Camp Zambales: Part 1

As mentioned in this post, I was able to spend my birthday weekend away from the hustle and bustle of Manila and just relax at the beach with my boys - Gerd, Miko and David - all thanks to Byaheng Victory! :) As usual, it was a trip for the books, and here's what went down...

We were set to meet at Victory Liner Caloocan at 4am sharp - just four hours after the official end of my birthday, but the official start of my birthday weekend. Woohoo! XD

Naturally, being aaaaall the way from the South, Gerd and I got there waaaaay before Miko and David. :p The two of them got there five minutes before the bus departed. True story.

I slept throughout the entire bus ride coz Gerd and I spent the night before watching "Suits" until it was time to go, and we arrived at San Antonio, Zambales at around 9:30am.

I felt the need to include this shot to show you how white not-black I was when we got there. :p Be prepared for nigguh-ness in my next post. Lol.

The heat was intense, so I rolled up my shirt as much as I could. Gotta avoid uneven tan lines! One of my pet peeves.

There were some complications with our boat that day, so we actually spent a few hours on San Antonio eating and getting to know the rest of the people on the tour first.

At around noon, it was boat-ride time!!! Spot my brand new Crocs flip flops! :D I actually wore that pair the entire weekend and I'm so thankful that I did. Nothing beats the comfort of Crocs - tried and tested!

Woo! I took this shot! :D

Proud coz the rest of the photos here were taken by Gerd.

The rest of our group for the weekend. :) The boat ride to Nagsasa Island took about an hour, but there were plenty of sights to see and plenty of creative ways to try and sleep, the latter of which was sadly not captured on camera.

Soon enough, we reached Nagsasa Island. Unfortunately, by the time the boat reached the shore, my dysmenorrhea decided to kick in... because, yes, God has a sense of humor and thus decided to smite me with bloody hell that weekend. Pardon the pun.

I was in some intense pain while walking to the camping site. Fortunately, our resident first aid kit-man (see what I did there?) Gerd had painkillers with him. Little did I know that his painkillers were also sleep inducers and I got knocked out on a random bench in mere seconds.

Since I was off in dreamland, I missed the following:

Apparently, they learned how to set up tents while I was asleep.

And David decided to turn his fashown on while they were at it.

Ta-daaa! Tent is up!

I vaguely remember Gerd trying to get me to wake up, but the pain was still searing in my tummy and I was still drowsy, so I screamed mumbled something at him and they went off to explore without me. :(

More of the things that I missed:

Fortunately, that last picture is epic, whether you were there or not. :p

I eventually got up out of my stupor and joined the boys at the beach, where Gerd and I frolicked in the ocean while Miko and Dave trekked up the cliffs. When they came back down, we found ourselves an extremely comfy spot by some mermaid rocks and talked until the sun set. That was definitely the best part of the trip for me. :)

We were eventually invaded by a group of noisy people nearby, though, and started to get hungry, so we trekked back to camp, where dinner awaited us.

Another thing that I loved about the trip was that there was no signal on the island. This meant that we had to get by without Internet of any sort... which was nice for a change. :)

After dinner, we decided to get a bonfire started, where we told ghost stories, drank some delicious shots, and played some fun drinking games. Definitely the perfect way to end the night! :D Someone got a bit too drunk, though, coz he kept losing during the games. :p Guess whooo? Hahaha.

It's a bit ironic that I'm wearing sunglasses in this picture. Before the bonfire, the boys were warning me that my contact lenses might melt, and I was actually making fun of that myth by wearing these in the picture.

In the end... MY CONTACT LENSES ACTUALLY MELTED. NO JOKE. DO NOT WEAR YOUR CONTACT LENSES NEAR ANYTHING BURNING. I don't even plan on lighting any cigarettes with contacts on anymore. Paranoid kung paranoid!

Due to the lack of technology and electricity on Nagsasa, we were able to sleep under a very starry, starry sky. This photo does not do it justice. It was downright gorgeous. In fact, seeing the sky like that was enough to make me promise myself that I'd go back just to see it again. :)

Unfortunately, the drunken one ended up snoring all night in the tent, so I didn't get to sleep much. But I'll get to that in the second part of this post. :p

For now, check out the trips that you can go on with Byaheng Victory yourself on their official website, their Facebook page and their Twitter account. :) Stay tuned for part 2!