thought we were going to see a wonderful beach or big pools. I was quite frustrated with what I saw but then I remembered what my uncle told me -
we were visiting the place for the view, not the beach.

True enough, it was a nice and interesting place to stay at. They had rooms for those who wanted to stay overnight. They also had a restaurant, a SUTUKIL (sounds like, shoot to kill, right?) which stands for SUgba (roast), TUla (that's a way of cooking a soup dish) and KILaw (a raw fish dish). From there, you could also see some islands and enjoy the scenic view of the sea.

What amazed me was their gigantic pool (second picture, third row) because it had that unique slide which, as the caretaker said, leads to a (still-to-be-constructed) seawater pool. That means that they would have to pump in seawater everyday and fill the pool up. Weird thing is that just a wall away is the sea itself. I wonder why they didn't have to lead the slide to the sea itself. Maybe because the slide would be useless during a low tide? Perhaps then..

Or. Another guess is that the seawater wasn't that inviting. Check out the last photo on the last row, there are stairs which lead to the sea and when we went there, it was murky! Who would want to bathe in murky waters?

Anyways, I enjoyed my afternoon stay there. Especially that they had cute cottages.
I hope to see the progress when I get back. :)



Happy Wednesday everyone! :D

Wordless Wednesday: Nature

I wanted to pair it with something for size comparison but the closest I could grab was my brother's PSP since he was playing with it. I didn't find the ruler nor tape measure.

So this 1.1 kg mango just fell off from the tree the other day. It's huge!

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Having that huge mango got me thinking... And thanking God as well. 

Oh the wonders that nature bring!

And then I asked myself, what have I done for nature recently?

Aha! Remember Earth Day (April 22)?

Earth Day was a Good Friday so we somehow "celebrated" on Easter since Biyernes Santo is a day of repentance, reflection and prayer. Instead of the usual Easter egg hunt, we went tree-planting!

It was giving-back-to-Mother-Nature time.

My cousin Meg was in her Girl Scout uniform. Why? Because she's a Girl Scout!

{our secret: she needed the badge!;-)}

We saw this tiny spring with really cold water. The locals come here to bathe, wash, and for water consumption too, so maybe they were the ones who had this cemented to keep the place safer and cleaner. And look, there's a dipper already!

We planted coconut seedlings and some others (I forgot what they were, though there weren't much actually).

Right here I was just looking at my cousin. She was the one who dug holes.

I kinda forget what plant I was holding.

Are you familiar with copra? They're dried coconut meat and sold per kilo which is the common livelihood for the locals. Pictured here are the coconut husks thrown away since they only need the meat. I don't know what they're going to do with these. For firewood, I guess.

Okay, me posing, obviously. I don't know why I'm shining in this picture. 

Please don't comment on my outfit. The hat didn't fit! 

If this were an outfit post, specs would go:  

Pink Hat - borrowed from Aunt; Gray V-Neck Tee - borrowed from Aunt; White Bermuda Shorts - borrowed from Aunt; Hybrid Espadrille - Gifted, from Aunt. 

See? I usually don't bring a lot during vacations/trips. I love borrowing from my aunt. haha

We saw a hole too at the other side of the area. This one, as my uncle said, previously had a sign which said:

"Ayaw hugaw-hugawi. Kun dili, akoa ni tabunan balik"

In carabao English, it translates as: Don't soil [somewhat, "keep this clean"]) If not, I will cover this again.

[haha, that translation sounded better than I expected! ;-)]

Story: Apparently, there was this old man (complete stranger) who had a dream. In his dream, there was clean freshwater under this big rock. The only way to get water was to draw a hole in the middle of it. And so, without permission from the owner of the land (who happens to be another aunt), the old man made that hole, and alas, there really was water. My uncle thinks this guy is somewhat gifted. From then on, people from nearby who didn't have access to drinking water now had a instant water source! Bizarre.

Heading home...

Wordless Wednesday: Dip!

taking a dip in the water with my cousins

 

 SUMMER!

Another addition to my summer vacation posts, coming right up!

How I wish summer would never end so I can still soak up under the sun.

Anyway, here's another one of my summer destinations - a beach called CAUSEWAY.

 I failed to ask about the history of the place and why it's called Causeway. For a small town, it's such a wonder why a certain place has an english-sounding name.

Causeway Beach

St. Christine, Lianga

Surigao del Sur

Philippines

click on photo for original size :)

1. We rode the bus on the way to the beach. Since it was full, some of us had to stand. It was a very short trip anyway. :)

2. Striking a pose at the sign that says "Causeway Beach, Tourist Spot"

3. Me and my cousin Meg riding the habal-habal, an improvised motorcycle.

4. My aunt loves to sing "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" on karaoke.

5. Lying on the sand. :)

6. There were rocks in the middle of the sea so we climbed and well, took a pic! :D

7.8.9. My cousins burying my brother in the white sand! :P

10. The habal-habal with a roof! Ain't that ingenious? :) Only in the Philippines!

11. The shore. It was rocky and sandy.

12. My brother and cousins raising up the sign that says "Villa Violeta", the name of the resort where we chose to stay for the day.

And finally, me, in all my unsexy glory.

Thanks to my friend Ate Donna for pointing out that even Marilyn Monroe had love handles. 

I shouldn't be ashamed! :D

More summer photos soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Jump!

It's either that wacky picture or that jump shot! :)

I'm the oldest among my cousins (not counting my married elder sister who rarely joins us during trips due to different constraints). I'm twenty-something, but look! I still look like one of the kids (can you spot me?), and I still feel like one too.

Over the summer vacation, we went to this abandoned pier. It was newly constructed yet abandoned because it was useless. There wasn't a need for it in the area. And so, what happened was that people went there to just sit around, have rounds of drinks, or take a dive.

 

I wanted to dive knowing that the water was deep and the wind was just perfect. However, the only problem was that, if I jumped into the water, I would have trouble coming back up.

 

The waves were just too strong and there weren't any stairs or something that one could hold on to when coming up...

But that didn't stop us from taking a dip into the ocean! There were stairs somewhere at the sides of dike leading to the pier so we stayed there. 

It was getting dark already and I am not a big fan of night (and no light) swimming. So we just stayed near the steps. :) It wasn't that bad..

See? We looked like we had fun!

Honestly, we did! haha ;-) We just looked so funny because our Aunt was trigger-happy taking pictures every now and then. You know that feeling when it's pitch black and the camera just flashes and it's back to black again? I felt like I had migraines. My brother and cousin felt the same thing too!

After dinner (yes, we had dinner there, with the help of an emergency lamp), we planned on walking home because we wouldn't fit inside the transport we brought. My cousin said he'd just come back for us, but for the meantime, we can walk and eventually catch him on the road. It seemed like a good idea (the lamp was with us) because my Uncle said that there was a mini waterfall nearby, we can take a swim there while waiting.

And so we did! It looked like a pool with a fountain at the side. 

The pictures taken during this time weren't good though. So here's just one clear shot. 

It was coooold..

This was only the start of my summer adventure. More to come soon! ;-)

Happy Wednesday! ;-)