ChocoNAGA

This weekend, my college barkada got together (minus Princess who had chickenpox and Ed who was in Baler) in Trinoma. Lunch and coffee courtesy of Bebang and JD (thank you birthday peepz).

The get together was, aside from the birthday treat of the two, called on to meet Rojo who has been in Bicol for more than a year now. We haven't seen him that long, and yes, he has grown and looked more serious than before. Hehe.

So what's with Bicol? Pili nuts.

After staying in his hometown for so long (he's from Camarines Sur), he brought us pasalubong but not the usual pili nuts brittle. He brought ChocoNAGA and some sweet pili nuts mini cakes.

The pili nuts mini cakes were delicious. Really. Soft. Sweet. Tasted a bit like yema. And, not enough for the five of us. I was not able to get the brand of the mini cakes he brought as the whole pack did not survive to be taken out of the restaurant where we had lunch. Kulang pa nga e.

As with the ChocoNAGA, I brought it home and survived to be taken to the office.

It's chocolate with pili nuts! Definitely, I would love it. I tasted the Classic Premium variant, which Bebang was not able to appreciate preferring the semi-sweet one (she's the only one who opened that bar). It was not bitter, but maybe not sweet enough for her taste.

Here's the information about that chocolate:

ChocoNAGA
Chocolate with Roasted Pili Nuts

Manufactured by:

ChocoNAGA Enterprises
Ateneo de Naga University
Ateneo Avenue, Naga City

Tel. No. (054) 472-4596 / 0919-2644864


Product of Naga City, Philippines

Holy Week 2008

When a friend asked me how my Holy Week was, I said it may be off to say, but it was happy.

I have often heard that Holy Week is the time of the year when our town is full of life, probably even surpassing the festivities during our town fiesta. There are lots of people walking down the busy street under the scorching heat of the sun, motorists causing traffic jam in both highway and small streets, and the "tourist attraction."

Holy Week is one long vacation that I would want to be just home. It's a family moment and also a reunion with friends. It's one of the few (or two?) times of the year when one would expect people to come home.

Home... I love home.

Holy Thursday
I did not really go out of the house on Thursday due to the extreme heat. Besides, very few people went out of their way to get a glimpse of the happenings in town on that day. In the afternoon, I had a joyride with the kids around town. Here's one shot that I liked.


Balaybay. The Bundok ng Kalbaryo where people get themselves nailed on the cross. This year, though, I heard that nobody got himself or herself subjected to such an act. By the way, the full moon could have been seen here but the clouds hid its beauty.

Holy Friday
With Mon, his mom, and his nieces, we drove around the town to see what's up. In the afternoon, I simply stayed in my relatives' house across the street.


Pana. He's the single person I saw this year who really endured the pain of walking with arrows all over his body.


Penitensya. Flagellants praying in a kubol.


Fresh Wounds. The wounds of my cousin (yes, I have relatives who do these things).


Flagellant on the Side. Uncle Cyril sitting by the bench at the gate.


Carrying of the Cross


Burdened. A man finding it difficult to walk on the hot sidewalk. The cross he was carrying has already been brought to the next kubol.


Pagbubuhat


Carrying of the Cross, Faces Covered


Burdened in Costume. A man in costume portraying the suffering of Christ by carrying the cross this Holy Week.


Cenaculo. The Catholic Church frowns upon the "imitation" of the suffering of Christ during Holy Week. If people would listen to the Church, this Cenaculo would be the only thing spectators would see aside from the other religious celebrations being observed.


Cenaculo: The Carrying of the Cross


Cenaculo: Tres Marias


Family
My Holy Week wouldn't be complete without seeing at least some of my relatives. Here are snapshots of the people I love.











This last shot was taken by Lara. Budding photographer :)

Weekend Trip Splurge – Enchanted Kingdom and Splash Island

This was one weekend of a quite excessive trip.

Originally, the plan was to simply go to Splash Island with Mon’s friends from the office. He thought we were going on Saturday, then stay overnight in their place in Laguna before going back home early Sunday morning.

However, he did not know that the plan was to go to Splash Island on Sunday. We were set to meet at lunch time on Saturday, so there was lots of free time to do nothing else. Sayang naman ang oras. So finally we decided to go to Enchanted Kingdom.

As I was prepared for a trip straight to the pool, my attire was not really appropriate for the theme park. Imagine enjoying those rides in skirt! Fortunately, I was already wearing my “swimming shorts” so I was able to move more comfortable. Good thing I wasn’t too excited to wear swimwear right away. Haha!

March is International Women’s Month and Enchanted Kingdom joins the world in that awesome celebration. Hurray for ladies as we get 20% (P100) discount for their ride-all-you-can ticket. Another fortunate thing was that years back, I had a bet with Mon where the stake was an EK ticket and I won. That was about Pacman’s fight.

Enjoying EK rides in a skirt was one new thing for me. Just lots of confidence needed, plus some getting used to rugged outings. What’s new in EK? Space Shuttle was closed for the day, saving me to make excuses not to go to that ride. Uhm, nothing so new from my last trip back in 2006. I still got wet in Rio Grande.

Fast forward to the next day – Splash Island.

Splash Island gave me another reason to buy a waterproof digicam. I got only a picture of Doogie (their mascot) and Mon. Not so exciting pictures :)

At P325 per head, it was almost worth it. I’m not a pool person so the said amount for me was overpriced by about P50 to P75. Factor in the “new experience” thrill, I have to somehow accept that it was “worthy”. The slides were fun. Some can be scary at first sight, but no, they weren’t really scary.

At the end of the day, even if I was tired (and got a “hangover” the whole week), it was definitely another adventure worth my time and money. I met new nice people, to top it all.

Oh, did I mention that my total expense for the weekend was just more than P1,000? That’s the awesome thing about Women’s Month and winning a bet.

From left: Carlo, Marvin, Mon, Kate, Di, Egoy

Click here for more pictures :)

Leave No Trace

Everybody seems to love nature. Everybody seems to want to escape the urban jungle and seek refuge in the bliss of natural serenity. Yet, everybody seems to forget their responsibility in keeping our environment in this beautiful bliss of natural serenity.

Wait. Not everybody. Sherjo, in his Multiply site, just shared (and wants to continuously share) to everyone and anyone the Leave No Trace (LNT) principle.

"TAKE NOTHING BUT PICTURES..
LEAVE NOTHING BUT FOOTPRINTS..
KILL NOTHING BUT TIME.."
- Nothing But, John Kay

To quote his words:

para hindi masira ang lugar na pupuntahan.
para mapanatili ung natural na itsura ng lugar.
nang sa gayon ay maabutan pa ng ibang tao ung lugar na un na kung pano nyo ito nakita at nagustuhan.

pag ikaw ba bumibisita sa bahay ng kaibigan mo, iniiba/dinudumihan/sinusulatan mo ba ung lugar na un?

dapat pag may ibang tao na pumunta sa lugar na pinuntahan nyo, di nila malalamang may ibang taong nagpunta dun.

Please, let's all act to protect Mother Nature.

Got some questions? Got some stubborn dissenting argument? Click here http://www.lnt.org/programs/principles.php/.

Capones-Anawangin 2008

Three weeks have already passed but I still haven't written about my Capones-Anawangin trip with friends Donald, Ed and Bebang, and newly-met Roland and Katherina (Kate Kulet). Yes, Zambales again. Travel My friends were coming from Manila and I had to give them a lengthy guide to driving to Zambales. Their call time was 3:00 AM on Feb. 24 in Munoz, but for some reason, they left the metro at 4:00 AM. I just couldn't remember how long their ride was. I think they've arrived in Castillejos at 7:00 AM. Uh, it was too early for me that I couldn't recall. Boat ride Again, we took the boat services of Mang Florante, who could be found at the cottage right after Megan’s Resort. The side trip to Capones Island raised the boat prices dramatically – 50% increase per boat times two. Capones Island Capones Island is famous for its lighthouse. Therefore, that’s where we wanted to go. However, the shore was rocky and the waves high when we got to the drop off point that leads directly to the old lighthouse. The real adventurers trekked to find a path to the lighthouse, while JD, Bebang and I stayed at our “camp” site to eat, sleep and lie around. I would have wanted to join them walk around the island but I was hungry. Oh, eating is still an adventure, anyway. I love food. Yummy. Donald, Roland and Katherina came back from their trek with beautiful pictures but without Ed. We waited for another hour for Ed to come back, with side jokes about pooling a rescue fund (courtesy of Donald) and some questions to strangers about spotting a “kalbo” in their trek. It was already lunch time and the sun was scorching hot. Really hot. Undeniably hot. So hot. Donald proceeded to look for Ed. Bebang, JD and I tagged along. We split however, so JD and I got to see the beach at the other side of the island. Katherina and Roland were already done cooking the spicy beef with asparagus and mushroom but Ed was still nowhere to be found. I was already hungry and suffering from headache from the cruel heat of the sun. I found sanctuary beside the rock with a little shade at the shore, with a cool breeze and the refreshing water soothing me. Then there was Ed. He was able to reach the lighthouse. We finally had lunch in that cool spot I found. Then the boat arrived late. I definitely would not recommend staying in Capones Island for a long period of time. It was definitely hot. But you can find the rocks in the shore so cool and cold. I just have been informed, however, that the sea of Capones is shark infested. I don’t know. This weekend was the first time I heard about it. Anawangin The first thing that caught my attention was the flags in the shore of Anawangin. What crazy mind would put colored flags in the beach of Anawangin? Duh. Apparently, there’s land dispute over that piece of land. As told by the caretakers in the part of the beach without the flags, the other side (the flag-infested part) was being squatted. The sad thing for campers and nature-trippers, there is now a required “fee” of P150.00 for the area with flags, and P50.00 for the area without flags. Both sides have kawayan tables and bench for the "convenience of campers". It really was great that we brought four hammocks as Anawangin has been an excellent place to relax, unwind and sleep. Aside from the clean water, the beautiful scenery, the batis somewhere farther, a pond-like water formation (click here for pictures from Katherina and Roland). The late February breeze was quite surprisingly not cold. I slept half of the night outside the tent (with Donald and Ed's company - I couldn't do that alone), but woke up from the lack of cool breeze. The caretakers had a single dog, but there were scary barking from (wild) dogs from afar. I'm so scared of dogs that I seek security inside the tent. Fortunately, nature's aircon resumed operation when I slept inside the tent. The next morning, I tried to swim toward the vastness of the sea with snorkeling gear courtesy of Roland and Katherina. It was lonely, however. There was... sand... and a single fish. Joy Ride to Pundaquit The boat ride to Pundaquit was like a ride in Enchanted Kingdom! Adventure. Back to Manila We had a side trip to SBMA, and did some shopping in Royal. Non-stop eating. They might have spent more in Subic from all those chocolates and chips than the expenses for the Anawangin trip. Hehe. Nice trip ;) Photo links: Ed Lucio Katherina 1 Katherina 2 Kate Farrales Videos: Waves in Capones. Shot from our tambay site a few meters away from the shore. Waves in Capones 2. At the other side of the island. Anawangin Sunset. Taken while the sun was setting.