This should have been posted before Mother's Day. Hee-hee. However, I was so incredibly lazy the past week and always found reasons to delay everything. Anyway here's a quick rundown of the few days in Romblon:

the bridge challenge
We left Manila on Friday with Yen and her parents (Mama Diding and Papa Toto). We arrived in Odiongan early the next day (that was around 4am). We were supposed to stay in Bitaugan with Lola, but Mama Diding said we should stay in Bachawan instead, so we did. And anyway, I'm not one to refuse when we were given our own air-conditioned room there. After settling down and fixing our things, we were planning to go to Bitaugan to check out the youth campers there, but there wasn't an available vehicle and we were so sleepy and Mama Diding said we'd go snorkeling in Carmen in an hour or so. So I slept while Kate and Yen played cards on the other bed. We had a blast in Carmen, and it was like an episode of survivor (only for me, I think). To get to the sanctuary and beachside, we had to go through the bridge. It was pretty okay at first, because it was wood and wide, plus there are handles on both sides. Then it became bamboo, still with handles. Then narrower, with handles. Then handles only on the right side. Then no handles at all. Then the in-betweens became hollow, and you had to step on the side bamboo because the middle on might give in. It was like doing a balancing act and I couldn't do it. I shouted for Yen and she came back and helped me through. Gawd, I was sweating like crazy after that, and I was so nervous. But it was well worth it, the place was beautiful.


havana nights: dirty dancing in Bachawan
We stayed in San Agustin on the way back because Mama Diding had a meeting. That night, dinner was served in the hellipad, and we watched Dirty Dancing 2 after. We were all gushing about Diego Luna (Kate, Yen, Meg, Alecks, and I) and we danced after, trying to copy the moves. Man, we were awful haha. We had a grand time anyway.

The next day (Sunday), we went to the Paroyhog beach and had lunch there. We asked them to drop us off in Bitaugan on the way back, and we spent the night there. In Bitaugan, we visited old friends and everyone we knew (which is actually the whole of Bitaugan, except the ones who gave us up last elections haha).


We went to Calatrava on Monday, and we met a lot of relatives especially the balikbayans. That night, back in Bitaugan, we went to the fiesta and danced till the wee hors of the morning. We (Kate, Yen, and I) never got sleepy, so we bummed in the bridge with Bongbong, Buloy, and Bobet.

beauty queens in Romblon
We weren't able to sleep, so Monday and Tuesday was somehow blurred into one long day for me. Tuesday morning, Mommy, Daddy & company, together with the beauty queens and their entourage, arrived in Romblon, and we got into their jeepney when they passed by Bitaugan. Mama Diding, as San Agustin's mayor, invited them to promote her environmental projects. Tuesday was terribly hectic--- after breakfast, everyone got ready to go to San Agustin for the welcoming of the beauty queens. We went to the Long Beach after, which was great except for the fact that you had to go down 360 steps or so to get there (not counting the slanted walkways). Our knees were all jiggling when we reached the beach, but at least there were fruits and other snacks waiting for us there. There was one thing I did, however, which I will regret for the rest of my life: while everyone got back to Carmen by speedboat, I decided to take the steps back up with Meg and Alecks to the van. I'm not going to elaborate further on what happened to me, but all I can say is that I felt like I would die. I felt like I was just waiting for my legs to give out so I would simply roll down and perish. My vision was blurred when I reached the van. That's how bad it was.


That night, Mommy catered the dinner in baywalk, and it was beautiful. There were lots of colored flags, the place was lit with spotlights, and there was even a stage, where Daddy, Tito Jingle, and Tito Carlo performed. I sang too, but I was so nervous my voice was shaky. After dinner, they proceeded to the auditorium for the fashion show.


Wednesday, we packed our things and went to Paroyhog beach again, where we had lunch before heading off to Odiongan to go back to Manila (the beauty queens were also heading back to Manila with us). On the way to Odiongan, we stopped by Looc to buy seafood, and because of that (and partly because we left Paroyhog at around 2:30pm already and also partly because the driver was not familiar with this route), we arrived in Odiongan around 3 minutes before the ship left.


music
We were roaming around the ship that night (like we always do when we're there) and having dinner when we saw Aiza, one of the beauty queens. She was so friendly so we got along really well, and she started telling us stories of being a model (which is her main career; being a beauty queen is only a sideline). We told her about Kate's plan of being a designer and my dream of becoming a photographer/stylist, and she gladly gave out info on where we can go to hone our skills (and said she could refer us later hee-hee). We jammed all night--- Kate and I, Aiza, Roan, Ian, and Tito Carlo. It was so much fun, mainly because Ian knows a lot of good songs that we all know (except for Tito Carlo muahaha--- matanda na e).

It was so much fun, but we weren't able to buy things for our friends since there wasn't enough time. But I'll definitely be coming back, because Romblon will always be my second home :)