As I have mentioned before, I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands, so apart from blogging, I started traveling (sort of). Let me share one of my recent escapades: my quick weekend getaway in Bataan.
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## Wonderful Mariveles
Mariveles, a town located at the southern tip of the Bataan peninsula in the island of Luzon and about 156 kilometers from capital city of Manila, has always been stereotyped as a psychiatric asylum, since this is the location of the Mariveles Mental Wellness and General Hospital. However, there is more to Mariveles.
This is where you can find Laki Beach, a beautiful cove surrounded by rock formations and cliffs, all while facing Mariveles Bay. This is where we camped for the weekend with three friends: two high school buddies, Ray and JM, and one newly-met friend, Erick.
Once we arrived at the beach, our tour organizer, Den, arranged our accommodation: tents under a coconut tree! We also asked her why the beach was named Laki. She explained that it was named Laki because of the big waves that frequent the beach (laki is the Tagalog word for huge).
We wasted no time and went on exploring Laki.
One interesting spot here in Laki Beach is this natural pool. It looks shallow but is actually very deep. We did not dare jump into it.
The beach has rock formations as well, which was visible when we arrived since the tide was low. It made the place very unique and not the typical sandy beach one would imagine.
Being the self-centered person that I am, I posed for a lot of pictures, such as this one! The trip was actually a mix of exploring and photoshoots, as my companions were also fond of having their pictures taken.
After our little excurision, Den went on to serve us our welcome meal: a "boodle" style lunch of fish, small crabs, mussels, shrimp, and veggies spread over java rice served on banana leaves. This is one of the best features of this tour for me: we did not have to think about where to get our food, since our tour package included meals, and boy it was a really good first meal.
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## Five Fingers
A one-hour boat ride from Laki Beach brought us to probably this town's most famous tourist spot: Five Fingers coves. This series of coves got its name because when you view it from above, it resembles a hand with its five fingers spread out.
The cove features a lot of rock formations and cliffs perfect for cliff diving.
I thought I am confident with dealing with elevated places, but after a challenging rock climb (challenging, because I did it for the first time) which brought me to a cliff 40 feet high, I can now say that I have agoraphobia. It's not so obvious in this photo, but I was shaking so bad. I just suck it up in order for me to have this photo taken, but my friends were so worried they constantly reminded me to just sit down and not look at the waters below.
But the view was heavenly. Truly a treasure.
My friends were crazy enough to jump from 40 feet. People were cheering them on from the boat below, and I just contented myself with taking videos of them jumping.
It's liberating for me to be able to travel like this. Before, I would consider a lot things before agreeing to join a trip. Life-changing events really do change one's perspectives and habits, hence my now trait of joining trips without thinking about consequences. As I always say, life is short, let's make it shorter.
Speaking of making life shorter...
My memory of this photo being taken is as blurry as the photo. Night came, and so the bottles came out as well. One bottle of whiskey, one bottle of tequila, and one huge bottle of Red Horse versus three drinkers (JM chose to sleep instead, as she is the next day's designated driver).
With copious amounts of alcohol consumed, I cannot seem to have a clear memory of that night. They said I was shouting all throughout the session; I cannot recall that. I can't even remember what we were talking about. My last clear memory was the taste of fried Spam that we had as "pulutan" (beer chow). The next one I remember is me waking up, half of my body outside the tent, with a terrible headache.
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## Little Batanes and Day 2 Shenanigans
Many tourists have described Mariveles as "Little Batanes" due to views comparable to the majestic sights in Batanes, a group of small islands and the northernmost province of the Philippines. It is one of the more expensive local tours here in the country, that's why many travelers are looking for alternatives.
Disregarding the worsening hangover we began our trek on the other side of Laki Beach, which has another good spot for cliff diving. A short hike brought us to this spot that has this spectacular view of Mariveles Bay.
My agoraphobia is still very evident, but I am more tougher that our day 1 hike, hence this pose where I was standing and facing the ravine.
One of the current trends in Philippine beach spots is the crystal kayak . The first one to feature this is in Boracay and eventually spread to different beaches, such as Panglao in Bohol and here in Mariveles. Of course, I did not miss the chance to try it out. The boatman will take you out in the sea and for fifteen minutes you get to do poses and the boatman will serve as your personal photographer as well.
I have tried the crystal kayak in Boracay before (I''ll do a separate post on that trip 😉 ) and I must say the boatmen in Boracay are much more experienced in taking photos and are even proactive enough in suggesting poses. I'll let the Mariveles boatman slide though, as he told me that they only had their kayaks for about a week.
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## Side Trip: Mt. Samat
The Mt. Samat National Shrine is a historical shrine located in Mt. Samat, a parasitic cone of Mt. Mariveles and located in the town of Pilar in Bataan. the shrine was constructed in memory of the Filipino and American soldiers who perished during the Battle of Bataan during World War II.
Bataan was the site of the last defense against the oncoming Japanese troops in 1942. This is where both Filipino and American troops retreated in order to regroup and plan their defense against Imperial Japan. Bataan eventually fell to the Japanese and thus began the historic Bataan Death March.
My friends decided to do this side trip since Ray and I haven't been here before, so we went to check it out on our way home.
Unfortunately, we could not go to the actual base of the cross as it was closed for repairs in preparation for the celebration of the Day of Valor, which would happen the following weekend, so we contented ourselves of taking pictures and checking out the museum.
The museum featured mementos and photos from the War, as well as a huge map of the Bataan peninsula that shows where most of the fighting happened. As a history buff, I was very interested in looking and reading the descriptions, but we only have limited time, so I was not able to thoroughly look at all of the displays.
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So ends my quick weekend getaway with friends. I hope I was able to give you some insights should you decide to come and check out the places I've been.
Till the next adventure!