t'was two nights before halloween when i and friends--ivy, keith, mon, atan, tope, deo and sanny--headed out three hours from the city to moalboal.
so off we went in a v-hire, with sanny singing at the top of his lungs about someone thinking of him beneath the pale moonlight. we arrived just in time for an interesting night-life at panagsama beach as there was some party going on in the neighborhood. after looking around (the beach area has a number of small bars, hotels and restaurants with a few sari-sari's mixed in) and having dinner (with mon doing a lot of video taking), we went to the discobar/restaurant just at the back of the place where we were renting. there were halloween-costumed people that night so we knew there was going to be a show. we found a corner and had some beer. after the show (some sort of pageant) the dance-floor was quickly jammed. soon we joined in and were dancing hard and turning and jumping and sweating and laughing.
after the disco we chose to go to the beach, never mind the low tide. well, i could have just given up and headed back to our room. but as soon as i was in the water, there was no regret because there's always that commune with nature that you feel when you're adrift in the sea at night and looking up at the sky.
soon it was time to sleep. i thought sleep would not come, what with sanny's singing again, but the next thing i knew, the window was already emitting sunlight into our room. we had a light breakfast--which was too light, because later, my stomach had started to grumble well before lunchtime. we had planned to wake up early in the morning but it was already midmorning by the time the whole group started out for the orchid farm. we went on a hike, minding the sun and distance (who's idea was it to walk all the way to the farm anyway?) just to view the orchids. but our efforts were rewarded because there were hundreds of orchids and--lo and behold--a swimming pool tucked amidst the orchid farm. i wanted to stay at the shallow part of the pool but after some encouragement and a lot of taunting, i had to swim where the water was fearfully deeper than i was tall.
later in the day, we trooped back to our room to checkout. we then finally headed to our last itinerary: basdaku beach. it was close to sunset as we chilled on the sand, waiting for the northern sun to drop further. and the perfect sunset did come. i felt breathless long after i had ran and scampered for my camera phone. i was overwhelmed and drowning in its magnificence, as if i was seeing the setting of the sun for the first time. i willed myself to record it, to remember. something about the feeling was reminiscent of equally exquisite moments, like catching myself wallowing in a particularly good painting, or looking up and seeing sunbeams filtered through swaying branches of an accacia tree at U.P., or a resonance after perusing a poem: elusive, unrepeatable.
night fell with a legion of stars. keith filled us with songs from his good old favorite themes. we sang with him, counted the falling stars, danced, drank beer, and played silly games.
awakened in the morning to grains of sand in the tent. 9 am and we are homeward-bound.
wasn't that a wonderful halloween treat.
