Baler Diaries

Finally. Yang and I, or better known as the "Moon Sisters", had our very own adventure outside the hustle and bustle of the city, sometime before 2015 ended. This wasn't exactly the original plan, but I guess Universe had its ways. It made sure that we were meant to have our last hurrah there because the peace and quiet that the place offered was what we needed before the awesome 2016 began.

It all started when Yang found this newspaper article about camping out with nature but it still had the comforts that we were looking for. It's called Easy Adventure and it's located in Aurora, Baler. We booked for 3 days and 2 nights and the fee we paid for was totally worth it as it already included 4 full board meals in a day, which means we have breakfast then snacks then lunch then snacks again and of course dinner. We definitely didn't go hungry and their home-cooked meals are to die for. No kidding! 

Totally salivating just looking at this picture. It may seem too simple but wait till you taste it. 

Of course, just like any Moon Sisters adventure, it's never without in-between interventions from The Universe. Hahaha. The above picture was actually our breakfast before we head back to Manila. Earlier that day, I woke up Yang because I wanted to witness the sunrise again. But before she even hop off her bed, she was having "weird feels" and as some of you may know, we have this game called "chuwariwap" - where the song that plays randomly will be the answer/sign to whatever it is that you may ask or think about. So before we head out to the seashore, we asked The Universe why Yang is having her "weird feels" and it gave us the song "By Chance (You and I) by J.R.A." where one of the lines in the song says "go grab some lunch and eat some cucumbers" which I tell you is one of the lines that Yang dislikes. Hahaha. Funny because she said: "Don't tell me there's cucumber in our meal later..." I just laugh at what she said and quite replied... "I don't know, we'll see." And true enough after our sunrise session when breakfast was finally served... Tadaaaah! We were both laughing because there goes the cucumbers. And we were like "Seriously?! Weird feels for the cucumber?". Hahaha. Which we later on realized that maybe it was just Universe's way of telling us to just believe and not to ignore it. Hahaha.

Anyways, let's rewind this story a bit. 

Days before our trip we bought our bus tickets going to Baler. We decided to take the late night trip via the Joy Bus of Genesis so that we could sleep through the whole trip and can arrive at 10AM. What I love about Easy Adventure is that it we were able to request for a free ride that would fetch us from the bus terminal going there. 

Our fun and free ride going to Easy Adventure

The ride took minutes but we inhaled it all in especially the fresh air and the simplicity of life around. 

As soon as we arrived at Easy Adventure, we were welcomed by Ate Baby Jane, one of the friendly caretakers of the camp, and lead us to the viewing deck looking over the sea and where we sneaked in some bit of sleep as we were still groggy from the night trip. We were then awakened and thereafter lead to our very own tent. 

One of our neighboring tents located near the river

Yes, our tent is near the river which by the way goes straight to the sea. I love how metaphorical is the meeting of the sea and river. It's like how life or The Universe or the fates or serendipity works - that no matter which way you go, you'll always end where you're meant to be. Add love and "The One" at that. Hahaha. ;)

And this is how our tent looked like...

We chose to each have a bed and we were more than amazed that it's complete with furniture like chairs and table and even a loudbasstard for some music plus magazines. Yang and I had this rule that since it's a vacay, we need to do something different. So I told her, no reading of books but we can do some coloring and some outdoor activities that Easy Adventures has to offer. Hahaha. So after settling ourselves and our stuff and choosing which bed to sleep in, we changed our outfits and had some fresh buko juice which is their welcome drink for us and then had some lunch. Afterwards, we went back to our tent and ended up having an afternoon sleep. Hahaha. Good thing, one of the caretakers woke us up for merienda. 

All smiles to start our first luna adventure

After having merienda, we carried our cameras and off we go around the dock, the bridge, the seashore, some sunset viewing and waited till it's dinnertime. Oh, life! 

I was a bit cautious walking on the bridge the whole time. Hahaha.

We took everything in... the sea, the waves, the wind and everything around us. All while we were thinking that this is exactly what we needed to cap-off the year. A breather. From just about everything. 

On the first night, we end up just sleeping along the sound of nature and the cold winds. We were planning to spend some time at the viewing deck but since there are some people there, we decided to just stay in our tent. 

Surprisingly, by the next day, I woke up first. And I think it's all because I have this thing with sunrises. As much as I love sunsets, I'm quite more drawn to sunrise. And which made me wanting to always wake up early since then even if I don't have a view of the sunrise anymore. Just waking up to a brand new day is something that I always look forward to and find myself more than inspired to do the things that I needed to do for the day. 

There goes Mr. Sun finally up and about along with the crashing of the waves...

It was an awesome way to start the day. After which, we had breakfast and then merienda and did some coloring. By lunch time, we contemplating on what to do. Good thing during the time we were there, there weren't much guests so it felt that the place were all our own. Hahaha. 

Some coloring while the songs from my phone's playlist randomly play...

We decided not to take a nap as we don't much to waste our time from just sleeping. 

I took advantage of the time and wrote with ink and paper some thoughts of mine while Yang having fun with Kuya's GoPro camera. Of course, I wrote with some music alongside of me. Hahaha. After a few minutes, Yang decided that we should start exploring on foot. 

I think I was talking to her about something all while making sure I won't have mud on my feet...

So we took a walk along the muddy river since it happened to be a low tide at that time. I just followed Yang actually all while I keep on rambling because our slipper-clad feet are caked in mud already. Hahaha. Then we went to the grassy area and lo and behold we found our "pride rock". 

Here's the story behind "pride rock". Before we head out our tent, we read this article in one of the magazines.  

The lines from that magazine article that inspired our "pride rock" photo shoot. Hahaha.

The article was written by a dad about the vacation he had with his family. I just love how he described his daughter having fun at the beach. Melts our hearts.

Still all smiles even after our feet were caked in mud...

Tadaaah! Our very own "pride rock". Hahaha. 

Which I think is Universe's way of telling us... "go have some fun". Hahaha. After our mini photo shoot, we went back to the camping area for our much awaited merienda of fresh buko juice and banana cue. 

And yeah, I continued my writing again. Luckily, the tides took back the waters in the river and we were able to do some kayaking which I had a difficult time rowing. Hahaha. So there were occasions wherein I got stuck somewhere while Yang is somewhere far off already and enjoying it. Hahaha.

This is Yang enjoying her view while I struggle somewhere... LOL

We had some good laugh and funny lines of me getting stuck or struggling to move. Hahaha. Afterwards, we find ourselves back at the viewing deck till before dinner time. Yang brought her cards and we played chuwariwap. We were quite looking forward and surprised at how the night turned out. But first, dinner.

And dinner was served by the table near our tent. After that sumptuous dinner, we went straight to the viewing deck which luckily for us, was something that we had all for ourselves that night. You see, what really lured us to go to Easy Adventure was to unplug from everything and just breathe and relax - away from some bit of routines for a while. 

Then, slowly but surely as the night falls, the fireflies started to show up. And this is where and when Yang and I had our usual conversation on just about anything. This was definitely one of the best nights I've ever had. We lie down the viewing deck and watch the stars while fireflies are around us. Then add to that - the moon rising. Which sadly, we didn't had a picture of but something which I'll always have etched in my mind. Of course, the surprise fireworks across the distant shores. Which I think really made that day one for the books. Everything felt so surreal. Then there were some shooting stars. Okay, as an exception, we each had a bottle of beer of some imported brand which I can't remember which I tried hard to finish. Hahaha. Of course, our conversation won't be complete without the songs from my playlist as our background which played along with every thought of our conversation. Oh Universe! Hahaha. 

We slept past midnight.

Then, as usual, I woke up earlier than Yang and that's when she had weird feels which is connected to the cucumber story. We again witness for the sunrise and had our breakfast before going back. Then the butterflies showed up just before we go. Butterflies mean something to me as they usually carry messages of some sort (they are my spirit animals while Yang's would be the pied fantail bird).

The days off were something that was right for us. Not too long nor too short. Just enough for us to have a breather and be refreshed, a last hurrah before we welcomed the new year.

Here's to more Luna Adventures alongside The Universe.