25 December 2007, Day 1

We finally pushed off at 3 AM. This came about when my mother who lives with me opted to stay over with an aunt who she was going with to a Christmas lunch in a cousins house. The original plan was to spend Christmas eve with her and drop her off at my aunts place on our way out of town which would have been around 6 AM. She has been operated on twice this year and had been found to have cancer so long trips are out for her atleast for the moment. Besides, the Suzuki is too small to fit the whole family plus her. She is under medication and she seems to be recuperating well but you never know with cancer. For this reason alone, we decided to spend Christmas and New Year in Manila rather than in our home in Bacolod. I hope to get a bigger car, a Ford Everest, next year so she can come along on trips when she is feeling much better and can stand the long drives. Anyway, KM 1 on my trip odometer was in the Shell gas station outside of BF Resort in Las Pinas where I filled up. The streets were empty considering the hour plus the fact that it was Christmas morning. I drove up towards Zapote, then down Coastal Road and Roxas Boulevard and turned into EDSA. In 15 minutes we were crossing Ayala. It was showering and streets were slick. After passing SM North somewhere in front of the big Iglesia ni Cristo church, a taxi comes out of u-turn slot and runs directly in front of a Fortuner we were following. Before I realized what had happened, the Fortuner hit the taxi by the rear right door and the taxi was spinning around in front of us. I jumped on my brakes and started sliding and managed barely to miss the Fortuner as I passed it on the left. We passed this surreal accident as the taxi was coming out of its spin. Freaky! I hope nobody was hurt seriously. Inaki swears that the airbags of the Fortuner did not deploy. Not a very good start for a trip. We were all pretty shaken by the incident so we took a pee-stop in the first gas station inside NLEX and I had a badly needed cigarette to calm my nerves. We exited NLEX by about 4:30 AM. The odometer read 35 KM upon entering NLEX and registered 115 upon exit.

We took the Dau exit and passed thru Bamban and entered Tarlac. I wanted to have some coffee in Starbucks but Luisita was still completely closed down at that hour. The rest of Tarlac went smoothly until about 5:30 AM when I noticed what appeared to be smoke drifting in the air outside. We had just entered Pangasinan when I noticed that visibility was getting worse and I realized that there was heavy fog all over. High beam would just make the light bounce all over the place so I put on my blinkers. There was also heavy condensation on the windshield. My windshield washer run out so we stopped in a gas station somewhere in Villasis and I bought a bottle of filtered water to fill my windshield washer. This went on for some time and we crossed the long bridge in Urdaneta with 2 to 3 meters of visibility. It was about 5:30 AM and the sun was still nowhere to be seen. It was really quite disconcerting and disorienting. We were passing Pozzorubio before we knew it and stopped for breakfast at about 6 AM in Sison before the fork to Baguio and La Union. The sun had finally started to rise and it burned the rest of the fog away. That was really eerie to say the least. I have never experienced anything like it in all my years of driving up and down that road. We pushed off after about an hour and made San Juan at around 8 AM.

Surf's Up in San Juan!

The San Juan Surf Resort was just starting to stir when we arrived. There were some locals still asleep on the tables and a number of foreigners having coffee and staring at the waves. As indicated by its name, the purpose of the resort was evident from all the surf boards neatly stacked around the beachfront of the resort. And the waves were what this place was all about. They varied from 1 meter to a good 3 meters depending on where they were cresting. I also noticed that they came in very close to each other. The resort is located at the far left end of a long and shallow cove. There are corals on the beach extending to the water in the immediate left of the resort. It was too early and rather cold so there were no surfers in the water yet but a number of people clad in designer Roxy and Rip Curl outfits were getting ready, limbering up or otherwise transfixed by the breakers as if hypnotized or otherwise contemplating which part of the beach to enter the water. I consider myself to be a beach person comfortable with the ocean and surfing, swimming and even scuba diving in it. This was definitely no place for a swim. I remember this stretch of beach when we lived in San Fernando in the 70’s and you wouldn’t find even the locals in the water. I don’t even remember seeing a banca then or in this trip. Anyway, the stop in San Juan was suggested by Nina who has been down here several times with her friends for surfing. We were hoping that the other 2 kids get into it as well.

Danger! No Swimming in San Juan.

Having arrived too early, we availed of a spare room and the girls went promptly to sleep. The room was located in the 2nd floor of 1 of the 5 or 6 structures of the resort. The room was small enough to fit 2 beds and a toilet. The room we had reserved was in the ground floor and had additional kitchen space, not that my wife intended to do any cooking. The resort seems to have grown in spurts with the other structures as afterthoughts to maximize the space. The original structures must have been on the beachfront where there is a restaurant cum front desk with an adjoining area with tables and chairs. There is an open-air loft with gym equipment. Beside this is a 2 storey structure with a surf shop on the ground and what would appear to be the owners residence on top. Immediately behind these and away from the beachfront are 3 or 4 cottages including a dormitory-type building. I discerned these to be the original structures because they all had the same architecture and design as well as nipa roofs. The remaining 3 structure are all concrete and 2 of these appeared to be condo units probably for long-term use. If I were to rate the resort, I would give it a 2 out of 5. I can’t speak for the food because we never ate there but it did not look too promising.

Beach view at San Juan, La Union

I must have had residual adrenaline from the drive because I was wide awake and all keyed up. Inaki was likewise awake so we decided to walk the beach towards Lingsat where our first house was when we lived there in the 70’s. I was well aware that Lingsat was inside the bay while San Juan was outside but I imagined that we would have to walk 4 to 6 coves for about 30 minutes one way to find the house. Unfortunately, this was shy by no less than 100%. About halfway and on the tip of the bay, we saw a large barge stuck on the reef not far from the beach. It was loaded with some sort of black colored ore. The waves were crashing onto its exposed side and sending cascades of water over it. The waves had obviously washed some of the ore away as it littered the beach and the shallow water and there were scores of people collecting them most likely to sell back to the owner. There was a makeshift Coast Guard detachment on the beach closest to the barge probably assigned there to guard it against looters.

Off to catch some waves in San Juan.

So after an hours walk, we found the house. It looked pretty much the same except for the sea wall which covered most of the ground floor. We saw a lot of wave action when we lived here. The sea wall used to be level to the ground floor and this was elevated already by about 2 meters above the beach. The problem was that the owner of the house built too close to the waterline with about 2 to 3 meters of actual beach left depending on the tide. During good weather, the water was as calm as a pond with hardly a ripple coming to shore. This was completely different during the monsoon when we would see wave tops looking out of our 2nd floor living room. In fact we had to evacuate on several occasions to the Lepanto guesthouse in Poro Point where we utlimately transferred to. Despite this, there were a lot of good memories from living here. The beach was very rocky but this made for excellent snorkeling and we spent a lot of hours exploring the surrounding reefs and seafloor. I was like living in a playground. I remember vividly one summer when I had some cousins visiting, as usually is the case when you have a beach home, and we decided to walk to Poro Point in the other side of the bay which was quite a distance past the town of San Fernando. After swimming and diving off the pier most of the afternoon, it was time head back home and the walk looked so far away. Applying the logic that a straight line is the shortest distance between 2 points, I came up with the grand plan to swim across the bay straight home. Now you have to realize that the bay of San Fernando is no small cove. Large ocean-going vessels come to dock here. You can imagine how it felt when we started to tire right in the middle of that body of water with the sun getting lower in the horizon. I was the eldest at 15 of the 6 or 7 kids in our small band merry boys and the realization of what I had gotten myself and these children into started to register in my care-free brain. I made light of the situation and kept on joking to keep everyone in good spirits. I saw a big ship coming in and remembered that sharks followed them in as they dumped their garbage before entering the bay to keep from paying to get this hauled in port. So swim we did until we got home and I proceeded to kick myself for being so stupid. Thank God nothing happened. During dinner that night the kids were talking about the adventure and my dad looked out the window towards Poro Point and then turned to look at me with an expression that spoke volumes. Anyway, this present stunt of walking from San Juan to Lingsat had to be repeated in the reverse and it was getting close to noon. I called for several stops to rest and cool off in the water but I was practically on all fours by the time we got back to the resort. I seem to still get myself into the same kind of predicaments at this age. When will I ever learn?

Joey and Miren in San Juan

Everyone was up and hungry so we decided to head into San Fernando for lunch. While waiting for the girls to get ready, Inaki and I were waiting by the beach. A sudden flurry of action caught our attention and 2 local surfers rushed to the water with their boards. We looked over and saw that 2 small girls had gone a bit too far in the water and were in trouble with the waves. The waves were not particularly that high but they came one after the other and this was overwhelming the children. The smaller of the 2 was also getting carried farther and farther away. The children were saved by the mercy of the Lord and the quick reaction of the 2 surfers and a sign was promptly posted on the beach declaring the danger and prohibiting swimmers. Any thoughts of swimming on our part were quickly dispelled. We had lunch at McDonalds, got some cash, loaded gas and bought some supplies for the trip to Pagudpud the following day. The day had caught up with me by the time we got back to the resort and I slept most of the afternoon. We drove to Poro Point after my nap to complete my nostalgic trip and had dinner in the resort next door and then it was TV and an early night for all of us.

Carlotta Family ready for dinner

Upon loading of gas in San Fernando in preparation for trip to Pagudpud, odometer reading was 355.4 kilometers which included Manila to San Juan plus 1.5 roundtrips from San Juan to San Fernando and 1 roundtrip from San Juan to Poro Point. Total gas reloaded was 37.2 liters. Mileage was 9.5 kilometers per liter. Not bad for a 5 and half year old, 2.5 liter, 6 cylinder, 4X4 SUV. Total expenses so far was P7,059 including actual gas consumption, resort, meals and some snacks, groceries and supplies.

Nina for Ray Ban

Apt reading for Timmy