Love, Love, Love from Cedric Valera on Vimeo.
Love, Love, Love
I’ve been to Coron about 6 times already and now I realize that the smattering of islands over there in Northern Palawan has got to be one of my favorite places in the Philippines. Limestone cliffs jut out of the sea and stand tall, like a naval blockade protecting its treasures – inland lakes, sandy beach pockets, magical reefs. And Coron never seems to run out of it. For four days we traipsed across the sea in our cozy boat, ...
Come To Marlboro Country from Cedric Valera on Vimeo.
Come To Marlboro Country
I cannot even recall how many times I’ve been to Sagada but each and every time I go there, I take home with me a new experience. This time around I’m on a Travel Factor trip, observing CONQUER Sagada 2.0. Just as I thought I’ve done everything in Sagada, Kuya Erwin, our main man in Sagada shoves onto my lap a white, live chicken. I clutch her with me until Marlboro Country, our campsite for the night. About an hour ...
Wasted. Happy. Alive.
08/08/08 Finally the bus came to a halt and everyone slowly unraveled from their seats. Almost everybody had wrapped themselves like cocoons, using whatever excess clothing they had to fight off the relentless cold air spewing from the air-conditioning. Outside, everything seemed to be bathing in gray – the kind of sunrise you get when clouds are in the way. Some of my companions had already brought out their cameras, I, smoking a cigarette in disbelief. As if on cue, ...
Wet Tents at a Haunted Campsite
Wet Tents at a Haunted Campsite (Aug 1, 2009 – Subic Beach, Matnog, Sorsogon) Flying into Legaspi, we caught a series of jeeps that brought us to Luzon island’s southernmost frontier, Matnog. From there we were able to arrange a banca that would take us to the nearby islands. We were fortunate to have hired a rather sturdy banca as the waves turned ballistic on us as we distanced Matnog Port. At one point, a huge-ass wave almost swallowed the ...
Of Grinding Lolas, Belting Mayors and the Kindness of Caramoanons
“Kuya Ced, nilalamig ka ba?” asked curiously by Joy one of our youthful guides. It was close to dusk and I was sitting near the banca’s bow absorbing each and every splash as wave after wave pounded our wooden vessel. Without the benefit of a rain sheet, I was also being drenched by a freakish late afternoon downpour. “Minsan. Halimbawa, ngayon.” I delicately replied. At last, after a really long day, we finally parked our boat in Daraga, a small ...
Finding Scout Island
Leia asked me if her beach preference standards were too high. We probably have the same standards, I replied, having seen many beaches already. “Mababaw lang naman ang kaligayahan ko. Basta malinis, hindi maingay, kaunti ang tao. Kahit nga hindi white sand, basta malinaw ang tubig, ayos na.” When you’ve visited almost all the popular beaches around, and you really are a natural beach bum, you’ll probably develop an indeliberate but steady stream of consciousness dedicated towards finding that next ...
Hot Air. No Balloons.
The night before, I texted everybody about our target departure time which was 3AM. Of course we didn’t leave on time. No biggie. I brought our Venture (a mini-van), which, 2 minutes into EDSA decided to rip its fanbelt resulting to loss in power steering, and a rapid rise in the engine’s temperature. Not the first time. Certainly the last. It was a good thing that Manny, our trusty driver was still on-duty, driving for my sister that time, so ...
RH, Coron and Cigarettes III
Kayangan Lake, touted as the Philippines’ cleanest lake, is located on the fringe of Coron Island. To get there, your boat enters a cove and parks right beside the walkway’s entrance. There’s a P200 entrance fee that you have to pay though, which I think is steeply priced compared to other eco-tourism sites. But this is no ordinary site. Coron Island is the ancestral domain of the Tagbanua people, the indigenousgroup of the area. After many years of fighting and ...
RH, Coron and Cigarettes II
Welcome to the Port of Coron, a small pier which welcomes a weekly batch of tourists and returning residents. The level of activity peaks when a Negros Navigation or Super Ferry ship docks. Most of the time, the pier is closed. Coron Town is located in Busuanga Island, the biggest of the Calamianes Group. This is where a community of around 8,000 people live and where most commercial trading is conducted. The town is a typical rustic locale with tourism ...
RH, Coron and Cigarettes I
If there’s one lesson to learn about traveling by Negros Navigation, it’s that they’re never on time. Never. What was supposed to be a 4:00 PM departure turned out to be 10:00 PM. It’s a good thing, however, that I confirmed the boat’s schedule hours before. If it weren’t for that, we would’ve inhaled, exhaled and inhaled again Port of Manila’s foul, briny stench. And so at about 9:00 PM we arrived at Pier 2 and boarded M/S San Paolo. ...
