Sun-kissed at Potipot Island

Sometime last February my friend jtt was raving about a nice beach in Zambales. That's why this lenten week it was no surprise that she suggested that we spend the weekend there. Cat and I slept at jtt's new and uber nice house so that we could embark early for the long drive to Zambales. Jtt woke me up around 3am and I immediately took a very quick shower (30 minutes tops) then Cat and jtt took turns to the bathroom and we were on the road around 4am. It was quite a thrill to drive around the metropolis in the wee hours of the lenten weekend morning. There is hardly a vehicle but the car we are in.

The NLEX is really great because our ride the whole length up to our exit in Pampanga was very smooth. However, around 7am or 3 hours on the road we can already feel our stomach grumbling. Unfortunately we cannot find any open establishment and around 8am we are already at the part of our trip too far to have any fastfood joint. So it was such a delight for all of us three to see a signboard that reads Jollibee 5 KM ahead, we followed and waited for each signboard like crazy every kilometer. We cannot contain our delight that Jollibee have reached Iba, Zambales. We were like a bunch of kids drooling and jumping for joy by the mere sight of the Jollibee mascot. We all had a very heavy Jollibee breakfast inside the car...thank God for drive-thrus. Another hour or so we finally reached our destination and based on the map that we are using we are just one town away from Pangasinan.

We checked-in at the resort hotel and immediately booked a banca ride to Potipot Island. The banca ride was only 4 minutes long. From afar you can already see that the island is teeming with people. My friend jtt was a bit disappointed because when she went to the island last February they had the place all by themselves. I have to admit there was quite a lot of people in the tiny island but the sand and clear water more than compensate for the human density. We immediately took a plunge in the sea and worshipped the sun like there is no tomorrow. I even decided not to have any sunblock except at my shoulder because I would like to have some color.... jtt teased me no end that she haven't seen somebody as pale as me. It was already 10am when we reached the island and the sun is shining ever so brightly. Around 11 am we noticed that only the three of us are still basking under the sun. Most of the people are either preparing their lunch or hiding from the intense heat of the sun.

The three of us enjoyed the the sand and the sea until around 5pm then we boarded our banca back to the "mainland". The only food we have are chips, cookies, and candies hence we were starving by the time we reached our room. We immediately took a shower and headed to the resort's dining hall. The food and their prices are very similar to what you would normally have at a university canteen which I find quite odd. Anyway it was great because I am vacationing on a very tight budget and I can't have anything expensive. We spent the night playing the board game UPWORDS which is very similar to scrabble. After two rounds we all decided to call it a night. It was such a huge comfort to sleep in a comfy bed and air-conditioned room after a long day spent on the road and basking under the sunny sunshine.

Around 6am next day we are already awake and all made a quick dash to the bathroom. We had a quick breakfast of tapsilog and immediately hired a banca that would take us back to the island. Around 7:30am we are once again frolicking at the beach, this time though there's almost no other people at the island. Most of the holiday vacationers probably decided to head back to the metropolis early morning of Easter Sunday. We enjoyed the serenity of the island and it was beautiful as I have imagined it to be when jtt told us about the place. The place is perfect if you want to get out of the noise and dizzying pace of life in Manila even just for a day. We stayed on the island until 11am then headed back to the hotel resort. We had our shower and then lunch and around 12:30 pm we are back on the road towards Manila. We made quick stop in Subic and shopped at the duty free... the goods were very cheap! You can really appreciate the strength of the Peso against the mighty US dollar in places like these. After almost 7 hours of traffic and detours I finally reached home sweet home.