My Crazy Paradise: The Anawangin Trip

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Finally, I got so much time to write about our camping trip to Anawangin.

Anawangin is a beach/mountain in Pundaquit, San Antonio, Zambales. I live two towns away from San Antonio, yet I have heard about it only recently, courtesy of Donald. According to him and based on stories he've heard, the place has been "discovered" only about a couple of years ago. Thanks to my mountaineer friend (yeah), I have enjoyed the grandeur of that far-flung place.

To get there, one can trek around the mountain starting from Pundaquit, which is a baranggay/beach in the area. There are local guides there, but I'm not really sure how that works. I did not welcome the idea of hiking for five to six hours, which is apparently only two to three hours for experienced hikers.

Only two towns away and with private vehicles to get me from my home to any point in Zambales, I don't know how to get there via a public transportation. Let me guess: from my home in Castillejos, ride a mini bus or a Victory Liner bus until San Antonio, then ride a tricycle to Pundaquit. How much? I don't know.

From Manila, take a bus from any Victory Liner terminals except the one in Kamuning/Kamias (buses there only travel to Tuguegarao). Ride the "Iba or Sta. Cruz Zambales" bus and alight in San Antonio, costing more than P200.00. Or take an "Olongapo" bus for less than P200, then ride another Zambales bus. Hahaha. For people with a sense of direction, what I've written must make sense, okay? The national road route from Manila to Zambales traverses through (1) North Luzon Expressway; (2) exits in San Fernando, Pampanga; (3) passes by Guagua and Lubao; (4) enters Bataan; (5) takes a right turn in Layac to Dinalupihan, Bataan; (6A) straight on, turns left in Tipo Road to enter SBMA for private vehicles or (6B) straight on the zigzag road until Olongapo City proper for public utility vehicles; (7) leaves SBMA or continue with another zigzag road; (8) enter the province of Zambales from Subic, Castillejos, San Marcelino, and finally San Antonio. Whew.

Anyway, from Pundaquit, my friends and I had a boat ride. The boat was arranged prior to our travel - Donald knows somebody there. I actually looked like the stranger in that area, not him. Haha! It cost us P1,000, however. Bad or good deal, it doesn't matter anymore. Apparently, Mang Florante didn't expect a group of five people with lots of bags and foods with them. His boat was small, so we had two boat rides from Pundaquit to that isolated place.

There were many campers in Anawangin, especially it was a long weekend. There was even a family who camped with little kids to look after! According to the caretaker there (sorry, I already forgot his name), campers were usually from Manila as well (oh, I didn't look like a frequent visitor of Pundaquit hahaha).

The camp site was set up by Donald, with his many inexperienced alalays :) Though we had to move due to some not so beautiful smell. With the hammock, of course.

But before that happens, we went to the beach first to enjoy the clean waters of Anawangin. If you happen to dislike rocks in a beach as I do, move away from the mountain. Then we ate our packed lunch. Hmm, as I recall I was so hungry that I initiated lunch. Ha! Then what happened? I can't recall. Anyway, as we were moving the tents (one tent courtesy of Sherjo, thank you Sherjo :)), the rain threatened to pour heavily, but it was just a teaser rain hehe.

Anyway, pictures at the beach:

More pictures:

By the way, Bebang told me that Sherjo commented why there were so many pictures of us, and very very few pictures of our surroundings. Well, my favorite subject is people, where Bebang is of a particular interest (if you'd notice here :)). So there, I just made the pictures that somehow highlight the atmosphere in Anawangin larger even if they weren't so good. Ayt?

On another note, it is very fortunate for us that the caretaker told us about a batis in the area (Was that a batis? And what is batis in English? Haha!). Donald said it wasn't there the first time he went to Anawangin. That was summer. Again, another fortunate thing is that our trip wasn't in summertime.

It was very cool (literally and figuratively)! Yey. Here are the pictures, taken with my Motorola W510 (another cool gadget hehe):

Finally, there was no need to rinse in the bomba at the other side of the camp site. Hihi.

Meryenda time, cards time. Pusoy dos. And some site. Sexy lady. (Some hidden language here).

Then frisbee time. I'm just not fit to last in that game, and it wasn't even ultimate frisbee. Then the sunset. Our camera (Canon Ixus whatever model) couldn't stand our group of picture happy people. Or I didn't charge the battery well. Whatever, at sunset it was already low in battery. Still, I have managed to take these shots (of course, some photos were taken by either Bebang or Jerome, can't recall)...

Frisbee moments, featuring Donald, supported by Bebang and Jerome:

Then night fell...

Notice the Tanduay Rhum? We weren't able to taste Zha's concoction of that famous rhum. She mixed it in that red jug. Then it rain that night. Some twists of events. The rhum spilled over Donald's tent. Smelled delicious. Sayang. Whoever did it? Let me just say that some force did not want us to drink that night. For even the few drops left of that jug, which Zhazha and Jerome tried to pour over a cup went to waste.

Zhazha did an enormous job of cleaning up the mess in the tent. Surprisingly, the smell of the rhum was gone when we slept. Awesome :)

On Bebang... I just love Bebang hehe. She ate again before finally sleeping. Hmm... Canned century tuna, rice, the delicious ensaladang itlog na pula of Zhazha, yummy.

The next morning... I enjoyed the warmth of the beach that morning. So nice! I really love the beach in the early morning. Anawangin's beach is just weird, however. It seems that the cold water and the warm water didn't "mix" really well. You can easily notice sudden coldness in the water.

Before some picture moments, this just have to get the attention it deserves:

The hammock with a shade above it. Lovingly "crafted" or "arranged" by Donald. A place where he should have slept. But the coldness of the night was so intense that he had to seek the comfort of a tent.

So here it is... Breakfast... Packing time... Some final picture moments in that beautiful place called Anawangin...