family trip to hinigaran

i brought husband to hinigaran, my home town, for the very first time. he was game to all of the food and i was thankful that his stomach stayed strong despite the amount of oyster he had consumed. he thinks that fetching water from a well was cool. he also thought that most of my neighbors and family are shorter than lesli (my sister). we find this really hilarious because my sister barely reach 5 feet.

this trip was a relief and did so much to bring back the light atmosphere we had the first days we arrived for my brother's wedding. what happened in between the wedding and our trip to hinigaran was, an accident. our rental car was hit by a passenger jeepney and the headlight on the right side got smashed. i was so scared of what will happen that i almost cried. thankfully it was all sorted out. we paid an amount much lesser than what i originally thought, which was huge (this was the reason why husband scolded me for almost crying because of the amount i thought we would have paid).

so like i said, coming home to hinigaran was really great. yummy oysters, tasty coconut pie, family bonding and being home made up for all the scary moments the day before.

i know i have downplayed the accident a bit and my extreme reaction to it but in that case i was truly grateful because ranley remained calm and encouraging and keeps the focus on the important things like the fact that there was nothing else amiss with the rental car other than the headlights (which can easily be replaced), that all of us inside the car was safe - no scratches, or dent, that we have not bump into any other living things like humans or animals perhaps. so i admire hi for his fortitude and stillness. 

road trippin'

there is always something so majestic about being on top of a mountain and looking out to a great expanse of greens and sky and sea. 

the great minds in mcof combined powers and decided that we should do our annual retreat in negros occidental. i immediately opposed the idea for two reasons:

first, i am from negros occidental!  if we are going on a tour it should be on a place i've never been (selfish self is of course subtle. saying things like, "we cannot travel typhoon is coming!)

second, i am still recovering from a mini pneumonia and still feel weak even though i already have missed work for more than 5 days.

i was thinking, maybe a nice resort around the island would be good or a quick over night stay in some place outside the city. no chance.

we left for bacolod city at 1 am. some of us did not sleep at all. we did all the crazy stop over stuff on top of don salvador mountains and take crazy amount of photos and then went directly to campuestohan highland resort. we headed down to civilizations again and rest for an hour, then eat dinner in diotay's place and head to a carnival area in the city and stayed there until 11 pm.  i was already a walking dead. i was swaying as we find our way to the car. 

when my body hit the bed, i was out but when i opened my eyes it was morning already! not fair!

when all my complaints is done, i would say that we had a really super good time together. relationships deepen, laughter comes easily, conversations are abundant to the point where someone has to do referee duties for everyone to have their time to express opinions, ideas or just 

fart/burp. 

a windmill. a prominent stracture in campuestohan higland resort

pretty girlfriends

hand holding walks

paddle time on a small lagoon. 

spring water meeting with salty huge one

spotting a cacao fruit after many many years.

the amazing view of cebu city from a million miles away.

3 islands

i have lived in mactan island for almost 8 years now. i was able to go snorkeling somewhere in some of the neighboring islands over (lip pointing) there but that was not counted because it was sneaky (we didn't pay the fee of 1 thousand something pesos) and it only lasted over an hour. 

so, during the three days (youth camp) of no electricity, very drought-like rationing of water, meager food, sleeping with the chickens (i'm serious!), sleeping on the sand (on thin mattress) ----- okay, the good stuff: beautiful, breathtaking sunrise, sentimental sunsets, clean air and slow and quiet days (except for screaming youths), i, along with ems, jore, bing and lani, had the excuse of accompanying ptr. ares to do island hopping. (for the record this is the worst sentence/grammar ever!!!)

all photos except for the first one was taken by jore

1st day sunrise - hilutungan island

captain jack sparrow has nothing on our boatman!

perfect shades of blue

nalusuan island

floating leilani

ems

lunch of  grilled stuff. squid. chicken. fish & also fresh mango

on the way to snorkeling

ems & i

these are mostly koreans. there are so many of them inlove with our waters 

ka-awhagan island

perfecting water jump : ivy faith

water zombie : ptr. ares

3 of the million shots of hair flipping.  i realize i am not a hair-flipping-girl. jore nearly burst an nerve because of this. but these three are not bad, right?

leilani

water-flipping on the other hand is a different matter!!

beaches. water. islands. has a way  of opening up personalities. shedding off inhbitions. haha. 

right at the moment i am 5 shades darker than my natural color and am not sure if my summer is over yet.

a BIG P.S
a friend of ours has a business of island hopping if you want you and your friends to have fun this summer in cebu & mactan islands, you only have to pay P 5000.00 and you already get to visit the 3 islands. this already includes your lunch on the boat!
If you want to have lunch on one of the islands yourself, you have to pay P 3000 only for the boat ride. you still get to see the islands Hilutungan, Nalusuan & Ka-awhagan.

Lunch in Nalusuan : P 450.00 - 550.00 (free snorkeling in the fish sanctuary)
Lunch in Hilutungan: P 550.00 (free snorkeling in the fish sanctuary)

you can also bring your own snacks and lots and lots of water! 
for more inquiries, please message ivy faith in facebook :-)