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God is so good and He wanted us to take this vacation. The sun shone brightly and hot on Sunday morning after hiding behind rain clouds all week. It’s Monday night and I just got home from Lucena where Eric very sweetly accommodated me, Jeyelle, Jerome and RJ in Pueblo por la Playa – literally the most colorful resort I’ve been in.

Stories and pictures after the jump...

We arrived in Lucena City at around 11AM after a three-hour bus ride from Manila. Eric picked us up and because we all skipped breakfast, we were dying to have lunch. We wanted to eat somewhere we do not usually find in Manila so he brought us to Buddy’s in SM City Lucena. That place was packed and very festive! One meal costs around 150 to 200 and it’s more than enough for one person.

After eating, we stopped by the supermarket to buy stuff and then went on another 30-minute drive to Pueblo por la Playa. As we drove along narrow curves passing by the wide green field I realized how long it had been since we last spent time together – in fact, that was the first time we went out of town – but the moment we saw each other again, we didn’t feel any different. We were like the college kids dying to skip classes the drink beer (only with much more money in our pockets. Haha!)

Okay so we finally reached Pueblo por la Playa. Here’s hoe it goes there:

• They open your bags before you enter and you can’t bring food/drinks inside. But you may arrange it with the admin and you’ll have to pay corkage. Do NOT believe what the security guard says. Talk to the admin.
• You leave your car at the parking lot and you are transported around the resort by coloful multi-cabs.
• Food and drinks at the cafeteria are quite expensive. Like 95-pesos-for-tortang-talong expensive.
• No ATMs nearby so take as much as you can before going there. The resort accepts credit card, though.
• You may request for ice, water and stuff by calling the coffee shop, admin, or the bar. But they’re not 24 hours.
• If you need to go out, call the admin and a multi-cab will pick you up.

Check-in time is 2PM so we still had an hour to wait. We left our bags in the cafeteria and then moved around to take pictures.

After getting roasted by the sun, we finally got a our villa. Disappointingly, it was green. I was rooting for the orange or the blue one. But who cares, right!? Hehe. The villas in Pueblo por la Playa are Mexican-inspired so the colors are bright and many. The structure of the villa, the designs and the paintings are also loud and interesting. As usual, the moment we went inside I checked the bed and the bathroom and they were fine. It’s weird to not really have a complete wall to separate the bedroom from the living room. Maybe that’s how the Mexicans do it.

Last Sunday was, for many Filipinos, a date with our TV sets to watch the highly-publicized Pacquiao vs. Hatton fight. Before we went out to swim, we first watched Manny Pacquiao knock down Ricky Hatton in two rounds. You know, I don’t really watch boxing. Or if I do, I only watch when it’s the winning round. So last Sunday’s two-round fight was nice – I didn’t get bored and I could’ve watched it all day.

After the fight, we started drinking! Chill!

Okay… If you’ll look at the last picture, you’ll see Eric glowing red. He was a bit drunk already. Hehe. And so were we. So we decided to swim. We first tried the adult pool – OMG!!! That was a big and deep pool and there were very few people swimming so it was quite freaky to be in it. And it’s blue – freakin’ deep blue! I tried to cross it but I got tired and couldn’t catch my breath. I smoked too much just an hour ago.

After several minutes, we hit the beach. There’s this floating animal – I think it’s a snake or maybe a sea monster – by the shore where you can play on. We loved it. Well… Eric, RJ and I loved it. We were like kids getting up on its head and then sliding down onto the water. Jeyelle and Jerome stayed by the sand. The sand looked nice but the water was not beautiful at all. If it weren’t for that giant floating monster, we would not have stayed at the beach that long.

We also tried the kiddie pool.

We enjoyed swimming as much as we could but since it was already around sunset and the resort was nearly empty that day, it wasn’t long until we all felt bored. We just sobered up and exhausted ourselves to prepare for dinner.

Eric brought us to this place Silangang Nayon where you can eat inside huts standing several meters away from the shore. To get there, we had to walk a winding path from the restaurant entrance down the mountain side and onto the beach. And then we crossed another long and old bamboo bridge to get to the huts. It was big and there were trees all over the place.

The waiters had radios on them to easily relay the order to the kitchen. As we waited, we all commented on how tedious it would be to deliver the food by crossing the same path we trailed from the kitchen down to our huts in the middle of the sea. Eric said the food would ride an airplane! We laughed at the idea until we heard the sound of propellers. And there it was…

Haha! It was a cable car. Nakakatuwa.

The food was okay but the serving was too little. And it might be the most unlikely day to visit the area because we were the only customers in the restaurant. It was so quiet that it felt and sounded like midnight at only 8PM. Nonetheless, we had fun eating and laughing at past stories. Jerome and Eric reminisced their adik days and they had loads to share. Haha!

Back in the villa, we just rested for a bit and then… inom na naman! Chill! We tried the new local vodka The Bar. I can’t say if it’s good or what because I’m really not a drinker. But I like the taste and the mix Jerome made. I did not get very drunk that night. I was a little dizzy and I fell asleep quickly afterwards because my body was exhausted but I knew could still consume more.

Syempre inuman yon so it was the perfect time to talk about how we used to do things in college. We laughed at old classmates’ stories and tricks, we talked about embarrassing stuff… We even played an old game. Hehe! I miss college tuloy but only because of friends. Earning your own money is way better. Hehe. We took pictures, of course.

We had a couple rounds of beer after that. It was an incredibly bizarre yet funny moment! Why? Hahaha! Yun lang.

Day two was short. We woke up hungry and nearly dehydrated after only four hours. We headed to the coffee shop to eat. Jeyelle and I were lucky to win the complimentary breakfast for our room. That Monday morning was very quiet in Pueblo por la Playa. Too quiet that it gave a gloomy mood despite the colorful walls and floors. We planned to swim again that morning but we still felt very tired so we just rested after eating until it was time to leave. No beer or vodka. Just smoke and friendly chat.

At 1PM, we checked out. The weather started changing. From being sunny just hours ago, it turned dark and windy and rain poured down on the other side of the island. It made me feel that God really just gave us sun for one day to enjoy our vacation and that time was over.

Before heading to the bus station, Eric toured us around Lucena City for a bit. We checked out where he lives and the places he hangs out in. We then stopped by to eat at Zymurgys, a local cafe. Incidentally, it had the same owners of Pueblo por la Playa. We could tell by the colors of the wall and the design of the tables. Hehe. I wanna share with you Eric’s recommendation – Zymurgy’s Burger Suisse. It’s the store’s best-seller. Only 90 pesos and it’s very delicious. I only hated that it’s too small for my appetite so I also ordered Spinach Ravioli to relieve my hunger. Okay din sya.

So there. As much as we hated to leave, we had to snap back to our city lives and start working again. We travelled longer going home – traffic sa Laguna – and the four of us remained asleep throughout the trip.  I was very thankful and happy for that weekend. I don’t usually go out of town anymore but I felt again how fun it was to visit new places so that sort of inspired me to travel again soon. Anyway… We’ll see. But for now, reminiscing ends here. Until next time! Thanks again Eric!