Misadventures In Malate

This is a funny story....

An old Baguio batchmate, Paolo, and I decided to change venue for our weekend beers. We thought Malate would ba a good place this weekend. We were at Robinson's Manila by 8pm for dinner and a first round of beers. By around 10pm we were headed to Nakpil St. It was early for a Saturday gimmick. So we decided to grab a few more beers at a another resto/bar. We gulped our beer down, chatted and shared stories. On the road below us was a party sponsored by Jose Cuervo. We thought were in the right place at, well, about an hour before the right time. So as the beer flowed, and we enjoyed chatting and catching up. After a while, we noticed that most of the party goers were in white. Maybe it was a White Party, we thought. Then it hit us, the street below was full of males, not one female in sight, really buff guys greeting each other cheek to cheek! WTF! Did I miss a memo? A broadcast announcement from work? Was there an all-gay-guys meeting at Malate tonight? It probably was a gay pride thing tonight. So we gulped down our last beers and rushed out the bar and headed a few more blocks down where the crowed seemed like the regular mix. Good thing we weren't in white, we thought over a few more beers. Then we decided to call it a night. tonight sure turned out to be a different kind of night.....

Paradise Lost

With the south swell just starting and a full moon scheduled on 11Jun06, there was bound to be good waves. Meeting up at 9am Carl, Jux, Aldrix and I headed down to La Union. By 11 we were at Se Bay picking Benj, Enzo and Vince up. From the highway. We caught glimpses of the San Juan beach break and there was nothing but chop. So off we were to The Pier and hopefully, The Backyard.

A few minutes drive and we were at the Pier surrounded by quite a few cement delivery trucks. There were no SUV's or fancy cars nearby (therefore no posers) and staring at the sea we saw why. Today was a really choppy day, the waves were just bumping into each other. So, off we were to The Backyard.

Carl had just barely pulled the brakes, when we rushed out, yelled out greetings to Aldrix's dad and ran to the shore. There we were greeted by a calm, serene sea. No surfing here today, with heavy hearts we walked back to the house, almost giving up. We discussed other options like the pebble beach, Cabarsican, Sunset and decided to have lunch before heading out. After a quick meal we took another look at The Backyard and alas, a slight swell had begun. Nothing epic, but it was workable. While checking it out, we noticed some people were already out surfing. What! In our secret paradise? It took us while to recognize the longboarders out, then one of them approached us. It was Lemon, a La Union local. Greetings were exchanged and stories shared then he headed back to the line up. Everybody else rushed to the house and grabbed their gear.

One by one ,we headed out, paddling across The Backyards familiar waters. This is Aldrix's and Lan's homebreak, and The Backyard has adopted us too. We feel so at home here and so thankful for the rides and the times we've had. In between each paddle I asked myself, is this the end of our solo sessions in the Backyard? Will this spot be a Pier or Beachbreak all over again? I hope not. Well the guys were surfing with today are the LU locals, they know first hand how it feels to lose a home break (Four or five years ago, the San Juan Beach break was a relatively quite area, with the local surfers in the water or chilling in the kubo. Everybody knew every body then.) Fast forward to 2006, surfing has become mainstream and everybody wants in on this new "fad". To be cool, you had to have your flip flops, a good tan, sellout surfbrands from head to toe, and you had to hangout in "the kubo". Before I get sidetracked and start ranting and raving and cursing about the exploitation of the beaches, waves, surfing and the lifestyle, let me return to our Backyard sessions.

At the line up we were met by Lemon (LU), Moro (LU), Archie (MSA), and a few of their foreign students. It was 2-3 foot swell, so long boarding was the way to go. While the longboarders caught one wave after the other, the shortboarders were paddling their asses off, going after the waves.

After an couple of hours, Lemon and the gang head for the shore then to the jeep to packup. While loading their boards, the swell jacks up to glassy 4-5 footers. Adlrix (LU), Jux (BGO) and I were paddling out when a clean set of 5 waves arrive. Shoot!

So we paddle out and, yes, the bigger waves were here to stay. It was like she (The Backyard) had known, the visitors now gone, she blessed us with clean left handers and an occasional right. She gave us a great time, glassy swells, with no one to share it with.

A few hours pass and we were all surfed out. Catching our last few rides Carl (BGO), Aldrix (LU) and I were just hanging at the line up sharing jokes in between sets, when we notice a jeep pulling up along the highway and unloading boards. Oh Shit. this was a bigger group, and we couldn't recognize anybody yet at that distance.

So, instead of heading to shore we decided to float around a bit and see who the new invaders were. I could only recognize one (Marcus) out of 8?9? So, being the territorial dominant males, the three of us, albeit surfed out, start catching waves again. We stayed at the center of the line up, right where the peak came up. If the sea had trees, I would've pissed on all of them just to make sure I had my scent here. Benj (BGO - out of retirement), who was already resting headed back out to mix it up as well.



This was one point that we loved, and called home. And we weren't going to give it up that easily. And, as if she heard us, the sea started getting choppy, the wind picked up, and the waves got worse. By this time I (lmao!) was drained, so I caught my last wave (it was greatly timed, it was a clean one, thanks Backyard...) and headed to shore. On my way back, I saw Vince (BGO) and Enzo (BGO) were heading out for some last rides as well.



The Backyard kept the chop up til, it was time to go home. It was a good session, and we drove up to Baguio tired but satisfied. Score update:

Home: 1
Visitors: 0

Corner Crocs

The following is a scam showing how desperate our traffic enforcers are getting, as experienced first hand by a few friends:

My friends were driving along Macapagal Highway and were headed to Pasay to drop his sister off at the bus station. They were on the right most lane and stopped on a red light at the intersection hoping to take a right turn to EDSA. As they waited for the green light, some police/traffic enforcers in olive green uniforms gave them the signal to proceed (right lane only to EDSA). So they took the right and headed down EDSA ext. A few meters before the Roxas Blvd-EDSA corner, a couple of traffic enforcers in blue uniforms stop them and accuse them of illegally turning right.

He asks for the drivers license and registration, while my friends argue that some enforcer signaled them to turn right. One of them got out of the car and looked back at the intersection and voila!, the guys in green were gone. So after a few minutes of arguing, the MMDA guy sees he isn't getting anywhere with these guys, he lets them go.

Later, my friends sister (already on the bus) was back in that area taking a u-turn to the northbound side. From the window she could see the green-garbed enforcers in the corner, then after the u-turn, she saw several cars stopped by the blue-flavored ones near Roxas Blvd.

So, if you want to apply for a job as a traffic enforcer, you'd better list down Creative Problem Solver as one of your strengths. I wonder what these guys will think of next.

Moss Green, Czech Beer and the first Swell of the Season

So what've I been upto lately?

Well I went up to Baguio to check on the mustang, it's been completely stripped and they're currently working on some rust holes. After this they'll start on the primer then coat it with Dark Moss Green Metallic. I can't wait.



I've been spending some weekends with old Baguio friends and hanging out and chatting over a few pitchers of dark, Czech beer. Yum!





I'll be back in Baguio this weekend, the swell forecast looks promising, the South swell is in. I hope it pushes through, this'll be the first session for this season.



Other than that, things have been routinary. It can get really boring, I think I'll shave my head just to change things up a bit. Or, do I grow in long again? Hmmm. What do you think? Leave a comment,