#firstbarkada

I was born and raised in Manila and having said that means I have no province. My dad and his siblings, however grew up in Bataan and that’s what we consider our province ever since. (My mother is from Manila too.) Back in the days when we were all still in our elementary years, every summer, all of us would leave for Orani to spend Holy Week. We would normally leave Manila on Maundy Thursday and be back Black Saturday/Easter Sunday depending on my dad’s work schedule. (He works in casino so holidays are not really applicable to them.) Me and my cousin, Jiecel though would sometimes stay a little bit longer with our Lola and spend time with our only cousin living there, Ate Irish.

Fast forward to many years later, us, kiddos have grown. Half of us now are already working and the other half are in college. Taking a time off our busy lives in Manila became a problem. The tradition then of coming to Orani became less and less until it wasn’t even a Holy Week “thing” any more. But this year was different. An uncle decided it’s time again for a get-together in our third home, Orani, Bataan!

April 13, 2017, Thursday

We left Manila at exactly 8:05am. As expected, there would already be heavy traffic; the normally 2 hour drive became 5 hours. I didn’t actually felt it though for I was sleeping (and playing Pokemon Go) the first half of our trip. We had a quick stop for bathroom break at Total gas station in San Fernando, Pampanga then off again we go to Peninsula De Bataan where we will be spending the night.

We arrived in the resort at around 12:30pm. To my surprise, the small resort wasn’t as full as I expected it to be. We headed directly to the gazebo where we will have our sumptuous lunch prepared by Tito Arthur and Tita Cel, who lives there. If there’s one thing I can really be proud of with Orani, Bataan, it’s their seafood. They are just really fresh and delicious.

                            I instantly dig in the seafood. #SeafoodQueen

After lunch, we all get settled in our rooms and prepare for the adventure we have planned and up until now, I still can’t believe I agreed. All the kiddos stayed in a dormitory type of room so just imagine how chaotic and fun it was. We rested for a while and geared up to our first outdoor activity: Trekking! – This is my first ever trek so it deserves another blog.

We got back to the resort almost in time for dinner. We were all stinky so all had a shower before we were tasked to set the table for the night’s boodle fight. If I am not mistaken, this is the first boodle fight of our entire family. We had Adobo, Mangga with Bagoong, Grilled Tilapia, Seafood and Meat Balls. Yum! I could still remember how much I ate that night. Sirang sira ang diet!

To say that we were so full that night is an understatement. We were 36 all in all and it was really fun to have dined with all of them at once – definitely the highlight of this outing. It was also Tricia’s birthday on the 15th and since half are coming home the next day, we celebrated it a little early.

                                          “Happy Birthday, Tricia!🎈”

April 14, 2017 – Friday

As expected, no one from the kiddos would be up early – except maybe Ate Irish who got a kid and Kuya Mac who didn’t join us in the trek. I woke up a little around 9am and was not really surprised to find my father and Tito Mon still drinking. It’s obvious that they were both drunk already as they were jumping from one topic to the other along with the sober titos and my lola. We had breakfast and not long after prepared for lunch. It was just a quick but delicious lunch as we need to check out of the resort at noon.

I was supposed to come home as well that day but me and my sister were pulled to stay ’til Sunday. So much drama also happened but we all just kind of shrugged it off and tried to have as much fun as we could. After checking out at Peninsula De Bataan, we went straight to Tito Arthur and Tita Cel’s house where we will spend Friday night before we head to Vista Tala the next day. We rested for a bit and went to Sibol to get charcoals to bring home to Manila. Despite still being dead tired, we all hoped to the van to spend time with each other. Maximizing every opportunity to bond.

When we got back, we were all craving for shake/halo halo to beat the heat. Luckily, a milk tea hub was open that’s almost right next to our home. We all grabbed something refreshing to drink and got back to rest before our much awaited Good Friday Procession. It has been another tradition to watch the procession when we were still little kids. We love seeing the statues of saints decorated beautifully with flowers and lights. Also, the “padugo” and mourning ladies that used to scare us to death. We were lucky that we’re situated near the church so we just have to go out of our gate and we’ll see all this “caros”.

After the procession, we had our dinner and settled ourselves in our respective sleeping beds to cap off the night.

April 15, 2017, Saturday

We all woke up at 5:30am as the kiddos were bound to have a quick beach trip before we head to our next resort, Vista Tala. Since we slept early the night before, we were all up and ready as soon as we got picked up. We had an hour drive before we ended up in the beach were we went years ago. A lot has changed and there were already a lot of people swimming contrary to how I remember it back then. Once we arrived, we instantly sprayed sun block and ran to the beach. We were time constraint so we couldn’t afford to waste time.

We left the beach around 11am and headed to Vista Tala. We stopped first at Nanay Susan’s Lomi house, a famous one in the vicinity to have a quick-lunch. This is where then my stomach ache started. After lomi and gotto, we went now to the resort. I was really feeling my tummy upset and was having cold sweats while waiting for the keys. I went to their in-house resto and there I had my first explosive poop. As expected, it was watery but I was surprised to find it clear and not smelly at all. Hmmm! I was still thankful it all happened there. Imagine if it started while we were still at the beach? Yikes!

I was roomed with my sister and Ate Irish and Baby Raphael who’s 1yr and 7 months old. After getting settled we wore our swimwears and went to explore the resort. It was really cold up there since it’s situated on the top of the mountain. You could see a large horizon of mountains and trees from any angle. There’s also a zipline that I missed to try because of my stomach. We had photo ops and swam on their small but cozy infinity pool before we prepped for dinner.

At exactly 7pm, we all gathered in the private KTV room of their in-house resto. Tita Au ordered nachos, sisig, pancit canton and chicken wings and cucumber lemonades for all of us to enjoy. I was bummed that I only ate a little because I was afraid that my tummy will do somersault. At that point, I think I had 4 episodes already of still watery but not so smelly poops. All 16 of us enjoyed a night of singing and some had few cans of beer too. I ordered one but ended up not drinking it. At 10pm, we all retreated to our respective rooms and agreed to meet at the breakfast buffet the next morning. As soon as we get to our room, I fell straight to bed and was instantly knocked out. I was awaken at 12:30 because I was freezing and I felt a need to poop once again. (Damn! I realized at that rate, I would be needing some LRS when I get back to Manila.) Then instantly fell back to sleep til the morning.

April 16, 2017, Sunday

Our room was the last to get into the restaurant because: one, it was still so early and two, our room was far from theirs and there was no signal in the entire resort. After breakfast, we all agreed that we’ll check out early to avoid heavy traffic back to the Metro. We all get dressed and packed then after 4 of my cousins tried the zipline. I was left with Baby Raphael who just slept the moment we got to the other room. The crying must have worn him out.

We left the place at 11:30am and headed back to Orani to pick up some goodies and had our last lunch there.

Overall it was nice but low-key outing. I enjoyed alot despite my stomach issues and I was grateful that once again we got to experience the tradition we enjoyed when we were still kids. ULTIMATE COUSIN GOALS!

Photo Credits: Tricia, Jiecel, Krystel, Ara and Tita Baby – I was enjoying too much to remember taking shots even if I have planned to blog this trip out. Thanks for these photos.

Peninsula De Bataan, Orani, Bataan Website:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peninsula-de-Bataan-Orani-Bataan/251839694839068