Boracay bliss (day 2)

I think I was the first one to wake up among my friends. At around 630am, I fixed myself up because I really planned on waking up early so that I can roam around the area alone and take pictures. Just needed some quiet time alone hehe, nothing personal or anything. Anyway, that Wednesday Boracay morning is probably the best morning I’ve had. The sun’s heat was just right, the air’s warm and fresh breeze was very welcoming, and the view was amazingly serene. I can stay here forever! Here are the pictures I took, driven by the utmost desire of capturing the island’s breathtaking scenes. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

Early morning photo shoot

shadowy

the groto from afar

and upclose

so lovin’ it!

the postcard shot

footprints in the sand

three boats

and after seeing all of that, this was all I got to exclaim:

I really really enjoyed the photo shoot that I did! I was astonished! Words may not suffice as to how beautiful it is, so I’ll just probably post another batch of pictures taken when we went island hopping and snorkeling. That’s what my friends are preparing for when I came back to our room. We didn’t enjoyed snorkeling that much. Puerto Galera is still the best, we seriously think. What we enjoyed more is the island hopping. Again, we were in awe! Here are some photos I took during the two-hour boat ride, hopping from one island to another.

Manny Pacquiao’s resort/rest house

crystal clear water

There are still some more but I won’t post it all here, just check my Friendster and Multiply accounts. After that exhilarating activity, the elation level kept on going up. We all can’t believe that we’ve just seen and experienced all that. It’s like our hearts were all jumping for joy! We didn’t realized that it’s already time for lunch. Our eyes were more busog than our tummies. But of course, before we go back to our respective rooms and rest for lunch, picture picture muna!

nice shots taken by our friend Chad

So after settling down and getting some rest, we all headed to D’ Talipapa for lunch. Our chief coordinator, or Punong Abala as what we call her, told us that it would be such an experience to have our lunch freshly catched and cooked while we wait. Thrilled and tempted with the idea, we hurriedly checked it out. And true enough, it was such a delightful experience! We had a group meal for 8 persons, which includes spicy squid, sinigang na bangus, grilled porkchop, calamares with mayo dip, oysters, and a lot more. It was great! Another piece of heaven! Too bad I didn’t get to take pictures of it, because my camera got tired, I think, and manifested some errors with its lens while waiting for the food. My friends failed to take pictures, too. We all got busy eating! It was one of the highlight of our Bora adventure. Well, more than the magnificent and picturesque views, it’s got to be the food. You really need to explore on the food to complete your Bora experience. And that’s exactly what we did. Come merienda time, after going swimming and the photo ops again, we went to Jonah’s and tried their fruitshakes. And it was another blockbuster! The choco banana peanut most of us had hits the spot right on.

inside Jonah’s, a shot Manang waitress took of us

Time flies absurdly fast when you’re having fun. Next thing we know, it’s time for dinner, to eat again! But since most of us had a lot during the day, some (myself included) decided to skip dinner. We just rested anew, and prepare for another night out. We initially planned on going to Club Paraw, but when we’re on our way, we saw this 2 cocktails for the price of 1 promo of Chillout. Since the part-owner and our chief coordinator, oh yeah Punong Abala, Aden are chums, we settled there instead. I actually prefer chillin’ out and relaxing on cool music than going to a club or disco and party. Not my type. I mean c’mon, there are a lot of bars and club here in the city, so why would I still go for one in Boracay, where the ambience for me is so not for partying the usual way.

outside Chillout

the rain suddenly poured, so we just stayed inside

We stayed there til around 11pm-12am. We had two pitchers of Boracay Bomber, a drink that says “this will really kick your ass” on the menu. But it didn’t quite did that, or at least that’s not how I felt after drinking it. Not quite. Aden and another friend Joan still went to Club Paraw after we chilled out, while most of us just stayed outside by the shore where we had a lot of fun playing with the waves and the sand. At that exact moment, the tide is already high. Which makes it more fun for us. We’re like kids playing and laughing our hearts out. Probably because of the drink we had, too. It was another great time for all of us. After quite a while, we all headed to our rooms to rest our tired, weary and tanned bodies. Our second day was more packed, and it was indeed set on high spirits. Although hindi na nakisama yung camera ko, I still had fun! Lots and lots of it. I then went to sleep with a smile on my face.

(To be continued..)

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Boracay bliss (day1)

Ok, so this detailed Boracay post is a bit late. It’s becoming the trend on my posts lately, I noticed. Anyway, this trip/vacation or whatever you wanna call it is the most anticipated one for the year. I mean, who wouldn’t want to go to Boracay, the world’s best as many would say. Me and my officemates almost had two months ahead of time to prepare for this. I even tried to lose some weight, but just like every attempted diet I was on before, I failed haha! But just the same, at least I tried. Anyway, let’s not dwell on that and discuss more on the trip we had.

Nearly a week before our trip, I’ve been counting the days til November 18. And when that day finally came, I barely had a sleep. I only had around 3 hours, because a friend dropped by the eve of our flight. I had sort of a despedida, bought ice cream and six orders of siomai hehe! Good thing mom helped me in packing. Me and my friends met at McDonald’s Panay around 330am then arrived at the beautiful Terminal 3 of the airport around 430am. Since our flight is not until 630am, we still have two hours to kill. The solution? Picture taking! haha! Well, I won’t post it here, just check my Friendster and Multiply (for the complete photos, that is). The flight went well, same with the land and boat travel too. So when we finally got to the beach, the elation we felt was inexplainable. Ang ganda! was all we got to exclaim. At last, we’re here! I finally set foot to the island of Boracay!

We then searched for our resort/hotel La Fiesta on the first station. Good thing it’s off peak, we got two rooms for a very cheap price. When we settled in our stuff, we ran to the shore right away and took pictures of course! Here’s my first ever Boracay solo picture:

and with the rest of my friends:

After the just-the-start-of-the-seemingly-endless-photo-op, we then looked for a place where we can have our breakfast. We’re dead starving! We just settled for a nearby one, coz it’s still early and we’re still tired to look around for a good one. After a hearty breakfast, we rested a bit, roamed around and checked out the place. All of us are first timers so just imagine the eagerness. We then stayed in a place where two of our friends ordered some beer. The rest of us rested anew and took pictures anew, killed time yet again because there’s still no electricity in the place we’re staying so we had to make sure it’s back before we return.

Back in our room, we arranged our stuff and again rested a bit and prepared to go reef walking. Our chief coordinator, Aden, already had our activities arranged and even talked to the ones in charge. So off we went to go reef walking. We’re all so excited! We were told how to equalize the breathing when we’re already down the water, like 16 feet under, I think. I was actually the first to go (and also the last to go up!). Going down with that thing on our head was a bit difficult at first, but I’m glad I got used to it the longer I stayed in the water. My six other friends, well some, took a while to go down. Down there, it was beautiful! Lots of amazing and wonderful different kinds of fish. I even saw Dory! One manong finally gave us the food (I think it’s some kind of a bread) to give the fishes. We’re all so happy, but at that same moment we can only do sign language coz we won’t be able to hear each other. It was such a great experience doing that! We specially enjoyed the picture taking, but I still don’t have the copies. I will post it as soon as I got hold of the scanned copies.

on our way to do the reef walking

But after the reef walking, most of our girl friends got dizzy. Probably because of staying down the water, the boat ride and the waves. So we just rested back in our room coz we’ll go swimming at the later time of the afternoon. But before that, I made sure I’ll be able to take a picture of the sunset. Good mindset, coz I won’t be able to use my camera the next day. We’ll get there, anyway. Here’s a shot I took of the sunset:

Lovely, isn’t it? It would really make you go Aaaaww, and then sigh. Anyway, few moments passed by, it’s almost time for dinner so we all took a shower and prepared for it. We all decided to try Mang Inasal because they have unlimited rice, since most of us were starving again hehe! After that. back to our place to rest and prepare for the gimik night. We’re lovin’ this life, I tell yah! On our way to look a nice gimik spot, we took pictures beside the sandcastle. Of course this whole Boracay trip won’t be complete without it. Too bad there’s only one sandcastle left for taking pictures, unlike before where there’s quite several.

Afterwards, we continued to search for a gimik place. We all checked out the places from stations 1 to 2 and a half. I texted a friend who’ve been there and told me to try Hey Jude, but it’s quite noisy for us to bear. We then decided to go back and try a chill out place called Bom Bom where acoustics are being played while you drink near the shore. Just the right spot for us. Not too noisy and not too crowded. And the music is good! Drinking and having fun by the seashore is really something, it will give you this nice laid back feeling. I had few bottles of beer and a pineapple sling, then the sleepy bug suddenly bit me. At around 1230am, my eyes got heavier I just can’t help but go straight to our room. Three other friends stayed.

So needless to say, our first Bora day was fun, exciting and packed! Exhausting too, but all worth it. I still managed to watch tv before going to sleep, but only for a few minutes. I think I already fell asleep as soon as I lay my down the bed.

(To be continued..)

Back from Boracay

Yes, I am! We really enjoyed our three day vacation, a much needed one I might add. Boracay is heaven! Wish I can stay longer, but I sure can’t. But three days is not bad, though. At least I got to take a break from work and city’s busy life. Anyway, I am still a bit tired so I don’t know if I can compose my thoughts to discuss our stay there in details. I’ll just probably do an introduction, like I did in my Cagayan De Oro trip last March. So, for a teaser, here are some of the pictures I took. I fell in love with Bora, that’s why I can’t help but take pictures all the way!

I will post some more on my next entries. I’ll just compose my thoughts and gather some ideas as to how I will discuss our stay there, and how we loved and enjoyed it. It’ll be quite lengthy, I suppose. Catch’a later! 😉

And so it ended..

Last Friday, El Cuerpo del Deseo, a 2005 telenovela from Colombia we recently got hooked watching, had its final episode over at ABS-CBN. As I mentioned on my previous entry “El Cuerpo Mi Gusto” (which consistently holds the Top Post here) last April, it was, to me, the most intriguing and haunting Latin soap we’ve religiously followed. I even tried buying a dvd copy on Ebay.ph, (Yes, tried. But failed to make an online payment) because we want to watch complete episodes. Trust me, it’s that good that we’re willing to spend around $20 just to have a complete copy.

Anyway, I won’t reiterate as to how great the series was, just refer to the earlier post. I’d rather discuss how the story went at the latter part and eventually how it ended. Well, not in detail though but I’ll try, I’m a bit feeling sleepy already. Onto the climax part, after the Isabel and Salvador’s wedding and gradually where most in the mansion learned that Don Pedro Jose Donoso’s soul is indeed inside Salvador Cerinza’s body, things went crazy that it creeps them all out. I especially liked the part where Isabel went to Las Cruces to personally investigate, and then later gets to talk to the wife Cantalicia who finally gave her proof to her long-running suspicions. She then seek help to a professional but Salvador later found out, with the help of Gaetana. So there’s nothing more Isabel could do than to face the scary truth, same with all the people in the mansion.

Despite the tension, Isabel and Salvador ran away without saying any word to any of their housemates. In a hotel, the real Salvador suddenly returned to his body and caused trouble yet again. Because of that, they learned that the Police were searching for them. Guilty for what happened, they run away from one place to another, managing to escape from the Police from time to time. Then finally at this last police chase, Isabel and Salvador decided that them being together and loving each other is reason enough to be contented and not to ask for anything more, and that Isabel is ready to embrace death with Salvador. After a while, their car suddenly swerves and hits a road side, jumped in the air and fell into the ocean.

Meanwhile, Angela Donoso was in the hospital giving birth. How erie can it get, that after Isabel and Salvador (Pedro) died, rose a new life in the form of Angela and Antonio’s baby. Back in the mansion, Isabel and Salvador’s suicide shocked the people. But Walter the butler was not even contented and even checked the hospital to kill Salvador. Fortunately, he was given the wrong room ending up killing the wrong person. After a few weeks, Salvador now in his true form, finally woke up in the hospital unaware of what just happened and of course not recognizing all the people from the Donoso mansion. But still, Angela and Antonio brought him home and tried to observe for a month if he’ll still go back to the Salvador they knew of. Sadly, he didn’t. That’s why they decided to bring him back to Las Cruces. When they got there, it was heartbreaking! Seeing the wife Cantalicia with their son Moncho, running in their farm to welcome Salvador, in shock and in awe. After all that’s happened, they can’t belive he’s back. The very innocent Salvador was very thankful to Angela and her family for bringing him back while tears welling his eyes.

And that’s the end of it. When I learned that that’s how it’s going to end, I thought it would be boring. But I later realized that it would be best to end it that way, the way it all started. Mario Cimarro’s and Rosalinda Hernandez’s acting was just great. Although it was dubbed in Tagalog, I can feel its intensity and that they’re both drawn to their characters. The part where Isabel decided to die with Pedro was a bit typical of some movies, but still a good one, considering the story. At least she proved to herself that she really loved Pedro, and Pedro on the other hand got to do all that he planned. It was a sad ending for both of them though, but I still liked it anyway. What happened to Walter and Rebeca was a spot on! haha! Can’t help but say, Beh buti nga! to them. Anyway, here are some pictures I got from dayanaymario.blogspot.com, a collection of the main characters in a magazine with some descriptions about their part in the show. I will include some personal commentaries as to how I liked or hated each character.

Salvador Cerinza – played his two entirely different roles very well. Muy simpatico, as one commented on Youtube, he personifies great strength with his character. Very mysterious at times, his gaze alone is haunting, which makes him very fitting for the role.

Isabel Arroyo – very beautiful and seductive, it’s like I’m looking at a beauty queen everytime I see her. Tall, slender, poised and sexy. I also liked the way she played her role, very appealing and real.

Angela Donoso – the fact that she fell inlove with the mayordoma’s son, is reason enough to like her. She’s very charming and elegant, and can actually give Isabel a run for her money.

Andres Corona – I can only think of evil things everytime I hear his name. He’s the main man when it comes to scheming in the lives of Donoso’s. I can actually give him an A+ for acting, coz he’s damn good too!

Antonio Dominguez – the good boy, mysterious at times too but very intelligent and observant. I’m glad he earned what he really deserves.

Valeria – Isabel’s cousin. She’s really pretty, and sexy too, really nice eyes. She played the role of a very shy and reserved girl who gets involved with Salvador in the middle part of the series. I liked her character, being the only one Isabel trusts. She also reminds me of this girl from a certain telenovela years back, can’t remember the name.

Simon Dominguez – I especially liked his character coz he’s funny, mischievous and oftentimes says what’s on his mind, be it good or bad. Despite being it, he learned how to be responsible in life and love. I would love to see him and Valeria end up together, really!

Now if there’d be an award for the most annoying and irritating TV characters, it would definitely be Walter and Rebeca, hands down! These two are unbelievable! High-profile schemers, opportunists, and leeches! Haha, you can tell I am that affected with their roles. Which only goes to show how effective they are in their acting.

Part of the credit can actually go to the dubber who really did a great job. Walter’s mere grunt, snort or even sigh will put you into an utmost state of annoyance. That’s why I am happy he ended up in jail. Same with Rebeca, who commited suicide in a hotel she’s staying. They both deserve to rot in hell haha! 😉

The pair I loved the most in this series is, no, not Isabel and Salvador, but Gaetana and Salvador. Pair not in a romantic way, but more in a sensible partners in crime way. A very odd one indeed, because at first Gaetana was very hesitant to trust Salvador but gradually learned not just to trust, but to comfort each other.

I remember this part where Salvador got lost because his true person suddenly came back to his body. Gaetana got really worried and cried and cried, thinking he already died. You can really feel her agony and depression. I actually never did thought that she will play a big part on the show. She did really good, I might say. Specially on those funny parts, she is funny too!

Abigail played the head servant in the Donoso mansion, and she played the part really well. She’s the mother all of us wished for. Very loving, sincere, modest, and with good principles in life. His sons Antonio and Simon are proof that even though you’re just a widow servant, still you can earn people’s respect by setting a good example to everyone around you.

Cantalicia is Salvador’s wife, living simply at their farm in Las Cruces. She’s the main person who got all webbed up with the sudden turn of events. I also like her character, being the bewildered one who almost got crazy and all, but later accepted the fact that Salvador is not Salvador anymore and that he’s not coming back. Her acting is great, too.

Well, I guess this pretty much says it all. Quite a lengthy one! I can probably go discuss each and every remaining character but with the heaviness my eyes are feeling this moment, I’d rather doze off in the next ten minutes. To sum it all up, this series will definitely stay in our hearts as one of the most memorable. I hope to watch more of this essential and well done soaps that will keep me awake in the afternoons. 😉

I want a new mobile phone!

Not that I badly need one, I still have both my Globe and Smart cellphones and I’ve been using them for about two years now, I think. But I just felt the need to replace my Smart handy phone, not because I can’t use it anymore or already been damaged, but I think it needed to retire. One more thing, I am really planning to buy a music phone, because I don’t want to separately buy an mp3 or an ipod. I need a phone who can handle both the usual features and play music as well. Being a music freak that I am, all I can think of as a Christmas gift for myself is buying that music phone I have been dreaming of having for quite a while now. Anyway, I want a very reliable one, with very good and clear sound quality and one that won’t hang that often. I know I should opt to buy an mp3 or ipod instead if I want those staple features, but I don’t wanna bring too much gadgets everytime I am out. Well, I have searched in gsmarena.com and found some that really catched my attention. Here are some that I liked, so far:

My officemate have this one, and I liked its style and sound. And it’s cheap, according to him

I also liked this one, the color actually. And the size

This one I fell in love at first sight! hehe!

Yes, I have only checked out some Sony Erricson units. I heard that SE phones have good sound quality. And that’s what I am considering more than anything else. I will also check out some Samsung units, and hopefully I’ll get to like them as well. I initially planned on buying a Nokia Express Music, but a friend told me that it hangs very often. I really hope I can find one soon! I want to buy next month. 😉

November Rain

We’ve been experiencing some rains since this month started, and it seems that November celebrants I know of kept pouring in as well. Few of my friends and relatives as well are celebrating their birth month, and some already have, but it won’t be too late for this monthly post. Another monthly post is under construction (the monthly recap) because I’ve been bitten by the lazy bug. Anyway, here are this month’s celebrators haha! I hope, like the rain we’ve been having, booze and food will also flood us the entire month just like the blessings and good things that are showering these people.

My titas Jean (Nov 11) & Rina (Nov 10), and cute pamangkin Sofie (Nov 20)

My longtime friends from high school Lenny (Nov 6) & from college Ricsan (Nov 19)

My dear officemates Mayet & Erwin, both on November 25th

An occassional friend hehe Chyrene (Nov 23) & another dear officemate Ruru (Nov 20)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all of you!! CHEERS!! 😉

Obama makes history

Barack Obama. His name indeed etched in history as he became America’s first black President. I am not much of a politics freak, nor do I ever touch that topic here in my blog, but in a way I am glad he won. Not that I am rooting for him or religiously following those political debates, but I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about him. I just watched his victory speech, the first one from any US presidential winner I checked out, and it was an interesting one. Yes it was typical of any politician platform of promises and stuff, but at least America has something to hold on to in these trying times.“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep.”, he cautioned.

One fellow Multiplier actually is fearing about all this, saying stuff about some kind of plans and schemes to tear him down in the first place. I heard something similar (and a lot more), but I think those are just part of the game of politics. I just hope everyone will be cooperative on being part of Obama’s mindset about this change. And that let us not dwell on those bad thoughts only an evil mind can think of, but instead be positive and embrace the change coming.

Anyway, I am already feeling sleepy so just click HERE to read the full story on Obama’s landslide victory. Congratulations, Mr. President! 😉