Dates of travel: March 28-30, 2013
Mahabang Buhangin in Calaguas does not disappoint. It's one of the best beaches, if not the best beach, I've been to so far.
A tent with a view. Photo courtesy of Paul Tamisin Garcia.
Disregard the mobile bars and the massive speakers playing house music at night, and you have a shot at an idyllic (albeit temporary) life in Calaguas.
Here's our activity guide in Calaguas: sleep under the stars, get up when the rays of the sun became intolerable, make charcoal-cooked brunch, swim, drink, nap, swim, light up the gas lamp for the night, make charcoal-cooked dinner, play name and number drinking games. Repeat.
Brunch
Okay, I admit, I hated the cooking part because when you charcoal cook stuff, it's bound to take eternity. I never imagined that preparing instant pancit canton could take forever. Also, preparing meals meant starting at a time when it could still be called "breakfast" but finish at a time when the meal is called "brunch. Elaborate preparation of food on the island also meant we had cooking utensils to clean up afterwards. So by the time we were done eating and cleaning up, it'd be noon and too hot to be under the sun, so we had to wait till late noon to swim.
If I had it my way, I'd have eaten cup noodles, canned stuff, bread, and junk food the entire time I was on the island. In short, I would have eaten only unhealthy stuff, so I could get into the water earlier. Again, I'm not complainin'. #justsayin
So, disregard cooking using charcoal and you have a shot at a carefree (albeit temporary) life in Calaguas. You see, the best thing about being on an island with an awesome beach is not being in a rush to be anywhere else. That means you can stall, waste time, lounge around in your swimwear till dusk, whatever you call it.
Our makeshift kitchen on the island.
Booze
So maybe the previous paragraph isn't accurate because drinking on an island (doesn't matter if the beach is awesome) is as good as not being in a rush to be anywhere else.
Here's our guide to an awesome drinking experience on an island: connive with the group to make sure one member drinks more than the rest. He/she has to be the person with the potential to go the craziest or the person who holds something against another member of the group (so that out of drunkenness, he/ she will start asking why the other person "unfriended" him/her on Facebook, or start tumbling in the sand. If the stars align, he/she will do both).
Sunset in Calaguas.
Birthday
You know that thing I said about taking forever to prepare instant pancit canton using charcoal? Scrap the the me hating it part because that was actually labor of love for Grace, a very good friend (#naks) who chose to spend her big three-oh celebration with us in Calaguas. I would have gathered twigs and made an oven out of them to bake her cake had she asked for it. Well, maybe not, but on the eve of her birthday we lay on the sand and counted down till our watches struck twelve. That's the same as gathering twigs and making an oven out of them to bake her cake, right?
Calaguas at night. Our view while waiting for Grace's birthday.
Fire dancers on the eve of Grace's birthday.
No? Well, what if I tell you that in between playing a name game, where Grace assumed the name of Azul Karagatan, we talked about new love and pondered if it's possible for that giddy feeling to last forever despite the eventual familiarity of the other person (You know, the type of thing that the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind explores where Jim Carrey's character finds Kate Winslet's character's orange jacket amusing at first but grows to hate in the end). Does this make me a better friend?
Ah, but someone did get intoxicated enough to tumble in the sand. Not once. But twice. So, all in, I say it was a wild birthday parteey!
The birthday girl with Lois.
The birthday girl with Hanna, Jam, and Paul.
Bonus!
Because you read (or scrolled, darn you) till the end, you get to see the look of love during different times of the day in Calaguas (and I don't mean that figuratively). You know, similar to when you wait after the movie credits have rolled and you get to see an extra scene.
Love in the air in the morning. Photo by Jay-ar Sto. Domingo.
Love in the afternoon.
Love at night.
How about you? What do you think are the awesome-st beaches in the country? And which ones are overrated? Sound off at the comments, y'all.
Labels: Calaguas Island, Camarines Norte, camping
