The Stilts, Calatagan
My sentiments and my family’s exactly. We traveled south of Manila by the dozen. To enjoy nature and the company of one another.
Our first shelter once we got to the resort, wasn’t on water. The cabana’s name was Destiny. Apart from a three-bedroom with AC and three-baths, it had a porch with a hammock where one of us slept through the night, two sunbathing chairs, a parking space, another shed for dining. Overlooking the water directly, it had its own bamboo gazebo. But there’s more in that cove, they have mangroves! Natural assumption, they’ve got fresh seafood. And we were treated by mom to some seafood and grilled pork and chicken for her birthday dinner at the dining shed.
We woke up curious about the breakfast buffet. It was a long walk getting there. But worth it if we wanted to beat some of the guests to the pool and the poolside chairs. The long path was full of flowers. And we had a great time discovering that The Stilts woke up like nature on steroids.
Sure it was a long walk, but the entire place has you reading many stuff if you stop and read the writing on the wood (book excerpts by many authors are everywhere). Paulo Coelho as it turns out, actually loves his daily long walks.
While most of us stayed on the garden path, my aunt and I strayed and walked on the beach, inspecting the reddish coral debris and the multi-hued sigay shells. So much shells to look at, so little time. They kept on calling out to us to catch up or I don’t know, miss the breakfast buffet? We just enjoyed the beach walking barefoot, no one was running or playing about yet and it was so tranquil. I didn’t want to miss breakfast, at least not their coffee, which I was satisfied to find out was the Batangas barako brew sort.
While looking at seashells on the shoreline, we found the boat anchored and behind it, the cabanas on stilts. I have to admit to you, because they had AC, initially, they looked kinda stiff up there. Not relaxed as opposed to Destiny which was our cabana for the meantime because an entire troup had most of the stilted cabanas for a wedding event the previous day. The wedding entourage meant there would be a drone above us. Bummer. I hate the sound of drones and their unwelcome intrusion to one’s head space. Also they could knock you out if they fell.
Where was I? Breakfast buffet. It was a fair table spread. But I just wanted to post this photo of their Batangas barako brew and the yummy noodle dish lomi, because while in Batangas, these are basic in Batangas cuisine. I also scolded myself for immediately commenting that the flowers on the dining tables must be fake. Turns out I was so wrong. Anyway, the barako brew is a strong type, so I guess all that coffee energy got me tangled into the morning impromptu free rhumba course from my aunt right beside our table. Because they were playing fast music! Barako coffee or no barako coffee, I always have a hard time keeping up with her impromptu ballroom dance lessons.
The pool was right beside the buffet pavilion. Water’s nice, warm and truly bluer than blue. It made the white flowers beside the pool seem blue as well. This was where most of us spent the day and even when it was raining, we played Word Factory beside the pool, under the shade.
We eventually got our very own cabana on stilts, named Happiness, for the late afternoon till the next day. It also had a hammock, as it turned out. And three bathrooms. The family area was all white, the couch and pillows white as was the dining nook which had a slim couch tucked under a wooden dining table and a long bench on the opposite-where we continued our Word Factory game till close to midnight. The Stilts do not have television. We didn’t die without the TV fare.
Watching the sunset together was better than hoping for HD TV. It changed hues, all the colors of jewels right there on the stilts. Don’t change that channel!
So, if I had a quote I wanted written on one of those wooden readables, I’d write: “Life is still good whether you’re down or atop the stilts.” – O.V.
P.S. O.V. is my acronym, and it’s also what I watermarked my photos on this blog with.
onnahvalera 