Paete, Laguna Trip

Last July 24-25, me, jonas, watcher, ruther, asther and robin went to Asther’s place in Paete, Laguna because it was their hometown fiesta. At first, I was hesitant to go with them thinking that I will not be available that day and I also want Jonas to tag along with us. The day before we go, I texted him if he’s not busy and if he wants to go with us. And without a second thought, he agreed to join.

We left the bus station in Cubao at 3.12 in the afternoon. It was a quite long trip. While on the way, I enjoyed myself looking on the sideroads for cars and endless sky. When we got to the countryside I can’t help but sigh because one of the things I want while travelling is seeing farms, trees and farmhouses. It so nice being out of the city. If we were not riding an aircon bus, I will inhale the smell of the province. I just love it.

We arrive at Paete around 7.00pm. We were immediately greeted with Ar’s relatives and her mom already prepared dinner for us. And since we were all starving, after putting our bag down, we immediately gather at the dining table and enjoyed the sumptous meal. And as far as I can remember there were food like Chicken Adobo (which is my ultimate favorite), inihaw na tilapya, and dinuguan.

We also went to the Fair after dinner and played some games though we kept on losing, we still had fun. When we got back to Asther’s house, Ar came out with a Bar Vodka and Jonas brought a card. So we played cards all night while listening to our phone’s mp3. At first, i was just looking at them while they played ‘tong-its’ but afterwards, they already teach me how to play it as well. Im too proud to say, that the next time they play it, I will be part of the players as well. We slept at around 1am.

After like 4 hours of sleeping, we got up early because we will trek the mountain. Asther’s mom again prepared food for us to bring. We had cooked rice, tocino and salted eggs. We were all excited because we want to trek the mountain and it will surely be an adventure. As for me, I was silently praying that I can do it since it will be my first time to do hiking. At first, I thought it was easy but as we ascend, the path going to the top gets a little difficult. It was really tiring but whenever i see trees and hear the sound of the streams nearby our tiredness is dissolves.

Finally, after like an hour of walking we reach the top of the mountain and we were able to reach the ‘THREE CROSS’ and the view there is spectacular. We can see Laguna de bay there and the rest of Asther’s hometown below, and we also took lots of pictures and videos courtesy of Ruther’s digicam and Watcher’s phone.

Then after that, we trek again going to Asther’s uncle hut nearby, oops it’s not really near because it was like another hour of walking but no more climbing this time. When we reach the place we prepared our breakfast and again ate. It was awesome it was my first time to eat in banana leaf using barehands and drinking buko juice afterwards. It waslike back to nature. And after that, we took a bath to the nearby brook. It was so small but it was fun when we drenched ourselves there.

Going back to the town is much easier. Though,we should be careful because the pathway is steeper. And we did it! We were able to go back to Asther’s place tired and happy. After lunch time, resting and taking our bath me, jonas and watcher already prepared to leave since watcher and i still have work the following day and jonas still have to catch with his college friends invites to go to a concert.

That experience was awesome. I just love it. Maybe next time,we can still go back. Thanks much to Ar for inviting us.Ü