Mixing Work With Leisure
Last May 21st, my groupmates and I traveled to the island of Guimaras to shoot our 15-minuter travelogue which was our last requirement for our CMS 125 class. I was really looking forward to it because after being stressed for, literally, the past two months, I had the chance to unwind despite the fact that we really went to the island for just a class requirement. Still, I thought I could squeeze in a few leisure time for myself. The timing was impeccable since it was the peak of the annual celebration of their Manggahan festival. I'll talk about the festival later on but first, let me start from the beginning...
Four of my groupmates and I were supposed to be meeting at the intersection in front of our school at Miagao, 5:30 in the morning last May 21st. Now, I'm usually never late when it comes to travelling and everything. The night before, we were all cramming for making revisions on our thesis proposal which was due that midnight. To cut the story short, I overslept and woke up at 6:06 AM. I was so pissed because I had set four alarms and none of which woke me up. Everybody was texting and calling and I was running around making sure I had brought everything I needed. I rushed to the city thinking that I was gonna be riding the pump boat on my own because all of my group mates would have arrived to the island already. Despite my lack of luck earlier during the day, I still caught up with them at the port. Yay for me! Ha! The line leading towards the port entrance was unbelievable. It had reached at least two blocks away from the gates.
The pump boat ride was pretty chill. It costs 14 pesos and it lasts for 15-20 minutes. We reached the island at around nine o'clock and we headed straight to the inn.
Our itinerary for that day was supposed to be; first, take some clips and shoot some lines at the plaza where the festival was taking place, second, head to Trappist, a place owned by monks, and our last stop was supposed to be at The Grillers restaurant where every, if not all, dishes had mangoes as an added ingredient. Guimaras is known for having the sweetest mangoes in the Philippines, fyi.
The statement 'It's so hot!' can't even describe the intensity of the heat during that day. In fact it's an understatement. The heat was so excruciating I don't even know how we survived being under the sun for more than eight hours at the time. Luckily, our two talents, Stan and Romeena, were both so game with everything that the sun did not seem to bother them that much.
When we arrived, the cultural dancing competition had just ended and almost everyone were eating their lunch at the kiosks serving all kinds of seafood, grilled chicken, and pork. We took some creative shots for our travelogue then proceeded at one of the kiosks and had our lunch as well. I wasn't feeling well and I wasn't very hungry so I decided to skip lunch. I wanted to walk around but decided against it because it was just too hot. Meh! So much for having leisure time, right?
After lunch, we headed straight to the agri-trade center. We shot a few scenes around the area. We even tried the famous Guimaras mangoes. Well, I can say that they weren't lying when they said they had the best mangoes in the country. It was sweet but not too sweet that you'd want to stop eating after your second go. Nope. It had just the right amount of sweetness that would have you craving for more. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking creative shots around the plaza and of course, taking selfies. Duh? Here's one particular group picture that I love so much.
We all look so haggard and stressed but we're like, "Oh, what the hell? Para sa grades. Para sa ekonomiya!" It wasn't a question if we were tired or not because we were! SO SO SOOOO TIRED! But we really wanted to do a good job with our travelogue. It was our last prod work together for the semester. We wanted to make it count. Especially since Marianne is graduating. Damn! I'm gonna miss her and her bitchessa digs. She's the girl wearing sunnies on the right.
Anyway, I was not able to take pictures during the whole festival but don't worry! You can watch our travelogue below and see what the island of Guimaras has to offer!
At around 4 PM, we went to Trappist monastery. It is called The Our Lady of the Philippines Abbey and it is the only Trappist monastery in the Philippines. At present, 35 monks are living in the monastery and it was founded since 1972. When we arrived, the souvenir shop was closed. We were supposed to shoot scenes inside the shop to feature their products but since it was closed, there was really nothing we could do. Just as we decided to leave, rain poured. It was the heaviest downpour we have experienced ever since the drought started. At that point, all I wanted was to go back to the inn, take a bath and just sleep my tiredness away. We had to wait for the rain to die down then we went straight to the inn. We had a few hours to ourselves before we had to go to the restaurant that we had to feature. Most of us fell asleep almost instantly. I guess the heat and the tiredness really did a number on us. Haha! I wasn't able to sleep so I just watched movies to kill time. An hour before leaving, I felt my tooth ache. Lemme tell you. When my tooth aches, I always feel like wanting to kill myself. I would choose death over toothaches in a minute! That's how much I hate having toothaches. I ended up staying in while they went to the restaurant to shoot the feature. I was so sad because I really did not want to miss out on anything during the trip and there I was, lying in bed watching the movie How To Be Single. How pathetic, Daph. My classmates were so sweet though. When they arrived, they brought me mango spaghetti and three slices of mango pizza. It tasted so good, especially the pizza! I wouldn't mind eating a whole pie all by myself. It was a good thing that my toothache had died down when they arrived. I was so hungry that I ate everything they brought me. I'm kinda bummed I was not able to try the bulalo with mangoes though. Perhaps if I visit Guimaras again, I'd get the chance to try 'em. But... Thank you for bringing me dindin, guys! Luffyew!
Most of us slept at nearly two in the morning. A couple of my classmates and I decided to have a drink before ending the night. I remember I was the last one to fall asleep. We had to wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning because Seth, our executive producer, had arranged a car service to bring us to Raymen's Beach Resort where we were shooting our island hopping segment. We arrived at the resort at around 8 AM. The whole island hopping experience was fun. It was my second time but I still had fun because the people I was with are some of the funniest people I have ever met. They always make me laugh and it's such a blast every time I'm with them.
Here are some our pictures during 3-hour island hopping
The whole trip was very tiring yet extremely fun mainly because of the great company, Despite the stress and everything else that went wrong, all the laughter and bonding time made it all worth it. I will surely miss this group of people. Yes. I will get to see them (except Marianne) again next semester but there's a big chance that we won't be in the same class anymore. The energy is just always great around them and I will just miss experiencing it.
Sepanx is such a bitch.
Anyway, as promised, here is our travelogue featuring the island of Guimaras, Philippines!
