after a couple of hours planning last saturday (Nov. 29), we finally made it to Costa Palmera Resort in Sto. Domingo, Albay. we've been planning to go there since last year but as plans go, nothing came out of it but a plan. so we've decided never to plan anything unless we're going the next day like we did this time. for some reason everytime she and i plan ahead (3 months or less), nothing comes out of it. it's nothing but a plan. but if we just decide to do something in the nick of time like this one, we ended up getting there. like our trip to baguio and this trip to sto. domingo. we didn't even know where in albay the resort was but good thing they have a website and we found out it's just in sto. domingo where my cousins live. about 5 to 10 minutes by tricycle. cool, we're on!
we 'planned' over yahoo messenger for a couple of hours and then we decided to meet tomorrow at 8am to go to legazpi. but we didn't get to leave at the designated time, instead we left maybe 3 hours later (again) hahaha! we took the aircon minibus and travelled for almost 3 hours because it has soooo may stops. When huge aircon buses were still in business it can only take 2 hours because there are no stops. don't ride the non aircon ones unless you want to arrive 6 to 8 hours later. seriously...
it's fortuitous that monday was a holiday and i have cousins living in sto. domingo. i immediately texted maida and she picked us up at the legazpi integrated terminal. she also texted us the order of the albay municipalities we're gonna passed through so we can let her know if we're near legazpi. so it's polangui, ligao, guinobatan ( i love passing through this place, lots of green hills and trees), camalig (where you can find the cagsawa ruins), daraga and finally legazpi. from the terminal we took a tricycle to gaisano pacific mall to buy the food we're gonna take to the resort. tricycle is minimum fare, P8 pesos only. from gaisano we took a jeep to sto. domingo, P20 pesos. it takes about 15 minutes to get there. we passed through the barangay that was washed out by mudflows from the mayon volcano during typhoon reming. we didn't know it was the 2nd year anniversary of the tragedy. there was a mass being held at a small chapel which is prolly one of the very few buildings in the area. i think it was built recently since it was open, no doors. there were some people who attended the service. the lady sitting next to abby was telling her the story and it creeped abby out. love told me not to take pictures because something might appear there. i didn't while we were on our way there but as we were going home (dec 1), i took some photos of the place. it's mostly rock and sand. it's now like a big quarrying site. the houses are all gone. it was very eerie. i'd hate to pass through that place at night. my cousin who drives a jeep there just smiles when we asked him before if the place is really spooky (since we've never been there). now we understand. it's a very sad place. nearly an entire barangay was wiped out and some families were actually wiped out. tragic. makes the hair at the back of my neck rise.
when we arrived at my cousin's house, auntie muying and uncle gil made us baduya (fried banana, i ate 9 of them, poor bananas never stood a chance) and fried sweet potatoes (my favorite! camote). after eating, we left their house at about 4:15 and took a tricycle to costa palmera for P50 pesos (there were 5 of us). the ride took 5 -10 minutes only. no traffic =_)
after checking out the place, we change to our swim clothes and swam until our skin shrivelled like raisins and we can taste nothing but sea water. we spent most of the time at the pool since (heck!) the waves were darn strong. even sitting on the edge of the stairs (yes 3 small stairs to go down to the beach) and holding onto the ropes is darned dangerous. current was very strong it can drag you very very far away (no matter how big or heavy you are). we arrived just when the tide was just rising and it was fun to watch the water fill up the small enclosure (about an arm's length wide). as the it gets darker and darker, the enclosure gets filled with sea water until it reaches our waist. the current was strong even the waters in the enclosure was frothy as they collide with each other. we swam in the pool just in case a baby shark managed to get in there, you'll never know. meanwhile the water level in the pool also rises and we can hear the sea roaring since it's now just outside the pool. whoever thought of this idea, kudos to you man. very very cool. we didn't leave the water until it was very very late, i think it was past 8 pm already. we ate some gulay (laing, yum...) which was cooked by auntie, and ordered crispy pata, and fried shrimps with rice from the resort's restaurant. the food is good. it was a very very hearty meal. (good luck sa puso dahil sa crispy pata), after eating we took a walk and sat looking for some stars. we didn't see them until we were about to go to bed. it rained that night but we didn't notice until we saw puddles of water outside in the morning since we were so tired we slept the sleep of the dead.
Day 2 @ Costa Palmera Resort in Sto. Domingo, Albay (December 1, 2008)
we missed the sunrise because we woke up late (past 6am). after eating our breakfast of bread and chips, we headed down to the pool and the beach. we took some photos and swam until 9:30 am. the current was not as strong as yesterday. it was already low tide but we still didn't venture out to the deep. my cousin, maying who's the tallest of the 5 of us, tried to go down the metal ladder. she's already under the water from head to foot but she can't touch bottom yet. so we decided to just wade beside the sea wall. we sometimes don life jackets too just to be safe and besides it looks good in the pictures. we made some little friends. their familia owns the resort. they live upstairs. 4 siblings, one little girl whom we only know as ate. the oldest is of course, kuya. the two young and very very makukulit kids are daniel (aka dane) and the youngest is xander. nice names. dane is the most personable of the lot. when we left love at the pool she was single (pun intended) and when we get back (from swimming at the beach), she was suddenly nanay to 4 kids hahaha =) so i took their pictures while the kids trade stories with love and my cousins since apparently they're always there. we hope we can come back again next year. hopefully shobe and shoty can come too... we'll see.
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