CMS OUTING AT LAGUNA

This year, our unit had our outing at Pansol, Laguna since we opted to have it someplace near. It was just too bad though that two of our officemates were not able to join us – one had to stay home since they had just recently established an eatery and therefore could not take a day off! The other one had a wife and family who weren't so keen to swim at Pansol, Laguna.

Anyway, so we all left on Thursday, at around ten am because our boss had a bit of work to do before leaving. Our first destination was Pook ni Maria Makiling where we can have our lunch. We got there at around twelve (after a two-hour drive) and thankfully the place was dotted with trees and quite cool enough for us to eat on their provided concrete tables.

But what the kids truly enjoyed was their Olympic sized swimming pool that charged only PhP25.00 for entrance fees! Quite cheap huh! Just too bad that the hubby isn’t here, otherwise, he would have enjoyed the huge pool. He was feverish since last night and had difficulty swallowing and so this morning, he just took us and the van to the office and left promptly to go home and rest. The kids all had fun swimming and even I myself wanted to take a dip but then I wasn’t feeling well either and just took some meds to stave off my fever since I couldn’t be absent after all I was the one who prepared everything for this outing with Nel.

While the kids swam and since we still could not go to our rented house that we reserved from 6pm to 6am the next day, we decided to head off to UP Los Banos to buy some kesong puti and their other milk products. This is another thing that Los Banos is famous for and another reason to head off South to Laguna (aside from buko pies, of course). I bought fresh carabao’s milk, cow’s milk (they have choco flavor now!), kesong puti, pastillas and a new discovery yogurt! It all tasted yummy and my kids loved it! I just wish Los Banos is just nearby so we could buy all this good stuff whenever we just feel like it!

At around five, we left Pook ni Maria Makiling already and made a quick detour at SM Los Banos to buy a few more things we need before going to our rented place – The Bellissima resorts. Upon our arrival, they were already filling up the pool, so at least we know that the water is new huh? Of course, even if the kids just came from a pool and while the water is still knee-high they immediately dipped in the water and we just let them while we fixed our things / food to be cooked in the kitchen and the ref. In a short while, after cooking rice, grilling the marinated meat and hotdogs, cutting up fruits, and cooking the sinigang fish, we had a hearty dinner.

After eating, the kids still continued swimming while I decided to sleep in early to rest my feverish body, I just awoke after an hour to check on the kids and encourage them to get out of the water already after all they still have tomorrow to swim anyway?

The next day, I was up and about early to see if I could help them cook breakfast but it was already underway by the time I got down courtesy of Ping and Nel (with help from Crispin and Eric) So I just had them buy some bread for those who prefer to just have bread for their breakfast. Besides, the kids already ate up all the bread yesterday in between bouts of swimming so we need to buy more for their snacks later on. Ping also bought some additional fish to grill for our lunch later.

I would’ve wanted to take a swim in the morning but still I felt feverish and the fever would only go away whenever I would drink paracetamol and so I’d rather not dip in cold water lest my fever gets to be full blown. The kids, as expected, took to the water as soon as they awoke and only stopped to eat breakfast, lunch and then some sandwiches for snacks. We decided to leave early at around three because we will be passing by The Original Buko Pie to buy their ever-famous buko pie. We were quite surprised to see that there was a long line waiting to buy, I guess there were more excursionistas during the weekend unlike our last ocular trip here that was a weekday. But still we persisted and stayed in line to buy what we intended.

Just our luck that we got caught in the traffic at SLEX and EDSA so that it was almost six when we got to the office, thankfully we rode with Chito and family who will be taking the van home (since he would be the one to take over hubby’s task to pick up Ate Ne’s sisters and mom at Garay for April’s wedding). It seems that the hubby was still sick and could not perform his assigned task. So despite the fact that we (the kids particularly) had fun during our office outing, I couldn’t truly be happy because at the back of my mind I was worrying if he is OK, maybe tomorrow I’ll take him to see the doctor.

FAS outing @ Bataan

For this year, the hubby’s unit decided to visit the beach resort in Bataan that our unit went to last year. This was OK since we liked that beach in Bataan and the kids especially liked spending time at the cave where they could go cliff diving. The group made an early start at 4:30 am since they wanted to head to the cove at once (unlike our group last year that went to the cove the next day, early morning). We arrived at Balanga market by 6:30am and they bought some more seafood supplies before we finally reached the Bagac Bay resort at around 8. We waited a bit for the others, unpacked our belongings and just brought the food supplies for our lunch at the cove.

We boarded about 5 bancas and reached the cove by 9. But it was a different one that the boatmen brought us to and when I asked one of the boatmen, he says the island/cove that I was referring to had been sold already to a foreigner and they’re currently developing and would soon command a steep price for entrance fees. But as it turns out the freaking guy was lying – it seems they have a cut for each visitor they bring to the island and seeing that there were so many of us he brought us here to this place which is not as pretty as the one we went to the last time the CMS was here.

We realized too late because later on in the afternoon our boatman took us there –before we went back to the resort…too bad! There were some biting insects in the water of the cove that they brought us to, oh I just hate those boatmen! How dare they decide what was best for us! They should have brought us to the other one since even if the price there was higher, the beach was prettier! Well, the kids still enjoyed swimming even for awhile. The oldies just ate the delicious lunch that was prepared, they also liked the ensaladang gulay that Ditse made.

After eating, the group left to swim in the cove. This is where they had so much fun because the water was cool and there was less sun so those not wanting to have burnt skin took a dip there. But of course, the boys especially liked the cliff-diving thing where they jump from the top of a huge rock into the deep ocean below. Well, I have always been afraid of heights and though I know a bit how to swim, I can’t venture into deep waters without donning a life vest. But still watching them leap over gives me the creeps and more so when it was my son who took the plunge. He was a bit hesitant about it and dilly-dallied for quite a time on top of the rock that his father had to go up and threaten to push him over before he found the courage to jump by himself. I too breathed a sigh of relief watching him surface the deep water not because I was afraid he may not know how to swim but because compared to the others who were jumping –who were all lithe-bodied - he was a bit on the heavy side and so I was fearful that his weight may make him plunge deeper into the rocks but thank God that he didn’t. I do not know how deep the water actually is but it may have been deep enough to keep all those jumpers happy.

After awhile, we left the cove and returned to the resort to bathe, get dressed and retreat to the cool confines of our bedrooms to rest the afternoon off. We got down from the bedroom a bit later to help out in dinner preparations. Then, of course, the boys started their fave pastime the minute we returned to the resort - drinking and singing their hearts out. The girls, meantime, engaged in chikahan and more swimming on the shores near our rented boathouse. The kids even went night swimming. I guess they just couldn’t get enough of the water huh?

Then, after dinner there were games for the kids which Helen and Yeng facilitated. I didn’t watch anymore and instead just stayed upstairs in the room, alternately sleeping and reading on my tab. My kids participated in the games a bit then after awhile, they went up to get some sleep.

The next day, we went to Mt. Samat cross to get a nice and high view of the province of Bataan. Well, we had been there before during the kids’ fieldtrip but it was just ten or twenty pesos and kinda fun going up there again. After everyone was able to go up and visit the cross, we left Bataan and had our lunch/picnic at Clark playground before doing some duty-free shopping and then heading home.