Remembering Pandan
May 2005

Pandan can only be described by one word: BEAUTIFUL. I found beauty that was pure. Almost untouched by man. The sea air, the water, the sand, the corals, the turtles…

The trip was a nice respite from the hassle of city life. I really am a probinsyana at heart.

We left Manila at around 1am of Thursday. We didn’t have time to rest because Bucky & I came from work & we had to pack. Less than an hour in the bus and we were all asleep. We woke up at the Batanggas port at around 4am. We were the last passengers to be given tickets. A jeep took us to the boat and we were off to Mindoro. The boat ride lasted a little over 2 hours, for most of which we just spent on sleep. Good thing that the boat had double-decker beds. We were able to sleep and see the sunrise in Abra de Ilog.

The bus was packed when we got to the station (just outside the port). It was a very rickety and cramped bus. We almost didn’t make it to the bus because it looked like there was no more space. But the bus conductor thought otherwise. After a few minutes before leaving, we were able to find some part of the seats. The bus ride to Sablayan was long, bumpy and dusty.

The travel improved when we reached a dried up river. There was no dust so I was able to take pictures of the scenery. We reached Sablayan at about 930am. The boat trip was slow because we took the wrong bangka. And it was very noisy.

Reaching Pandan island felt like such an achievement. I didn’t mind the hassle of the whole trip. It was all worth it. Before dropping off the shore, we could already see the corals underneath the bangka. Even with the cast out sun, the day ahead was promising. We were welcomed by the receptionist at the bar & scooted to our rooms.

There we encountered a British guy & a pinay girl whom we immediately thought to be his exotic aglipay companion. Later during the day, we found out that she wasn’t. She was reading a novel. Anyway, we unpacked, had some snacks and headed for the beach. We were so hungry but lunchtime was set at 1pm, so we impatiently lounged at the beach for 2 hours. We almost didn’t have lunch because of some misunderstanding with the receptionist. Good thing that there were lots of extra food, so the kitchen crew cooked a little more food for us. After lunch, we went to rest. It had been a very tiring 8 hours of traveling. I couldn’t exactly remember what we did next. I think we hit the beach and did some snorkeling. The next highlight of the day was dinner. The food was great, healthy too. After dinner, we spent the first night in the bar for some drinks, chika and cool sea breeze.

Bucky & I woke up early the next day to catch the sunrise.

It was so … peaceful. The air was cool, the tide was gently slapping at the shore. Everything was still. Bucky took so many pictures. After a full breakfast, we set off to snorkeling. The coral life was amazingly rich. There was a coral forest (no, just a not coral garden) a few meters away from the shore. There weren’t so many fish though. The highlight of the day was when we saw pawikans. I never knew I could see a pawikan in the wild. It was eating sea grass. I guess we were so excited and frisky in the water that they swam away from us. Bucky madly took underwater pictures. He even wanted to swim after the pawikan into the deep part of the shore. We walked the length of the shore from the bungalows to the farthest end of the shoreline. Then went to the beach again & had some refreshments at the bar.

We did some snorkeling starting at the east side of the island which turned out to be a bad decision because there were so many jellyfish. We got out of the water & headed for the west side of the island. We had a hard time snorkeling because the tide was low and the corals were almost skidding on our bellies. We saw pawikans again. The sun wasn’t very bright that afternoon so the visibility wasn’t really great. After the beach, we hit the showers and got ready for dinner. After a whole day of snorkeling & chilling at the beach, it was time to freshen up with salt water. While we were just waiting for the day to pass by, the British guy and his aglipay finally introduced himself to us. They were Alex & Zelda.

It was so great talking to him because he had so many stories to tell & he was so animated. I envied Zelda then. To be a tourist and spending nothing! Alex is just living off some investments in London so he has the luxury of traveling anywhere. How enviable. We sat down together for dinner & had some drinks at the bar afterwards. They had to leave early because Alex is an early sleeper. Tigulang na man gud according to Zelda. Haha.

The next day:

another guest arrived in the island. He was alone & kinda cute. I told Jaja to introduce himself right away. She was shy daw. Nyek. Denis did some fish feeding so we swam after him. We saw so many pawikans! I even touched one while it was feeding at the bottom of the beach. We alternately went to the bar and the beach, making sure we had enough strength to maximize our last full day in the island.

After lunch, we went snorkeling again. We almost swam into a tiny school of barracudas, which scared the hell out of Jaja & me because we thought Bucky’s frantic excitement was panic. After a few meters away from the barracudas, a coral snake shot out of the water & swam towards the shore. It was exciting & scary at the same time. We decided that we had enough excitement for the day. Besides, it was getting dark so we hit the shore, took some silly pictures & freshened up.

During dinner, Alex & Zelda were with the cute newcomer. Good thing that we were all sitting in the same table, so introductions were made & dinner became a lively chat. The newcomer was Matt. The food was great & the restaurant was packed! Apparently other locals arrived while were snorkeling and took the cottages at the west side of the island. Naturally, after dinner, we headed for the bar & started chatting with Matt. He told us about his other trips to Fiji, which turned out to be in Australia (I honestly didn’t know that…), his life in London, his plans to go teach in Japan & other stuff. At one point during the night, I got tipsy because of my rhum coke so I headed for the shore to get some brisk sea air. Soon after, Bucky followed me. Sensing that Jaja & Matt were deep into a conversation, we bolted from the shore & went to the cottage. Heck, I thought that she can take care of herself already. Besides, Matt looked & felt harmless. So Bucky & I slept (among other activities, hehe). Later during the night, I woke up to take a leak. Noticing that Jaja still wasn’t on her bed & that the bar was already closed, I scanned the shore, hoping I’ll see her or them. And I did. I saw 2 black figures, sitting, I think on the shore. I didn’t really hear their voices but I knew it was them. A little while after getting back to bed, I heard some whispering outside the cottage. It must’ve been them saying their goodbyes (however you do that properly…). After that, I was sound asleep until the next sunrise came.

Bucky & I woke up to see our last sunrise on the island.

Amazingly, Jaja also got up. And to think that she only had a few hours of sleep. Apparently, she couldn’t contain the excitement of her nocturnal adventures. According to her, Matt & her became… close. Let’s leave it at that. I was so happy for her. After her bad breakup with Mike, her life was slowly moving into place: getting a better job, having the chance to meet a new person & having to realize that life goes on after a bad fall. It was time to leave the island so we packed our stuff & had a hearty breakfast. While the concierge was preparing our bill, we were on the lookout for Matt. I even prodded Jaja to wake him up with a large & wet good morning cum goodbye kiss. Nahiya ang lola. Good thing that it took forever to prepare our bill. Alex came out for some last-minute chat. And Matt also came out looking very groggy & had bed marks on his face [pero cute pa rin sya. Haha!] He went to the office to check out also. Ayaw pang sundan ni Jaja, so I quickly made up an excuse to go to the office & made small talk. Success! Har, har! I benignly led him to where we were waiting and so Jaja & Matt met before we left. We took some bad pictures for documentation purposes.

With heavy hearts & feeling a great regret that the 3 days of bliss finally ended, we left Pandan. Took a very uneventful boat trip & bus ride back to manila. Uneventful, yet we were able to wistfully remember the events of the past 3 days all to our hearts’ content.

When we got back to manila, Jaja recounted her encounter for an umpeth time. But it was nice hearing the story over & over again. It affirmed “When God closes a door, He opens a window.”

The Pandan trip proved very fruitful for Jaja as people from her past life (aka Mozcom) began to discover her adventures. Mike eventually learned kung anong nabingwit nya sa Pandan. He must’ve felt wistful about the whole thing. I dunno. Buti nga sa kanya. Hope he rots wherever he is. [Hahaha! Vindictive bitch…]

Anyway, their official love affair here in Manila stretched up to 2 weeks, I think. Good for her. Jaja says she’s not going back to Pinoy longganiza. She found out about the “British” schublig.

Hahahaha!