A certain weekend back home

Last weekend was a pretty special one as the girlfriend was finally visiting my beloved hometown of Orani. It was definitely a fun and memorable trip though the weather didn't exactly cooperate with some of our plans (like seeing up close the giant cross atop a mountain). Come to think of it, it did eventually, (which meant that the big, bright sun finally showed its big, bright self) but only when we were already waiting for a bus back to the big city. Ugh. Talk about poor timing.

But wet and windy weather aside, the 3D2N Bataan/Subic stay was certainly filled with a lot of firsts and as cheesy as it sounds, unforgettable moments. A flashback of these memories is in order and let me summarize it in the form of notes.

- The almost 3 hour trip to Orani wasn't the first bus ride the couple took (that honor goes to another 3-hour ride from Hagnaya Port to Cebu City). The distinction of this one though is that she now knows the route I take going to and from home. To take our minds off the friction between our butts and the bus seats, she came up with a cool game of alternating songs from our playlists: my left earpiece on hers while I had the right one plugged on mine and vice versa. While my phone blurted out generic pop-punk noise, hers introduced me to upbeat dance music with some head-banging and hand-waving on the side. *tugstugs*

- She finally stepped foot at our humble abode and was treated to a couple of pleasant memories:

• A nice late lunch of lechon manok, shrimps, pancit, and puto upon our arrival while Mom showed off her interrogation skillz; 
• The girlfriend trying to make friends with our two fierce watchdogs with me trying my best to divert her attention away from the growling, not-so-friendly furry creature; 
• The three of us (the best couple ever and a brother - rhymes!) cheering like mad men for the UP Pep Squad while bashing the uninspiring acts of other schools. That instilled a very Maroon-ish atmosphere in our living room;
• Which made me follow @superstamarian on Twitter;  
• Scrolled through old photo albums of mine and saw her just spazzing all over pictures of a hot, provincial highschool student (*coughcough*); 
• Stayed at our place for a night (in my room!) where everything just felt right seeing her sleepy look across mine.
• And finally, the Spam-loving, egg-worshiping girlfriend gets treated to what else? Spam and scrambled eggs for breakfast! Oh, and did I mention it also included Mom's Q&A specialty on the side?

- One of our destination for this trip was Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, a collection of relocated and rebuilt Spanish era houses. The trip from Orani to Las Casas (which took almost an hour and a half) was an adventure in itself, featuring a heavy downpour while Dad zipped through slippery, curved roads surrounded by greens, greens, and more greenish stuff. We also caught glimpses of the gigantic cross mentioned above though a thick fog and the continuous heavenly tears obstructed our view. By a lot.

Wet town plaza.

- A surprise beso by Mom to the girlfriend highlighted our arrival at the heritage resort. Mom then proceeded to give me a beso, too. I would later find out that while the beso-fest was going on, Dad, who was inside the car, remarked to my brother saying, "Akala mo naman sa abroad pupunta eh isang gabi lang naman mag-stay dito." Heh. Funny father is funny.
   

Where all the beso happened.

- Massive room is huuuuuge and spacious. I mean, seriously, the room can fit in 20 people at least. Both of us felt creeped out though knowing that these houses were originally built hundreds of years ago. You never know what transpired inside these walls back then.

Hello space. And more space.

- We joined a late-afternoon tour/stroll of the place with "Ron", our tour guide, leading the way. And "leading the way" here meant being 15-20 steps ahead of the tour group, a good distance away. Ron must be a very fast walker or he just wanted space. Or both.

- Because we are both perfect planners, we settled for leftover ensaymada and a bag of chips for dinner. Ugh. The reason? We became completely lost in the soft comfort of the bed and the world of dreams, completely unaware that the restaurant closes at around 10PM. Sleepyheads. This resulted to..

- ..an extra order of wheat bread, hot choco, bacon, and eggs for breakfast! This is on top of our set menu of tocino, longganisa, garlic rice, juice, and more eggs. The morning meal though was defined more by a deep, serious conversation about the state of the Filipino identity and how places like Las Casas are a one-sided show depicting only the lifestyle of our elite countrymen during the Spanish regime. And yes, we DID just have an intellectual discussion about Philippine history. Over breakfast. On vacation. On a lovely, secluded resort. Nerds.

And a photography lesson too!

(Off-topic: This gives me the perfect opportunity to point out the fact that I loooove how talks with the girlfriend can go FROM simply making funny cartoon sounds (niminiminimi!), drooling over the cuteness of huskies and polar bears, and deciding what bad-ass gamer names we should have TO the more serious tone of discussing the politics, economics, and history of this country. Geeky girl. And I love her for it.)

Breakfast dates forever with you. Eeeeh.

- A quick visit to Subic, which has become the usual shopping/dinner location for the family due to its proximity, was highlighted by yet again, more heavy rains. This did not deter us though from having a few bottles and nachos in our go-to BBQ spot and a windy, one-for-the-road pitstop in an open seaside bar featuring a live band and old women dancing with their DIs.

Noooms! Happy tummy. 

- Mirror shots were a common occurrence on this particular trip. This coming from a couple who was very familiar and skillful in taking selfies. /sarcasm

Too busy with mirror selfies.

Aaaaand another one!

- Back in the busy city, we lined up to buy the infamous J.CO donuts as pasalubong for the girlfriend's family back down south. I had tried J.CO donuts just once before and I didn't get the hype. Meh. The girlfriend wasn't impressed either. Synergy! And go araro cookies!

- On the taxi ride going to the airport, we watched this video by Petra Mahalimuyak about the different types of girls in a club. Funny video. And now I know what kind the girlfriend belongs to! *griiiins*

- We arrived quite early at the airport (not a miscalculation!) and ended up standing outside for a while. Unconsciously, I made a Mike Tyson-esque attack on her ears for a few seconds. In public. *bites*

- Foursquare check-ins have become a requirement in all of our trips. This one had its fair share of first's for her (Five Star Bus Terminal, Orani, Subic) and for us (Thank you for checking me in Las Casas!). Fun fact: Foursquare is our only connection to the social media universe during our travels.

Finally, let me finish with a lovely photo taken under an old UP logo planted on the wall of Casa Quiapo in Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar. Very nice weekend!

Sweet! #postUPcouple