Merlyne Almuete, one of my first friends in college, turned 18 last August 29. To celebrate her coming of age, she had her friends from here in Manila to travel all the way to her hometown, Nueva Viscaya! It was a 3-day stay, from Aug 26-29
The debutante!
HOW FIERCE RIGHT?!!?!
Hehe it's not everyday a friend invites you to go all the way to Northern Luzon to celebrate a birthday and stay there for three days --- all expense paid?! It just goes to show how much my presence was wanted :)) kapal ba? Love ako ni M eh hihi. And it's not everyday a 17-year-old lady like ME gets allowed to go to such a faraway kingdom --- all by myself! Dumaan naman ako sa butas ng karayom bago pinayagan.
After a month of contemplating on whether or not I should even bother asking for permission from my parents [it's so damn distant from Manila and what do I even know about travelling far far away without my family], I finally got the guts to tell mommy and daddy about it. Being the loving and protective parents that they are, they were hesitant at first and that seemed to have signaled me a "no". But then, the dark skies turned blue and boom! I got alloooowwwweeeedddd! :-D May I just say that it was a matter of talks between my parents and MM's super kind mom.
I know this made MM (nickname for Merlyne) twice as happy 'cause I really felt she wanted all of us to come
Fast forward to the chilly night of Aug 26th, Friday! One of the biggest heartbreaks of my life so far, I have to say, was my college beef Paula's sudden drawback of attendance. That night, advisory on storm signals particularly in NORTHERN LUZON were all over the news. Her mom naturally took action and made Paula stay instead. You could only imagine the grief and shock our hearts had to contain that night. But everything's okay now so move on move on :))
I met Tantay (M's best friend), Mariel (M's childhood friend) and Tita Abel, MM'S mom. They were travelling with us too. Good to know I won't be the only girl. But pretty sad to remember that Paula was seriously not coming anymore. This was supposed to be our moment but it was then gone by the wind! Or should I say... Gone by the storm signals!! All in all, it was me, Toby, MC, Daniel, Romar, Miles and Keno. PT-1B represent!
11PM the coaster bus began its journey to Nueva Viscaya. After a couple of stopovers and long moments of sleeping and constant waking up to the noise of friends (ehem MC), we finally arrived at MM's home around 8 in the morning Saturday. We met MM's very accommodating and kind family and of course, their dogs! The dogs were about six or seven in number, if I remember it right. Cuuuute.
We had yummy breakfast there and off we went to Balay Gloria Inn, where we will be staying for the next three days. This place was just a few-minute drive away from MM's house.
FLOP INFO: I had to rely on my phones cam because apparently, 1) MM left her battery charger in Manila 2) Paula was in Manila :( 3) I didn't bring my cam 'cause it never occurred to me that Paula wouldn't come (haha sorry puro Paula)
Here we are all-set in the coaster bus..... Photos from MM
Day 1
AUGUST 27 - Saturday
Here we are!! :-)
Our cabin! 
We slept for long hours in the afternoon. After some nap between 10-11 am, we were served with lunch! As you can see in the photo below, the little table in front of our room would be where the eight of us would eat together for breakfast, lunch, merienda and dinner respectively. In the course of three consecutive days that we dined here at this spot, the winds were so strong. But there was no storm at all, as opposed to the Friday evening weather advisory.
The girls' room
During the first night, I was fine with MM and Tantay (since they're BFFs) sharing the same bed and I having the other bed all to myself until............... MM asked me to put some of my stuff beside me 'cause, according to her, you'll never know whether or not some sort of entity lays in bed beside you. To think that we're in a province.. HOW CREEPY COULD THAT BE RIGHT!??!?! Right then and there I begged for the space between our beds to be gone by having our beds literally beside each other. THUS, the positions of our beds in the photo above.
The wind almost blew us away - literally. These photos are proofs
Had some coffee time in Cafe Angelo
Day 2
AUGUST 28 - Sunday
The three of us had our alarms set to ring on 5am so the birthday girl could get some shower before she heads to church, as her mom reminded her the night before. Her phone was ringing aloud for a couple of times and I was waiting for one of them to wake but neither ever did! How could they sleep that deeply. Haha. When I woke again, it was just me and Tantay in the room, which meant MM had already gone to church.
Breakfast was yummy as usual Keno even commented "Lahat kakainin ko basta gawa ng pamilya Almuete" hahaha sisipsip pa eh
We accompanied MM to a salon where she was to have her nails done and with us were Tita Abel the mom, "Mama Yeng" the kwela tita and MM's younger sister. MM's younger sister (whose name I swear I know but right now I just can't remember) was at first very aloof towards Tantay and I. But later on she was cracking jokes with us and was very friendly naman pala. May I just say she's so talented with drawing anime stuff! Reminds me of myself when I was her age =)))
We got to taste this fruit? Some sort of Nueva Viscaya delicacy... introduced to us by Mama Yeng the cool tita of MM.
Snake skin yung texture, noh?
It was so sour sobrang nakakangilo. Tasted and smelled like wine too
The inside
Then we decided to play with the life-size MM... with our pambahay na pambahay clothes on
Miles
To myself, why so ANNOYING???! :)) photo below's from Tantay
Upon coming back to our cabin, MM was having a photoshoot. So? Paparazzi mode lang kami
Bongga ang entrance! MM riding on a horse --- cowboy/cowgirl ang theme
What a pretty stage set-up
Toby Hernandez
MC Cruz
Romar Evangelista
Daniel Law
Miles So
18 Candles
I also spoke on behalf of our other girl friends who couldn't be there namely Paula & Nenitta
Ewan ko kung mukhang cowgirl ba yung outfit ko. Pero carry lang
Tantay and MM moment --- kakatawa kasi super kinakabahan kami cos we haven't prepared any speech to melt MM's heart. Nevertheless, M was happy about it I just know okay!! :))
Touching moment: we saw MM cry for the first time when her mom was delivering her speech for her
Photobooth
Sorry bout my big face there
Going back to our cabin, we watched M open some of her gifts including ours. And I was delighted to see she actually liked what I gave her! AHIHIHI Kilig to the ribs. During this last night in Viscaya, we were supposed to celebrate pa after the debut but MM's "order" took a lot of time my body just gave up and fell asleep around 1 a.m.
Day 3
AUGUST 29 - Monday
All set to go back to Manila!
The same coaster bus we rode in going to Viscaya
CREEPY photo! I never set this as my camera setting but it was captured this way.
Saying bye bye to Viscaya
Accidental shot
Butterfly awwe
At a mini resort in Viscaya. MM's mom was so kind she even wanted us to go for a swim but we politely turned it down and so we just stayed there for some kwentuhan and pahangin and whatever!! :)) Then we had Jolibee for dinner and soon, we were finally on our actual way to Manila.
At the eco park. Supposed to be, dito kami magsswimming pero wala eh umulan the night before so di raw pa pwedeng pag swimmingan yung pool. But we still pushed through with the picnic! :D
That's me trying to catch the cornix hanging in the air. Physics ito physics
Where it all began
Upon arriving at MM's apartment at around 4 am, we decided to wait for the sun to rise before we headed home. We exchanged a couple of stories with MM's mom and lola who told us about some of MM's moments in the States when she was young.
I was too tired when I got home, slept at 8 in the morning and woke up around 6 p.m.! "Mga di sanay sa biyahe", to quote MM.
Aaaand that sums up the memorable three day stay in MM's hometown, Nueva Viscaya! Thank you MM! Happy happy happy 18th once again! Love you.
hahaha sayang di ako nakasama :)) cute niyo <3
ReplyDelete