Last November 19-22,2010 - a group of 9 mostly Manila-based bloggers plus myself went on a Western Pangasinan excursion. Headed by true-blue Pangasinenses Anton and Mica, chief organizers of the whole experience, they were eager to show other bloggers the beauty of our hometown. I was fortunate enough to be included in the group that includes such heavy weights as Estan Cabigas (langyaw.com) and Ada (adaphobic.com). Five bloggers arrived during the first day; Mica, Ada, Sir Estan, Robbie, and Darwin to explore central towns such as Dagupan City, Calasiao, Lingayen and experience local delicacies such as Calasiao’s Puto and Pigar-pigar. Day 1 of the official western tour was all about the Hundred Islands at Alaminos City, by now Anton, Gael, Marky, Cai joined to complete the group. Special thanks to Islandia Hotel, Local Tourism Office, and Island Tropic Restaurant for their hospitality during our brief yet memorable stay. And now we come to Day 2, the Bolinao Experience. This trip was made possible by Puerto del Sol Resort who took care of our iterinary, accommodation and even the food :D oh and they have a very cool website, check it out http://www.puertodelsol.com.ph/ . My stay together with the other bloggers at Puerto del Sol was I think just close to perfect that it deserves a separate post :D for now, I’ll just focus on the whole Bolinao experience :D

Simple, Tranquil, Beautiful


I started Day 2 waking up to Darwin singing a happy birthday song (trust me, you don’t want to wake up to Darwin’s singing, Period! :)) ) but still I’m very thankful for that. We got up at 6 AM to catch an early bus ride to Bolinao. The ride was certainly fun with everyone joking around and Cai even met a new friend inside the bus ( or should I say admirer :D ). We arrived at around 7 am and Mr. Nelson, manager of Puerto del Sol,  was already waiting for us together with our designated tour guide ( pre-arranged by Puerto, it was included in the package).  Upon arrival, some of my buddies (yeah, we were buddies na by this time :D ) spotted a stand selling a local delicacy called ‘Binungey’ – it’s made of sticky rice kinda like the ‘Suman’ except it was cooked and served inside a bamboo. And since none of us has had breakfast, I think we just made the vendor very happy on a Sunday :) 

Cai's new friend (admirer): it's a good thing I was holding on to my seatmate when this was taken

Hmmmm.. it seems the old lady wasn't that happy after all

Darwin as a Binungey Endorser :D


First place on our iterinary is the St. James Church, which is also our drop-off point – is one of the oldest church in the Philippines, and according to the tour guide, there is a claim by some historians that the first mass was held here (or so I remember :) ) this is a good chance to see Sir Estan in action as he documents the place for his other site simbahan.net





Ate Gael offering prayers


One of the many photo ops

Ada being Ada

After numerous photo ops, by now ‘Binungey’ can no longer relieve our hunger, and so we decided to have breakfast at Adoras Restaurant, which is located just within the area. I must say that they have the best Sisig/Dinakdakan I’ve ever tasted for the longest time (and no, it wasn’t free :)) ) I can’t thoroughly explain the flavor that I’m looking for, but they’ve found it and it brings me back during my highschool days where I get to taste the same Sisig at a small ‘turo-turo’ near our school.

Craving for this Sisig /please

Some bloggers shoot first, some bloggers eat first: I'm with Ate Gael on this one :D

Full tummy, check! Next stop was the Bolinao waterfalls. Along the way, our tour guide provided some trivia about the origins of Bolinao; it seems that Bolinao was originally a town in the Province of Zambales, but due to tax purposes it was transfered to Pangasinan; the town of Anda was also originally a part of Bolinao, hence a lot of people living in the area spoke the local dialect " Bolinaoen" ?? Tama ba Kuya Anton?? :D . He also told us four legends on how Bolinao came to be but it seems that I can only remember one, ‘Boli’ means a woman’s private part, ‘Anao’ is a beautiful princess… well you get the idea :D I can write all day to describe how magnificent the waterfall was, but how about I just let my photos do the talking :D





Hidden Paradise

Oh you just can’t help yourself not to dip-in in this pristine water; unfortunately not everyone had their swimming gear on, but didn’t you read YOU CAN’T HELP IT. ‘Talagang mapapalangoy ka kahit wala kang swimming gear’ ayun!, may scandal tuloy :)) Peace!! :D

For now, it was time for us to go to Puerto del Sol to drop off some luggage, rest, and have lunch before going thru the other items in the iterinary. And wow, you know you’re in a world-class resort when you’re welcome by hanging shell necklaces in your neck and offered you BJ’s, yep BJ’s, it’s so good, one of the best BJ’s I’ve ever had. So good that I had three, very satisfying :D woooot!... oh you know it was Buko Juice that I was referring too, you perv! :))

I’ll be blogging about the whole Puerto del Sol experience separately and these photos our just previews of my ‘Buhay Mayaman’ experience :D

Cai modelling for Puerto del Sol (They should call her)
having lunch seaside (looks like Marky and Anton is about to kick my a**! /sweat )

Puerto del Sol's Seaside Restaurant




Still so proud of my diffuser :D

Afternoon tour’s first stop was the Bolinao Lighthouse, a structure beside it was destroyed by recent typhoons but it looked great for photo-ops. I think I found a prime spot for doing pre-nups (ahem Darwin! :) ) everybody took photos of everybody but nothing can compare to Cai and Darwin’s ( you can just hear the song ‘Love will keep us Alive’ by the Eagles right about now :D )

Awwwww /hmm

Just trying to emphasize that it was a huge lighthouse /wahaha

Pose-for-All

Next is the Patar Beach. I think this beach could attract a lot of tourist; its clean, people are friendly, and we’ve been told surfing could be a major attraction because of the waves though the waters were calm during our visit :D  The lighting was great during that time so I got to shot Mica and Cai some portraits :) didn’t have one of Ada though…. Hmmmmm.. and Gael is busy cursing Anton around this time :))

Oh look at that, here's Ate Gael pala :D

Studio Shot :)



Hot...

Takbo takbo lang :D Ada doing the turtle

Senyorita :D

One of the best place to go and take photos is the Rock Formations, too bad I didn’t bring my tripod, a panoramic shot of the view would certainly earn a few jaw drops :D though I still manage a few good shots, especially of Sir Estan which I think was a perfect picture to describe him, almost having visited all the provinces in the country, his journey is never-ending.

Adaphobic Shoots!

This one would be perfect for a pre-nup shoot :)

Langyaw Shoots!


"Unending": Langyaw's Journey

 After an unhealthy incident :) no, nobody got hurt, physically atleast. It was time to head back to Puerto del Sol to freshen up. Yeah I know I said I was going to blog the whole experience separately, but this can’t wait :D Upon arrival, we finally had the chance to swim in Puerto del Sol’s pool, by now the ladies and Kuya Anton were engaged in an intimate talk while Darwin, Marky and I were swimming around and just pretending we can’t hear them (oh we heard it) :D  We were treated to a seaside dinner courtesy of Puerto del Sol and their Food and Beverage Manager, Sir Alfred. This dinner was very special to me, for as they were serving dessert; Sir Alfred surprised me by singing Happy Birthday and served me a Leche Flan with a candle on top while the other bloggers stood up, and took videos and photos of me, :) that was very touching, and I thought… hmmmm.. may ice cream kaya?? :))

Chilling: There goes the Ada pose :D

Mahinhin :D


After dinner, Sir Alfred also arranged for us to taste the different cocktails being offered at Puerto del Sol. Atlas some alcohol :D 

The Cocktails :D
Too bad Ada, Cai, Gael, Robbie, and Marky has to go back to Manila that evening. Robbie though had the chance to joined Mica, Darwin and me in the Jacuzzi for some personal talk after dinner. Getting to know them at a more personal level has deepened our friendship; it would be the cherry on top of this amazing day, but as they say that all good things must come to an end, the day ended as we said our goodbyes and watched the others rode a tricycle headed to the bus terminal. Now its just Mica, Darwin and Me; while Sir Estan and Kuya Anton were already asleep, we watched some of Mica’ film and after a few chit chat, were off to dream land :D  yan ang mga ending!! :))

It has been a month now, but it’s good to reminisce the happy times, I still can’t help myself not to smile, even laugh, as I try to remember the details of this trip. Damn… I miss them…





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