Five to six hours away from Metro
Manila is a place of serenity, a place perfect for reflection. This place is
Silanguin Cove in Zambales.
Last April 2-3, 2015, I was
invited by my bestfriend, Harold, to join the outing of his former officemates
from the Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO) in Silanguin Cove, Zambales.
It’s a “back-to-basic” themed trip, according to him, since we would be staying
in an island where there’s practically no electricity and no communication
signal. Since I love meeting new people and traveling on a budget, I
immediately accepted his invitation. Despite the threats of an imminent super
typhoon, we bravely pursued with our trip. It turned out to be a memorable
experience, indeed.
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| Bathe in the waters of Silanguin Cove, or be kissed by the sun! |
From Manila to Pundakit, Zambales
It was Nico, his officemate and my
friend, too, who organized and coordinated this trip. Days before, he’d been
sending out reminders to people of what to bring. He was also the one who
managed the finances and bought our food and supplies.
Our meeting place was at the CFO
Office. Our call time was at 4:00 am. A 12-seater van was rented for Php 7,500
(the cost to be divided among the nine excursionists). I was introduced to
Harold’s other officemates, namely, Kris (whom I already knew), Kris’s sister
Jack, Frenz (a travel blogger, frenzfries.blogspot.com), Ate Cheng, Joan, and
Graciel. These people have been traveling yearly together – they were all fun
to be with!
We left at around 5:00am and reached
Pundakit at around 9:30am. Because of the early call time, we were asleep
during the travel. Upon reaching Pundakit, Nico coordinated with Ann, his
contact. Nico got Ann’s number from a blog. From there, we transferred to a
motor boat that would bring us to Silanguin. The motor boat cost Php 4,500
(this included the payment for the motor boat for Php 4,200 back-and-forth and the payment for
the gasoline for Php 300). The boat ride from Pundakit to Silanguin took us
around an hour. Silanguin was farther than Anawangin and Talisayen Coves, which
are popular destinations, too.
The Serene Silanguin
The boat kissed the sand of
Silanguin around 11am. We were greeted by the signage “Puerto Silanguin:
Welcome” upon getting off the boat. My eyes outlined the stretch of the shoreline.
I saw only a few tents that were set up. According to Frenz, if one was after a
“quiet place”, then Silanguin was the place-to-be. Silanguin was way better
than Anawangin, since the latter has been massively promoted, particularly in
group buying sites. Our fee for the place where we stayed, inclusive of the
tables, was only Php 150 per head.
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| Who would not love this view... |
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| ...And this? |
We immediately set up our tents
and prepared our lunch. Jo was our resident chef, the one who’s in-charge with
food preparation. We shared the chicken adobo she cooked at home, salted egg
with tomatoes, and steamed eggplant with Barrio Fiesta Bagoong. Everything was
perfect with warm rice!
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| Setting up our tents |
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| Jack and Jo preparing our food |
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| Our sumptous lunch! |
After having our lunch, some of
us went swimming while others opted to rest. I rested and enjoyed the view of
the calm sea, which seemed to talk to me saying “throw all your burdens away,
everything will be fine”. I also loved looking at the pine trees in the island
as they added to the peaceful ambiance.
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| Our tents under the pine trees, with view of the sea and the mountain ranges! |
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| The hut behind me could be rented for Php 2,500/night |
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| The toilet and bath was fairly decent, but it's dark at night! |
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| Ah, pine trees! |
In the afternoon, we strolled
along the shore and had our various group photos. We also looked for other
locations with beautiful background, other than the sea and mountain ranges.
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| The fiery red leaves on those trees were just magnificent! |
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| Everybody's having fun! |
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| Jump Shot! |
Frenzel, Graciel, and myself
attempted to discover the way to where we could see the “overview” of the
island. The two mentioned that whenever they go for a trip like this (e.g.
Anawangin and Nagsasa), they would always find the “overview”. But this time,
what we found were dogs waiting to bite us, if we pursued with what we were
planning!
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| In search of the "Overview": Frenz (taking photographs) and Graciel (crossing a portion of the sea) |
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| In search of the "Overview": my fake hiking shot |
No Electricity, No Signal, Just Fire, Moon, and Stars
When the sun set in Silanguin, I
knew that the fun had just started. Since there were no electricity, we had to make use
of the natural light - the moon light! Good thing, we’re able to bring candles
and pink emergency lamp! The challenge, however, was taking a bath in a creepy
restroom that night!
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| The sunset was so dramatic! |
Jo prepared fried Century Daing
na Bangus (dried milk fish) for everyone. Just before frying the fish, we found
out that we forgot to bring the cooking oil! We asked the kind caretakers if
they were selling cooking oil and After having our candlelit dinner, we
prepared the hotdog-and-marshmallow skewers which we would fry later on.
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| Candlelit dinner: Romantic, huh?! |
We bought firewood for Php 150
and we started our bonfire. We grilled the hotdogs and marshmallows skewers we
prepared while sharing stories and gazing at the night skies. In a place where
there’s no signal, this was the best way to reconnect with nature and bond
deeply with people.
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| By the fire, I smiled. |
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| This was how we grilled our skewers! |
At 11pm, we slept. I stayed
inside my tent, while others slept outside to be caressed by the breeze.
The Search for the Lost Falls
According to Nico, he found in
the blog that there’s this beautiful water falls in Silanguin, so we scheduled
a trek to find this.
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| It feels good to wake up to this view! |
We woke up at 7am, had our
SpamSiLog (spam, fried rice, and fried egg) breakfast prepared by Jo, and
prepared for the an-hour-and-a-half hike.
The sun’s rays already hurt the
skin, but despite this, we continued with our journey. Our two tour guides were
joined by their dogs. We traversed rocky paths and passed by kaingin areas (with newly burned
bamboos). We suspected that we were lost and were not following the correct
track. In other words, we were not able to find the “breath-taking waterfalls”!
Instead, what we found was a stream! But despite that, we just enjoyed water
flowing from the stream.
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| Gra, Kris, and Jack were excited to see the falls! |
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| And so were Jo, Nico, and Harold! |
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| Thus, they walked... |
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| ...and walked... |
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| ...and walked (see the dog)... |
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| ...(and posed for camera, from time to time)... |
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| ...and walked... |
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| ...'til they found boulders of rocks, and a stream...but not the "falls". |
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| So they just pose for the camera, again. |
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| As for me, I found this lovely spot! |
The Return to Manila
We traversed a shorter path going
to our tents. We’re scheduled to leave the cove at 2pm. Thus, upon reaching the
site, we immediately freshened up and prepared our lunch (sautéed canned
mackerel). We cleaned up our area, collapsed and folded our tents, and checked
our things. We left at 245pm.
Just before leaving, I had my
photo at the Puerto Silanguin welcome marker. And as our boat drifted away from
Silanguin’s shore, to my mind, I was thanking the people and place, for providing
me this experience.
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| My last photo in Puerto Silanguin Welcome Marker |
