Friendship in an Island

Although I had fun with my team at Puerto Galera two weeks ago, my “curiosity” (wink, wink) was not fully satisfied. It was just an overnight event and I was mostly drunk the whole time that I was there. Hehehe.

Holy week was fast approaching and I heard from my team mate Argie that the place is usually packed with my kind of guys during this particular holiday. I’m not entirely sure how he knows that because he’s straight, but I’m not one to ask (Peace Argie!!!)

So when my friends, Ricky, Edan and Francis went out for a night of fun at Malate’s Chelu last Saturday, March 27, we talked about spending our holiday there.

HAPPINESS!!! My holiday just got booked.

Before I give you the titillating details of my adventure @ the “Island” I’d like to introduce you with my newly found friends first:

Francis: He works at People Support. Loves playing badminton. Fun to be with. Life of the party. We actually dated for a while. We decided to stop dating a week after this trip because it just didn’t work out. You know the phrase, “hard as I try, I just can teach my heart to love you”? That’s the short version of it. I still enjoy hanging out with him and his friends so we decided to stay friends.

Ricky is a friend of Francis. He works for HSBC and also loves to play badminton. Francis introduced me to him and his ex-BF (don’t quote me on this) when we went to his place in Mandaluyong one time.

Edan is a long story on his own. He’s Malaysian who’s here in the Philippines for a two-month study/work assignment with HSBC. I met him through Ricky. He has a characteristically funny way of dishing out one-liner quips that others may perceive as somehow “mataray” but to those who know him, he is quite hilarious.

Now, back to my story. Even though I did not have that much money at the time, I just figured, I may be able to scrape a few bucks from my March 30th paycheck.

So… Puetro Galera, here we come!!!

My Thursday night shift ended and with my bags tucked into my car, I found myself hurrying to join Ricky, Edan and Francis on a bus ride to Batangas port at 5am in the morning. We met at Buendia in Pasay City.

It took us the almost the whole morning of Friday to reach Puerto Galera Island so we had to eat breakfast at Batangas port. I had my usual fried tilapia.

We arrived at Puerto Galera island just before noon and since our rented room for three days and two nights is still not ready, we just deposited our bags and went out to the beach for a casual stroll.

SURPRISE!!! The beach was awfully quiet. Devoid of any music that was blaring when my team mates and I last went here two weeks ago.

I turned to my friends for an answer and they told me to be patient because the local businesses are just observing Holy Friday and the music should start at the strike of 12MN.

Oh, okay then!!! No need to panic that my vacation would be ruined by mundane things such as brownout or worse, failed expectations.

I mean, c’mon people. I came here to have some fun. To recharge my batteries from working too hard (hehehe).
CHECK ‘EM OUT. My idea of fun started with the people milling around the beach. Argie was right. The place was packed with good-looking guys who are either on their speedos, board shorts and boxers (Ricky kinda felt icky when he sees someone trying to make their boxer briefs turned into swimsuit attire.) My eyes were definitely satiated.

Dinner was done and since I had a good nap prior to dinner, I am ready to explore. We first went to Jurrasic Park, as what they call the edge of the beach, because they say that it is where the magic happens. True enough, the place was swarming. Though it was pitch black, people seem to be doing nicely at finding their way.

I’ll not go into more details because I still want to leave something to the imagination of those who has not gone there yet but I can tell you that Edan and Ricky had a good time there. Hehehe. Jowk lang.

Anyway, I found myself anticipating the clock striking midnight and boy, I had another surprise when it did and almost in an instant, the island came alive seemingly by itself.

NOW THIS IS FUN!!! Tonight’s gonna be a good night.

The place to be is at Mikko’s Bar.
The drink to have is Mindoro Sling.
The outfit?? The less the better.

With inhibitions left in the room and locked away for the night, we partied until the wee hours of the morning.

For the rest of the trip, we just partied and had a good time doing it. It was such a great experience to share bonding moments with friends. Especially those that you can relate to in about almost everything.

By the end of the trip, all I can finally say is: HAPPINESS!!!