One Last Hurrah for Summer

If you want to just relax and chill for a day or two, with the sound of the waves in your ears, salty breeze embracing you, and the sun giving you the most incredible tan lines, then head on over to Baler, Aurora.

Just be prepared for the two to three hours of rough road. Ouch!

After a night of margaritas and coffee, me and the girls boarded the 4:00 am bus to Baler at the bus station in Taft. Since I had my share of margaritas and cigs for the night, I already had my eyes closed way before the bus started the journey. [I didn't even know then if we took the SLEX or NLEX!]


Room Number 2 | The View from the Room
We arrived 8 hours later to this scenic and quaint resort called Bahia de Baler. The rooms are not really near the beach, since they put their resto at the beach-front.


Beach Girls | The View from the Inn
Eight hours of travel made us really hungry (and hey, it was way past lunch time!), so we headed over to Bay's Inn for a hearty lunch.


Lory and Aivee | Girls on the Beach | Tar and Abi
And then it was off to the beach!

Really freaky though, there were a lot of jellyfishes near the shore! They looked like floating [pardon me for this] snots and uhog, eeew. I didn't even attempt to go that far in the water because we had to avoid those things.

After some serious burning sunbathing, we went back to the room to get some much needed rest. I love the little discussion/conversation we had while we waited in line to use the bathroom. It was definitely a preview of the kuwentuhan we were going to have with Pepe Lopez.


Abi: I will conquer Pepe | Fire! | Let the games begin!
So who the hell is Pepe Lopez? Well, the girls met him last month, and he was able to knock out almost all of us. [Technically, I'm not a KO because I had to go home early before he had a chance to do so, ehehehe].

We had a bonfire going, roasted marshmallows (yum!) and told stories, while we had the sound of the waves on our ears and the iPod blasting my summer playlist on Tar's iPod speakers. Ang saya, sobra! And since I did almost all of the story-telling that night, I get to take home the Pepe Lopez bottle. Woohoo! :)


Baler Sunrise
After around three hours of sleep, we woke up again to catch the sun rising up over the Pacific Ocean. Ngayon lang ako nakakita ng ganitong kulay ng sunrise. Hanep!


Sunburning | Skimboarder | Beach buddies
After a few more hours of sleep, Abi and I headed down to the beach for a few hours of swimming, sunbathing and ogling beautiful beach bodies. Haha. Since Baler, Aurora is one of the surfing spots in the Philippines, there were a few "surfers" trying to surf that morning. The waves were bigger here in Baler, but well, the surfers could only attempt a few seconds of mounting their board, and that's it. Ehehehe. Some folks were also skimboarding but since that was the first time I encountered that sport, I really have no idea if they were successful or not. And a few others were also enjoying a nice game of frisbee. And all these surfers, skimmers and frisbee players had bodies to die for. *drool*

Oh and of course, Abi and I got our desired tan lines. Wheee! Kanognogan, ahahahah :)

And then we had to pack up our stuff and go home.

And would you believe we had to go through this in an old L300 van?!?


Light Vehicles only | Makeshift Bridge | Rough Roads
The storm last year that almost destroyed Quezon also affected Aurora severely. They've already started cementing the roads, but because of the storm, they had to start all over again. Tsk. Imagine going through a range of mountains na puro ganyan yung dadaanan mo! Man, I tell you, I still have a butt-ache!

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My 2006 summer season ended with the conquering of Pepe Lopez, extreme kanognogan, and bonding with the girls, and I'd have it no other way :)

Thanks girls! 'Till our next Pepe Lopez session! Mwah!

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More pictures here!