Thursday, August 11, 2005

One of the perks of being Baguio-based again is knowing you are just 2 hours away from known surf spots...



I got in contact with Danette and Aldrix last Saturday and headed to San Juan hoping to catch some waves. We arrived at Bacnotan Pier around 3pm and found nothing but chop, chop and more chop. After hearing about the picture-perfect waves they got to ride last week, we headed to "The Backyard" to check if there were still left overs from last weeks swells. The backyard beach was calm as a swimming pool, Aldrix suggeted we checkout some breaks in Luna. We headed off to Luna in Danette's Civic/4x4/all-terrain-vehicle. The same calm, waveless scene greeted us at the pebble beach so we decided to call it a day and pray for better luck tomorrow. On the way back to Alrix's, Danette suggested we cook "Pinikpikan". So we did, we headed to the nearest poultry shop, got ourself a good-sized chicken and, uhm, cooked it (the pinikpikan details could not be posted here due to animal rights policies, hehe). Filled with pinikpikan and a few sips of basi, we called it a night.







There is something about waking up in a hut on a beach that just makes your day. After breakfast, we headed to Bacnotan pier hoping for some decent waves and were met by relatively large waves and chop but we decided to give it a try. Already in the water was a group from Baler. After a few attempts I headed back to the beach, my fractured foot was a bit sore, and a little swollen, oh well, now to test my cameras zoom. The zoomed in shots are fairly good considering the cameras size and that I didn't have a tripod around. Lanlan later joined us
before we left for lunch a siesta.






Wednesday, August 03, 2005

With the clearance done and the packing just finished ther is nothing left but the long trip back to Baguio....

I met up with Carl and his mom in Manila. I rented their van, aka the surfmobile, to help transfer my stuff to Baguio. As soon as we got to my apartment, the van overheated. Which is kinda understandable since its been running for more than 12 hours. So we got the engine cooled after a few minutes and began loading up my stuff. By around 5pm we were all set to go. But, the van wasn't. A few minutes after we left the apartment the brakes of the van started acting funny. Good thing we stopped right in front of a shop which specialized in Korean vans (Bestas, Graces, and other hand-me-downs that the Philippines so happily accepts). It took them 5 hours to replace some parts (which would have broken and could have caused more damage) and we were on our way by 11pm. Next we had to meet up with Waf in Ayala, he'll be riding with me in the mustang. By 12mn, we were leaving Ayala, Carl and his Mom in the van, Waf and I in the mustang.



First stop was in Shell on the NLEX. The mustang was fun to drive on the expressway, you could feel the power of 200 + ponies under your feet. The roar of the V8 as you left the Japanese cars staring at your taillight was quite an experience. It was what made driving a mustang all worth while.



Next stop was in Tarlac. During each stop we checked if the engine was overheating (yeah, the gauge wasn't working, it's still on my to-do list along with a whole bunch of other things).



Waf and I had to stop in Pangasinan, we were being sandwiched by dozens of trucks on the highway,it was pretty intimidating. My V8 was no match for their V10! hehehe. Gimme a break, this was the first time I was driving from Cavite all the way to Baguio (with a healing fracture too)! Also, since the accident, trucks have been on the top of my stay-away-from list.

We later caught up with Carl in Sison. Wow, one more hour to Baguio and the mustang wasn't showing signs of any problem. The work done on it for the past two years seems to have paid off! Now the challenge, about an hour worth of uphill driving....let's get it on!



Our timing was just right, the sun was just rising and the first rays of the sun was hitting the peaks of the mountains. It was such a great sight, too bad I didn't take pics of it. The scene was just great, the mountain tops was illumiated by the suns first rays, while the winding river below still slumbered. We opened our windows and welcomed the mountain air, the trees, the river and an occassional glimpse of waterfalls. Ahh, I'm almost home. The engine did heat up a bit after the Kennon run, but nothing critical. The mustang is home at last. So am I.