Back in Baler

August 14, 2003

After five months of feeling like a beached surfette, I was finally able to go on a surf trip again. Kaz and I loaded up our gear, met up with the usual surf gang (Paolo, Cat, Ana, Alex, Arl, Dino, Tals and Adrian) and headed off to Baler.

And it had come at the best time -- another week of not being able to escape the city and I may have seriously hurt someone physically.

Two days of not being stressed about anything, no worrying about anything, not thinking about anything other than the moment -- enjoying the feel of the water against my skin, the smell of sunblock and the pleasure of ice cold beer sliding its way down my throat. Aaah.

Highlights from this trip included:

- On the road that led to the foot of the Sierra Madres Paolo breaks my nap by shouting "Head straight for the sun." And true enough, straight ahead of us, breaking through the moutain tops, was the early morning sun.

- Sitting on a wall that faces the beach, Tals and I are sharing a smoke watching the rather small waves just marveling at how still the morning was. Dragonflies kept alighting on the purple lilies that had grown along the shore. There was no noise in the air save for our voices.

- We paddled out at Charlie's Point, where Francis Ford Copolla shot scenes for Apocalypse Now decades ago. The current was stronger than we thought and we found ourselves needing to rest. While we sat there gathering our strength, tiny flying fish started exploding from beneath us. They landed on our boards, got caught in our hair... both fish and humans freaking out. We were all laughing until Kaz casually said "I wonder what's making them jump" ... and then Adrian (who was treading water) pulled an Ian Thorpe and started swimming back to shore.

- Wandering around the town common (it was fiesta time in Baler), sampling everything that the hawkers had to sell. Including: isaw for P3 a stick, sago pampalamig at P2 a plastic (of the many flavors, the 'grey one' tasted best) and "candy cotton" for another P2. Merienda at its best in other words.

- Sisig for breakfast. This was the trip we labelled "Baboy Rocks!" cos we all agreed that pork is the best thing on earth. Bacon rocks. Pork Chops rock. Everything pork rocks.

There were no real waves. I only caught two waves the whole time, both on our first morning there. But, as we packed up to leave Baler, it didnt really matter. We had escaped, if only for the weekend, from the hassle of city life... and recharged ourselves once more.