Survivor Mindoro: Day 1

Mr. P and I went to Calapan, Oriental Mindoro for a weekend getaway with his office friends. We left Manila at around 11:00 P.M. and boarded a Bus at the JAM Liner terminal in Buendia. The 2.5 hr bus ride was smooth because we all slept through the whole trip! Next thing we knew we were already at the Batangas sea port. We didn't get to take much photos during our transfer from the port transfers because we were all really tired. I was cringing the whole ride because our roro ship wasn't as clean as I hoped it would be!

I'm very iffy when it comes to riding boats because I absolutely hate having to sit on sticky seats and discover randomly stuffed garbage in-between my seat. It seemed as if all of my pet peeves were there in that boat ride! There were even shirtless kuyas sprawled on the roro seats, snoring! Thankfully I survived the 3 hour trip distracting myself by listening to Mr. P and his friends. In no time we got to the port of Calapan and were greeted by our friend Argine's dad and we were transported to their home which was a 30 minute trike ride away from the port. 

The wild adventure began when we crossed the 250 meter wooden foot bridge going to their house! Amazing how people manage to cross there without the aid of any light source! After steaming cups of sotanghon soup, a bit of old school tasks-- grating fresh coconut and pumping water via poso, and a power nap, a quick bangka ride ferried us to one of the most breath-taking beaches I've been to:

The island is actually a protected marine sanctuary. The only inhabitants on the island that day were a few caretakers and our group! We pitched our tents and set up zones for our bonfire and grilling station. The scorching heat was the perfect excuse to spend hours wading in the cool and clear waters! Mr. P and I had a fun time playing with bamboo posts that we found onshore-- pretending that they were banana boats. He also taught me how to skip stones on the water. Because of my poor hand-eye coordination, I ended up hitting their assistant manager with one of the smaller stones I was playing with. Oops! Haha. 

Most number of skips: 5

Stepping on itsy bitsy teeny weeny corals

A camping trip would not be as fun without food! Our friend's family prepared fresh tilapia for us to grill as well as guinataang kalabasa, monggo, hotdogs (they were so sweet, they bought tuna hot dogs for me & Mr. P), and sumptuous liempo!

Nothing beats liempo at the beach!

Mr. P took charge of making the fire and cooking-- after all, he is the MASTER CHEF of all-time! Taking a break from grilling under the sun, our companion Pete shared with us a coconut he found buried under the sand!

Fresh Coconut Meat.

After more swimming and chomping on chips, we started building the camp fire. Enzo, our youngest beach buddy, was so excited to make s'mores so he took charge of gathering additional wood and dried leaves. It was his firs camping trip and I was so amused at how brave and game he was to all of the day's challenges!

Enzo the Explorer!

Nightfall came and we enjoyed dinner, s'mores, and chitchat over the fire.

L-R: Mel, Argine, Enzo, Boss Tong, Bing, and Argine's girlfriend

Mr. P can now show off his Balik Alindog body! Haha.

The campfire that saved us!

 The campfire session ended after we stuffed ourselves silly with s'mores! It was a good idea to by the Kraft Jetpuffed mallows because they melt easier and were the good kind of gooey when roasted and squished in-between chocolate grahams!

We thought we were in for a restful night-- until a crazy combination of strong winds and mad rain woke us up at around 2:00 A.M.! The other slept outside the tents and were scrambling to get inside. One of us even stumbled and fell, causing him scratches from corals and rocks all over. We crammed ourselves with our things in the tent, straining to stay dry and trying to sleep in awkward positions. The rain stopped occasionally but got worse each time it poured. We really felt like the tent was going to get swept away by the winds and we struggled to keep water from seeping into our things. It was like a scene cut out of Survivor! Come sunrise, we were still trying to keep ourselves safe inside the tent. We feared that it wouldn't stop and we wouldn't get back to Manila that day. Thankfully, the skies were kind enough and by 8:00 A.M., everything was at a standstill. 

The day after the "storm"

Sleepless Survivor

Thankfully despite the harsh weather, we survived! Before waiting for the boat to take us back to safety, I took the time to check out funky finds on the shore!

I love collecting small pieces of pretty red corals!

Everyday smiles

The island adventure was 100x more exciting because of that battle with Momma Nature!

TBC.