Oh, boy, this is going to be long. 1300+ words long. You've been warned.
all my life i'd only seen beaches with black sand. never thought i'd see one with pink sand.
I live in a place near the sea. Sadly, this fact didn't help me learn how to swim (yes, I know! I should probably know how, but I'm scared!), but there are many beach resorts near home that I could've sworn I'd visited most of them already. These beaches all have black sands, though, and it had always been a dream of mine to one day visit a beach with white sands.
(Technically, there are a couple of beaches near home with white sand, too, but they're all too expensive and considered luxurious.)
Then my friends and I, on account of plane ticket sales, decided to fly some over 300 km away from Manila to visit a place I thought would remain a forever dream.
This photo was taken on my last morning in Subic Beach, Matnog, Sorsogon. It is an island on the southernmost point of the Luzon Island. I have honestly never heard of it before one of my friends mentioned it, but it is apparently known to be the island with pink sands. (The pink sand thing is, true, by the way!)
And I know I started this post talking about the sea, but that's going to be a story for another day.😅 We visited Subic Beach on our second day of the trip, and this post is going to be about my first-ever experience getting on an airplane... and riding an ATV. (What a ride, I say.)
take off vs landing: manila → legazpi
I always thought I wouldn't ever get to fly. The two times I was supposed to fly, both locally and internationally, got canceled. This particular trip almost didn't make it, too, because there was a super typhoon brewing in the northern part of the Philippines.
But the weather was clear that day (calm before the storm, more likely), so we went on.
The experience on air was neither exciting nor remarkable. I wasn't scared, too (I thought I would be). I was with three other friends and one of them, @debilogs, went ahead and participated in a game the flight crew initiated. She won an airline pouch and gave it to me as remembrance of my first ever flight. 😆
See that mountain just above the plane's wing on the right picture? I'm telling you now, you'll see it everywhere when you land in Legazpi. That mountain -- quite the famous one in the Philippines -- is the Mt. Mayon. It has a perfect cone shape and just really pretty when not hiding behind clouds.
The cousin of our friend, Z, went to fetch us and drove us to our target trips. It was a 3-day-trip, by the way, and Day 1 was reserved for the Cagsawa Ruins.
the rite of passage.
I think literally. We made a right turn, and poof, we're in this place here:
Z's cousin said tourists of the Albay province (where Legazpi is) should, in one way or another, try to drop by this place to take pictures. Just for the pictures. Yep, just for the pictures.
Mt. Mayon was pretty much visible in this shot. Of course, you'll see her in the next shots, too!
the cagsawa ruins
This will greet you every time you visit the Cagsawa Ruins in Daraga, Albay:
It is called "Ruins" for a reason: Originally built in 1587, the Cagsawa Church (yes, it used to be a church) was burned down by Dutch pirates in 1636. It was eventually rebuilt in the 1720s, but the eruption of Mt. Mayon in 1814 wiped out the Cagsawa town and the church with it.
Oh, wait, I never got to mention that Mt. Mayon is actually an active volcano... have I? 😬 Whoops.
Anyway, all that was left was these ruins of the church tower... and the majestic Mt. Mayon in the background.
This map shows just how much of an attraction the Cagsawa Ruins has created over the last couple of years. It has become a place surrounded by businesses, like ATV services, restaurants, and souvenir shops.
We planned to ride ATVs to tour around the foot of the volcano, anyway, but we were so hungry at that point that we first dropped by Cocoys Food Garden. The food was honestly so-so, but the view their spot offered was great!
Yep, a view of Mt. Mayon, still! Z and her cousin weren't kidding when they said that almost anywhere you go around Albay, Mt. Mayon will be there to look over you.
At this point, clouds were beginning to cover the tip of the volcano, and we were a little worried that it will begin raining. Well... it didn't.
i drove an ATV for the first time.
I don't ride motorcycles. The last time I rode a bike was when I was maybe ten. The last time I drove a car was two years ago, I think. And riding an ATV, much less driving it? I was not prepared.
There was a quick tutorial on how to drive it, and if I were being cocky, I'd say it felt like riding one of those kiddie battery-driven cars. The one where you're pressing on something so it moves.
But I'm tiny. My hands are tiny. My fingers could barely reach and wrap around the handlebars. Worse yet: the terrain.
Oh, God.
We had to cross all these rocky terrains and shallow waters. I barely managed to take in and breathe in the surroundings, because I was busy surviving. 😂 My thumbs hurt so bad (from pressing the accelerator and brakes), they remained sore three weeks later.
But it was so pretty, and the adventure itself was fun. Our guides were funny and supportive, too! They even took all our photos, including the one above. That's me, by the way. This one was a little directed -- our guides asked to accelerate a little more in this area just for that splash effect. 🤣 To be fair, I'd probably get stuck in the middle had I not accelerated.
I realized this isn't for the faint of heart.
(I texted my big sister @arrliinn and friend @travelingmercies about this experience, and they had the same annoying response. Something along the lines of "You? ATV?" and "You just depleted a year's worth of your workout and social battery.")
flowers and spicy ice cream.
At some point during the ATV tour, we passed by a field of pretty, purple flowers. Our friend, G, said, "Aw, they're so pretty. I'd want them in my wedding when I get married."
We just wanted to get a bit closer and check it out, but our guides -- to our horror surprise -- went ahead and got each of us a flower. Imagine 4 ATVs passing by in a line with purple flowers hanging on our handlebars. I'd think it would be quite the sight. 😅
We were so tired, so famished, but were pretty sure our body wouldn't be able to accept more food except water. So we rested somewhere around the ruins, bought water, until we saw something that definitely piqued our interest.
Chili ice cream. Yeah, spicy ones. And when I said spicy, it literally means that. Just cold, with a bit of flavor.
I love spicy food, but I don't think spicy ice cream is it for me. 😌
a tiring, but fulfilling day 1 of the trip.
Soon, we drove off. Our next itinerary was the Mirisbiris Garden, nearly 50 minutes of drive away from the Cagsawa Ruins. But Mirisbiris deserves a post, a story, of its own, so I'll reserve that for next time.
On our way, we stopped by this place.
The waves weren't so calm, and the winds were strong -- a 100% indication that the typhoon up north was more than just brewing. But at that moment, we relaxed and just talked. And wondered when we'd get back.
Some time later, we arrived at Mirisbiris. We hiked despite our initial exhaustion to watch the sun set behind Mt. Mayon. And as earlier mentioned, that is another story to tell.
