Onward to Bulusan

After the banca ride, we asked Jun and company to drop us off at Casa Bianca, instead of back at the Butanding Center. We got to shore, and WE WUZ STARVED! Most of us skipped breakfast (wanting not to swim full, or afraid to spill our cookies in fear, just in case?) and we were so ready for lunch.

We had the leftovers of the night before, with the addition of sinangag cooked in gata (sooooo yummmmy), adobo, and kinunot which is pagi cooked in gata. I was sooo enjoying this tsunami of foods cooked in coconut (but my poor kids weren't!) Funny to be eating pagi when we were just swimming with the butanding....Nevertheless, masarap!

Soon it was time to pack up less than 24 hours after we got there, for we had to be on our way to Bulusan. But first, we had to go back to the Butanding Center to claim our pretty certificates, proof that we swam with the whale sharks; and to go souvenir shopping!

Back on the bus, it was time to attack the Castillo Family's Baon Backpack! It was filled with Sun Shots, Clover Chips, Jack & Jill V Cut Barbecue potato chips, and Nagaraya. All but the first are probably familiar to you. Thank you China, (or maybe not) for introducing my family to Sun Shots. For those of you still Sun Shots ignorant, see pic above. Can best be described as wheat crunch in cube size. As Angelica loves to say now: Open pack, Open Mouth, Pour! The twins have enjoyed Sun Shots baon for a few days now, and I have to sneak behind them to get a pack for myself as I steal one from their baon container. Now why can't Frito Lay sell these here?

Along the way, we do a lot of chatting or sleeping. It took about 3 hours to get from Donsol to Bulusan, possibly even longer than Mt. Isarog to Donsol. But it was picturesque country, lots of green coconut "forests" and rice fields. I was so enjoying the views of pastoral Bikol. We passed numerous town markets along the way that I would have loved to explore. Will do on a future trip where I promise myself no schedules to stick to, since I love to explore markets.

We pass by the coastline, what I believe is the Pacific Ocean. The coastine is rugged and beautiful, the water looked nice too, and it seemed like one could walk for over a mile and still have just ankle high water. One part of it reminded Gerry and I of Tulum, in Mexico. I remember passing by a beach called Rizal. At or near Bulusan, we stopped by a green house, in a beautiful, graceful old style, and it turns out to be the house of relatives surnamed Espena. His mom is Mama Ansing, a Guysayko, sister of Lolo ?, dad of Tita Medin and siblings (Aleli, pls ask your mom to check my facts and my names.) It was a chance to say hello, stretch legs, do a bathroom stop, and then lo and behold, the beautiful garden also had more treasures: coops (not sure what they are called) for fighting cocks, and a mini menagerie of chicks, and pigs! Of course all the kids, mostly city kids, had a blast, and thrilled that Tita Popsie knew how to hold a fighting cock, allowing them to pet it. Now Popsie's secret sabungera identity was out of the closet!

Before we knew it, here comes the mayor of Bulusan, Mr. Johnny, (what else?) Guysayko! Wow! Yet another Guysayko mayor of Bulusan!

A few minutes later, we come upon a large stone house on the right, with a white gate. From afar, I see a tall man in a pink Ralph Lauren polo shirt, khaki shorts, moccasins with no socks, waiting by the roadside, as if he knew we were coming (one can imagine that the cellphones started texting the minute we left the Espena home.) It can only be one person, no one else but the former mayor himself, Mr. Erwin Guysayko! I mistakenly think this home is his (I am the only one among the apos of Babing who has NEVER been to Bulusan until now so what did I know?) but is it Villa Celeste, our home for the next two days. (C'mon, why won't I think it's his home, his niece is named Celeste?) So we all deboard the buses, check the place out, then get back on again. Not five minutes later, we stop by Dancalan Beach Resort, which is apparently owned by the current mayor, Mr. Johnny G, who offers us some rooms at his resort, but we decide to all stay together at Villa Celeste, now nicknamed Villa La-La by Pops and China.

Finally, we get to the home of Tito Erwin. As we get to town, where the streets are narrower, and lined with houses, I see all windows staring at us, as our convoy goes by. I am sure that in a few minutes they will all know that "may bisita ang mga Guysayko".

TO BE CONTINUED.