Gala Galera

After a week of stress from work, I decided to go on a trip. There’s always something uplifting about going to another place. Whether it’s on another country or somewhere along the Philippines, it’s the same feeling that you get – a sense of satisfaction by exposing yourself to other cultures while making small discoveries for yourself along the way.

During my rest days last week, I went to Puerto Galera.  Immediately after our shift at 5:00am, we rode the first bus going to Batangas Pier (150 peso fare for a Wifi bus). By 7:00am we were already at the pier where we bought tickets for the boat ride (500 pesos Batangas-Puerto Galera roundtrip ticket) going to Mindoro Occidental.

 

Actually, it was my first time to ride a boat.  When my officemates told me that we’re going to ride a boat going there, I was ecstatic. I expected to ride like the “super ferry types” that Sharon Cuneta, literally and figuratively endorsed. It turns out that it looks like a big banca that we ride in Pampanga during the flood season.

My hope of riding the super ferry type was rather turned down. But again, it was still a pleasant boat ride, seeing the stunning islands covered with greens contrast with the eye-catching blue color of the water, while my hair is being caressed by the wind, my face hit by a gentle ray of sunlight. Da peeling, aylabet.

Puerto Galera is a good three-hour trip from Manila. Once we arrived, I can’t believe that I’m actually in Mindoro stepping on its sand and breathing its fresh air. Of course, after arriving the next sensible thing to do is find a good place to stay in for the night. We checked in at VM Beach Resort, which has the nearest access to the beach and a pocket friendly accommodation rate of 1000 pesos per day. The room is spacey for its price, it has two queen size beds, a CR, a small cable TV and an aircon unit. We changed our clothes ass soon a we fixed our things and afterwards, we looked around for somewhere to eat.

Food isn’t too cheap in the restaurants along the beach. A good meal with a fruit shake might cost you around 200 pesos. Although pricey, I must say that the taste didn’t disappoint. Galera has some great tasting fruit shakes too – smooth, refreshing, and flavorful. I personally liked the Choco-Peanut as well as the Banana-Mango shake.

That night we went out for a drink. My officemate recommended that we try out the “Mindoro Sling”, a rather sour concoction of citrus fruit juices and tequila (I think). The pink one is called “Southern Comfort” which truly lived up to its name since it hardly tasted of alcohol since it’s made of Bailey’s and strawberry flavorings. It looked more like a milkshake to me than a cocktail drink.  

The next day, we had breakfast in one of the restaurants along the beach. Everything looked so calm until some people started to offer us different activities. Boss, snorkeling? Boss, tara, island hopping? Boss, pasalubong? Boss, anklet? Boss, t-shirt? It’s really quite annoying since some people would just like to go and visit the place to find peace only to be faced with this subtle form of harassment. I really do hope that the management would do something about this. It’s rather simple, if we were up to some activities, we would be more than happy to approach them and ask about it if not, edi kebs lang.

After breakfast that day, we went off to explore the rest of the place, taking pictures and buying souvenirs at every opportunity we get.

We went home to Manila the next day. As soon as the bus arrived in Pasay, scenes of the beach and all the food came flashing back. I guess we’re back to reality now. The workweek will once again start tomorrow but one thing’s for sure: It was a rest day well spent for me.