Pahtey on in Pinas.

In the middle of sacreligious sunday texting with friends, I got this message from Just:

"Ngayon lang nagsink-in saken... NAGBDAY AKO SA PILIPINAS! Thanks everyone for celebrating your friday night with me. Glad to be home with my special, special friends! Showbiz! :)"


And celebrate it, we did. Mae and Techie did a wonderful number on the Guevarra's driveway, courtesy of Anding's. Very fiesta-mode with matching not-so-chinese psychedelic lanterns. And the christmas lights made my shutter happy finger very itchy. I love great lighting! Hence, a lot of Kodak, well Niko's moment.


Equally festive was the food. Just's mom really made sure we were fed til we give up. And since Jose couldn't be found, we all had to settle for SanMig Lights and Grape-flavored Absolut Vodka. DIY mixes ito. And of course, Issi was there, nagdala pangdamay. The more, the smokier, the merrier.

Frothy. Yum.

Taob.

Dumadami na.

And the girls partied up, this time with a relatively impressive showing. Even Doctora Madz, who apparently was MIA for, count that, 6 years, came. Kumusta? Kung may anak ako, mag Grade 1 na sya, hindi pa nya kilala si Doctora. But still, she never changed a bit. Riot pa rin, and so was the rest of us.

Ivy. A Love Story. Classic!

May sweetness nangyayari dito. Ahlavit!

Happy birthday just! Masaya rin ang Pinas dito ka nag bday. Lalo na kami!

One, two, three, Cheers!

One Big Luck.

Who got seriously lucky yesterday, snatching up two premium Upper A tickets three hours before the hottest game in town? And yeah, did I say they were totally free?

That's right. Beb and I are damn lucky. The secret na ito.

It was one happy surprise. We were fine with watching the game in the television that afternoon, knowing the tickets are jacked up expensive and hard to come by. But during lunch with the Peralejos at Jr's Tita Mary Ann's place, his other aunt, Tita Gigi, casually asked if we wanted to watch it live because two of her tickets just freed up. Kumusta naman? Pinakain ka na, may libre pang tickets. I love Beb's family.

We were so unprepared that Beb needed to go back to his place to change his striped green and blue shirt. Pwede na, may pagkabalimbing nga lang. His mom had to beg him to change in fear of Jr, who's 5'11, being mobbed. I, on the other hand, had to get changed in Starbucks with the game day shirt Beb bought for me there in Araneta. School pride. Ahlavit.

Blue Eagles' sixth man.

Was the 300 peso shirt worth it? Hell yeah. The game was so close. Ang tagal tinawag ng final score grabe. The game can turn your nerves into ooze. But more than the players on the floor, as always, school spirit from both sides were on a high. One thing about ateneo-lasalle games is when you watch them live, you can actually watch the game with your eyes closed. You can tell what's happening just by from the cheers from the gallery. And it was crazy. Pang finals talaga ang dating. I was standing the whole game through. I screamed my lungs out for the entire time. I think today's lack of voice proves the point. Am so proud to be a part of Blue Eagles' sixth man. Sabi nga ng shirt ko, I bleed blue.

Sige na nga sa camera phone na lang. Damn, I miss Niko. Still, happiness!

Talk about lucky. Free lunch. Free tickets. Free shirt from Beb. And a nail-biting win from the boys from Katipunan. Panalo!

Derailed.

You have to be a very big Veronica Mars nut to catch my drift. Here goes today's moment of zen.

Mac: So, Pizneyland is the happiest place on Earth?
Veronica: Happy enough. There's no rollercoaster, but I think I can do without the adrenaline and nausea.

Washed Out.

Ten hours of not-so-comfortable sleep on a bus to somewhere up extreme north, three stopovers and a snoring, personal-space offending busmate and finally we arrived.


Eto ang probinsya. I don't know if the bus ride jogged my brain or because it's just too damn far that I kept thinking, "Tatanggapin ba yung pera natin dito?" only to catch myself and think, wait, Pilipinas pa rin kaya to. The town was charming. The rolling hills was enveloped by the endless mountain range and the occasional "Wow" escapes my mouth. I knew I was in for a very spectacular adventure. Looking back, "spectacular" is not going to even cut it.


After settling down our things at our lovely appointed room at Davidson hotel, which i fell in love with, by the way, we had our tapsi breakfast only to find out we have a good 10 minutes to prepare for what we came here for. The good 10 mintes lapsed and we found ourselves in a jeep loaded full of men, equipment, and more excited warm bodies headed to Chico River. After 2 and a half more hours on our behind, not to mention the 100 meter dash we had to do midway because the road eroded the day before (scary), and we're here. Upwhere Pasil and Chico River meets is where the real adventure begins. Class III Rapids? For three girls who's upper body strength was only reserved enough to lift those tequila shots, we sure are crazy to just decide on this trip the day before. But I guess there's no turning back now. Yeah, right, like we're really gonna turn back. Sakitan pala ng katawan ha? Bring it on.



Ok, here comes the million peso question: Bakit Chico River tawag sa kanya?

a. Dahil kulay Chico sya. (apparently not. It rained the day before. The soil eroded from the highlands hence the muddy color. Otherwise it would be a beautiful clear blue river. But still, given the all the browness, it still is beautiful.)
b. Dahil pag natikman mo sya, lasang Chico sya. (River. Tubig tabang. Walang lasa. Take it from me. Hahaha)
c. Dahil para syang Chico, maaligasgas/ sandy. (No. It's not. Believe me nga eh.)
d. Dahil mga amoy Chico (i.e. lasing) lang ang magtatangkang magpatihulog dito. (We're completely sober. Promise. Can't believe it myself.)


Got thrown off the raft twice. First time at Cheche's flip, named after Cheche Lazaro who also fell off that same rapid, second when our whole raft almost flipped and everybody but one got thrown off. Apperently, the rubber boat we're on, "Kalinga", was the river's "favorite", being the most veteran one among all of them rafts. Ay happening ang boat namin talaga.

Not having enough of it, along the part we're the current we're flowing strong without the rapids, we just jumped. In all those times I was stubborn enough to swim against the current, figuratively, there's something poetic about literally just going with the flow. So this is how it is to succumb to nature. Ang sarap. Parang langit.

The escapade ended with a buffet of brown rice, roast native chicken, fried eggplant, shrimp okoy and mixed veg in egg soup. If they had told us about the feast earlier, we would have seriously paddled harder.



Typical provincial calmness met us throughout the night. Nagpaiwan si Jose, but Issi made it for the roadtrip. More cherry and mint hookah, an ipod party, tons of laughter, and we were off to bed. Thank God we're sober coz we're Tugueguarao bound in the morning for an am bus trip back to manila. (which incidentally had its driver and conductor talking for 12 straight hours. Seriously, no awkward silence between those guys. Katorze to the next level. ).

Two days after, tons of self medicating and I still find myself sore in all the wrong places. Ang hindi kaya ng puso, idaan sa sakit ng katawan. Yun yawn.