Oh my, El Nido!

I was in El Nido, Palawan with my sisters, Vivi and Florie, bb Ella, Randy and at the last minute, Drew, last September (I knooow! Late post again!). I have been to Palawan before but was only in Puerto Princesa with the family and have vowed to come back as I know the province has a lot more to offer.

El Nido is known for having the best islands in the world. Huffpo even has an article solely talking about it as the one place you can't miss if you're in the Philippines. I mean, just Google "El Nido" and you'll get what I'm talking about. And here's how we got around and fell in love with it...

We arrived in Puerto Princesa around 10:00 am headed straight to a 5-hour drive to El Nido. First few hours was fine, but on the last hour, nearing El Nido, the road became a bit unsteady. I remember Ate Rox telling me that years ago, it was a rocky 5-hour drive but it's good they have made improvements.

We have arrived!

Waiting for the van.

"Ah guys, nasan na tayo?"

We got to Telesfora, our accommodation, at around 3:00 or 4:00 pm. Got settled in and went to Maremegmeg Beach which is a 15-minute trike from our place.

Telesfora's beach front.

To the beach! To the beach!

"Can we just sit down" moment at 

Maremegmeg beach.

The next morning, we're off to our day tour - Big Lagoon, Small, Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, Shimizu Island and the Seven Commando beach.

Hello, Big Lagoon!

"Kuya, pwede na po ba kami bumaba?"

There ya, go!

Kayaking at Small Lagoon where we fell twice!

This was also the moment we knew 

we love our Go Pros much more than our own lives!

Not so secret anymore eh, Secret Lagoon.

At Shimizu Island.

5 lovelies at the Seven Commando beach.

That evening, though tired, sore and with stinging skin pain, we headed over to town to have some drinks and got to see the main El Nido shore at night.

Cue in Jah Sun's reggae hit "Never Give Up"

On our last morning in El Nido, Ella, Florie and Drew hiked the Taraw Peak and slightly injured Vivi, Randy and I went to the Snake Island and the Cathedral.

I would have loved to hike this but I'm not that of an

adventurous person yet. Lol. 

And it's very steep, Florie had nightmares of the rocks after.

Them kids at Taraw Peak.

Kids at Snake Island.

Solo boat to the Cathedral.

We wanted to go inside but our boat's too big 

and the tide's way too high, according to our guide.

We had lunch all together back at Telesfora and then went to Nacpan beach.

1-hour shaky tricycle ride from Telesfora but it was 

soooo worth it, see!

We wanted waves, we got waves!

After Nacpan, we rushed to get our stuff ready as we're catching the 5:00 pm ride back to the city. The next day, which is the last day of our whole trip, Vivi and Florie went to the Puerto Princesa Underground River while Ella, Randy, Drew and I stayed at our place, which was the gorgeous Acacia Tree Hotel.

This trip pretty much wrapped up my travels for 2014. El Nido is definitely one for the books, I'm telling you. Everything seemed extra... sparkly. From the sun, sand to the sea. It's a paradise to play with, to create moments with, and I'm happy and grateful to have spent it with the people that makes this life of mine shine. It's nice to see different places, but I think, in a way, it's better if you have a little bit of home with you, may it be just yourself or with someone you can just glance over to and have your eyes say, "Let's do this!".

I love you, five!

P.S.
2 Palawan points for me now. I'm looking at you, Coron!

This far, this good

I pretty much had a crazy life after Cinemalaya (obviously) so of course, just so this blog can keep up with my life, I'm updating it the last minute. Ready? Well, basically, I got busy hanging out with almost everyone. There's the usual dinners, coffee slash catch ups and walwalans but I did a few new and different things too.

For starters, I went to an Up Dharma Down gig at Saguijo with Drew as he's fixing his broken heart. I know it's like having your heart beaten like it's monkey meat when you're having love problems with live UDD as the background music, but I honestly believe that listening to their songs while in the phase of questioning whatever your heart wants to question, like "what could have been" or "what should have been", helps clear the heart for your head to work. You have to go through the pain to not feel it anymore. So as a friend, I stood there next to him, and let UDD clear our hearts out. Plus, of course, I love UDD. I'd take any chance to see em live. Haha.

Up Dharma Down, Terno Inferno, Saguijo.

Me and the Leandro.

Speaking of music, I was also at Jessie J's concert with Ate Rox and Ate Bimbs. Oh man! She was so so so good! People would compare her to Katy Perry, well, I haven't seen Katy Perry perform live but with YouTube uploads of her concerts, I am not impressed. Sure, I'm a huge fan of Perry's "Thinking of You" but Jessie J just blew me away. She's a real performer. Her voice is so strong and she dances with full on energy.

 Ate Bimbs, Ate Rox and moi.

You are beyond awesome, Jessie J!

Chvrches was also here in Manila last November. Ella introduced this band to me during the Phoenix's concert last January and I've been a fan ever since.

Post by Patricia Dominique Parado.

Then there's FIFA 2014! I am not a sporty person period but I love FIFA. It's also a bonding thing between me and my brothers. We stayed up late for the matches, just like with FIFA 2010, and would talk about it every chance we get. I was on constant talks with Hannah about it, too. I didn't know she's a FIFA fan but I'm glad to have someone mess up Facebook with comments about the game. I'm on team Viva España, Gian and Hannah are for Brazil and Red is on Germany. I was devastated with Spain's performance, I'm not even gonna go further and talk about it, but Germany's my second team to support and with all those stunning goals that makes me jump and scream "GOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLL!!!", they have won the World Cup! I was so happy with that win and couldn't wait for FIFA 2018 in Russia!

 Die Mannschaft!

On a more serious side of things, Aika gave birth to a baby girl last July and Melai got married this month. I'm having babies and married people in my life, I must be getting old, ha! But I am more than happy for them and glad that they made me a part of a new chapter in their life. 

Allo baby Eli! Nangnang loves you!

Congrats, Melai and Windell!

As for my family, Daddy Lolo had a surgery for his prostate and we had to take turns accompanying him at the hospital. The thought of my lolo having a surgery scared the living shit out of me so I am more than relieved that he's fine now. I'm taking him to Michael's clinic 2-3 times a week for therapy. I have to say though, I'm having a hard time with that because I have to get up way too early for me to function, but everything for the family, right?
And with that, come November, my brother, Red, left for Dubai. He got a job there for 2 years. He was having doubts about going at first but we all told him that this is the perfect time for him to do something for himself.  You can't go anywhere without taking a step and Dubai is his first step. So even though it's hard to be apart, especially for my parents, we were all with him at the airport, saying "see you" and wishing him all the luck.

Mama, Red, Papa and me at Tagaytay.

 Gian was at work.

In "me" news, I am writing for Bookbed, an online reading organization, set up by KB. We've been online friends since we were in college and met up for the first time last June to get Bookbed going. I was so thrilled she invited me to be a part of it. I plan to do more for BookBed, of course. I'm lazy and easily distracted but I'm really happy that aside from my usual films, TV series, reads and this blog, I have something new to be creative about (#preshor). As you can see, there's a link on BookBed and there's also a link on my sidebar, feel free to check it out. Haha, pa-plug na!

The BookBed team!

For the last life #preshor, I lost my job last October. I have been dreading going to work but that's still work that I am thankful of. I have good and true friends there as well. Now it's gone. It's sad but to tell you honestly, I was also relieved. Work wise, I've been dragging myself up every morning for work, it wasn't challenging anymore and during that time, I was thinking of handing my notice but just being coward at facing what life has for me without that job. Then there's the personal thing that I have been enduring since late 2013. Really, it doesn't bother me anymore but I'd choose not seeing him or the two of them any day. Being fully okay with how things went doesn't change the fact that I was hurt and betrayed and I needed space, completely away from them. So when we got the cut, it's as if the universe is helping me to let to go, you know. It's the universe letting me free. All in all, I'm pretty much okay without that job and quite proud of myself, actually, for handling this situation well. I've been out of a job for 3 months now, did interviews and have been qualified but I'm taking my time. I'm not really giving in to the #preshor cause I'd like think I'm smart now, knowing that, that won't help me get things done.

Miss these guys!

So yeah, looks like this is my 2014. Hopefully I can get my El Nido trip post up then my yearender (where I'd like to be more emotional, chos!) post later cause as you know, I'm being OC in keeping this blog's consistency. I can feel you now, 2015! 

The xx In MNL

I first heard about The xx when Ella made me listen to their song, Heart Skipped A Beat. Well, that's it basically. I downloaded their first album and became one of those who eagerly waited for the second one which was released last year.

It was so easy to fall in love with their tracks. They have this significant sound where you'll know it's The xx anywhere. Their message is so transparent, you can't get any real than that. The xx's music, without realizing it, defines your current mood, your moment. You can't help but just close your eyes and feel it. That's what I did last July 30th. I have seen, heard and felt The xx.

Also, Oliver Sim's voice is just so... orgasmic.

Kachi, Ella and our DMs.

Here's a video from the concert I posted on my Facebook. Don't be shy to press play and listen to Try, my favorite song from em. Well, Facebook made it low qual but still, enjoy!

Post by Patricia Dominique Parado.

Photos are taken by Ella Jacinto unless otherwise stated.

Love From Lanao del Norte, Bukidnon and CDO!

This is the first time I went on a trip with my friends Ella, Vivi and Florie. We like talking about places and traveling but we never got around to actually doing so until last year when Ella scored, for all 4 of us, a seat sale for CDO. I have to be honest, I had no idea of our itinerary. Ella made it and she informed us but I had no time to read and absorb it. But I was aware that this wasn't going to be a very fancy trip because we're all short in terms of budget. We're open to the whole backpacking idea anyway though we're all admittedly, self-proclaimed couch potatoes and princesses in our homes. Basically, I just kept up as things marched on.

We landed on the newly built Laguindingan Airport in Iligan and we went straight to Lanao del Norte for 2 falls, one, the famous Maria Cristina Falls, the second highest falls in the country (grade school days, I know) and its natural power to produce energy, and the other was the Tinago Falls.

L-R: Vivi, me, Florie

Sisters!

Let's do this, yeah!

Getting to the first destination off our itinerary was interesting because we're new to the area and this is where we started asking random and fortunately, nice people for almost anything the internet didn't provide. I found it nice creating small talk to the locals, you can learn a lot from them.

The Maria Cristina Falls was inside a park slash hydroelectric plant so there were tons to see, not just the falls itself. There was a Botanical Garden and a small Crocodile farm as well.

L-R: Ella, Florie, Vivi

Maria Cristina Falls.

My bb Ella!

We asked around for directions on how to get to Linamon for our next stop, so that's another jeepney ride and almost 30 minutes in a habal-habal, we're at Tinago Falls. To get further there, we had to go down 430 winding steps. Damn, it's really tinago!

It's habal-habal time!

Let me just say that I hate stairs. I have always hated stairs. And heights. But of course, I couldn't just stay at the entrance of the resort, right? I had to push through this and going down those steep steps wasn't easy. And to help my feelings, halfway through, I realized that certainly, I had to climb up this shit once our trip down there's over. I called God or whoever's up there, saints even, to help me get through this, but once we got to the bottom, after my knees throbbed intensely, the sight blew everything, yep, even my sweat, away. It was so beautiful, like, I have no words. It's magical, breathtaking and definitely worth going those freakin' steps.

Tinago Falls.

We settled in and dived in to the cold water. Our guide helped us get to the raft that will get us near the falls by pulling a rope tied to a huge tree across it. The feeling under the falls was so electric. The drops we're like spikes that pinched my veins, making me feel more alive than ever.
God and those saints answered my prayers, thank you, as I was able to climb back up alive. I felt like collapsing, my heart's beating heavily but remembering Tinago falls, what I was just in to, it's all worth it.

It was almost a 3-hour bus ride from Linamon, Lanao del Norte to CDO. Checked in our hotel, The Victoria Suites in Divisoria, took a hot bath and finally, we had dinner at Kyla's Bistro at LimKetKai Mall.

Kyla's typa al fresco dining.

The next day was quite chill, as we just rented a cab to get to the Dahilayan Adventure Park in Bukidnon. It was a 2-hour drive, we passed by the vast pineapple fields Bukidnon was known for and the next thing we knew, we're at a top of a mountain, ready to do some heights trippin'. I was shaking the entire time.

Ella and Vivi prepping for the longest zip line in Asia!

Ella and Flore after their Drop Zone!

Had a late lunch at this grill beside the park. Good food. 

We got back pretty early so we had time to clean up and shop for pasalubongs and enjoyed a very delicious dinner at Candy's which, in my own humble opinion, has the meanest strawberry cheesecake.

On our last day, we got up early to meet up with the Bugsay people, a company that handles different kinds of outdoor activities, for our water rafting gig. Looking back at my Caramoan trip, I should be nervous as I had an anxiety attack due to the fast waves but surprisingly, I was really excited. This is like, extreme for me. I had to do this.

Ready...

Set...

Go!!!

OMG that face.

Quick baths when we got back, checked out and waited an our for our flight back to Manila.

It was completely tiring but one of the best experience ever. Not only did I travel, saw great sights and was with my bestest friends, but I also got to do some firsts and physical adventures which I thought I could never do. This trip tested me and I have to say, "Life, I passed." And I so enjoyed it.

Photos are taken by Ella Jacinto and Vivi Victorino unless otherwise stated.