Wanderlust

I am blessed to have born a child in the midst of summer. By default, her birthday celebrations are summer celebrations. Picture this. The sun and the sand, the wind and the water, the flowers abloom and every living thing seem to be at its finest green. When you live in a tropical country like I do, you enjoy a beautiful tapestry of colors, full and vivid because in the tropics, you have the best of both worlds, a blessing of being in the midst. There is rain when it is time to feed the greens, and there is a generous sun when it is time to harvest the grains; the summer and the rainy seasons. In between, is a friendly wind, to fly your childhood kite or sail your boat in a beautiful regatta.

One summer of her birthday, when she was about thirteen, worn and tired of the usual kiddie birthday mascot-filled treats, my daughter Pia must have felt the same wanderlust as I do. She wanted to have a summer celebration outdoors. And I immediately said yes without reservations. I was half hoping that she meant going out of town. She was also half hoping I understood that she meant to go on an exciting road trip.

What excites you when you go on vacation trips? Mine starts on the moment of conception. My daydreams and my night dreams are all filled with the many questions, more than answers. Is it not heart-beating, blood-pumping when you know not what awaits you? Though the destination is mapped and the reservation is all set, the travail is yet to be experienced, discovered and learned. For me, that sets the measure of enjoyment.

We were set to go the southern stretch past the city, and enjoy the world renowned pristine diving waters of Batangas. To some, my destination may not sound grand, but to me, it is. In my forty years of life in this corner of the world, I have never enjoyed so much out of town travels. I wonder up to this moment why my ultra-urbanite parents are so contented with the hustle and bustle of city life. My childhood memoirs are of house to house parties and of non-stop mall shopping. Their city-centric comfort zone even more triggered my yearnings to go out and see and experience the sun and wind and the water and who knows, there could even be a lot more.


My eyes glint in wonder, my heart beats in excitement as I listen to the many travel stories of friends and relations. But I can never have enough of those travel tales. So as I pack my family’s necessities in each bag, I knew the story has begun.

The scenery by the van window change from modern to rustic settings. From the long winding highways initially dotted with billboards, then gradually with trees and green and golden colored rice-fields I fix my polka dot bandanna in place, with a big grin on my face. I am on my way …on a road trip… to beautiful Anilao, in Batangas, where the water and many-a-sailboat awaits.

Travel imitates life. You know what you want, but you wouldn't exactly know what and how to go about it. You discover along the way. You learn the lesson. You enjoy each moment. And then you just go on. In circles. In full circle.

We arrived in the resort and find that it is swarmed with many people, noisy and agitated. Even more excited than we are. Lesson number one. It is alright to change course when you find that the circumstance doesn’t fit you at the moment it finds you. We decided to find another resort, maybe not as known a place as this one. But I am pretty sure we will find one. Three more resorts and I’m not about to lose hope ever. That’s what I am made of, anyway. Hope springs eternal. Hope floats. As long as we breathe, we don’t lose hope. In any religion spelled many ways, this is what you call Faith.


Faith is a blessing .Why not? Even before despair creeps in, lo and behold, we found this quiet, fabulous, exclusive place to set forth. Owned by a couple who, I realize, is driven in spirit more than money, we were welcomed like an old family friend. Treated like a royal, with only the best amenities. Realization number one. Blessed are those who wait and see and try.

A Sunset is like a poem, a masterpiece of art. Sunsets are always beautiful. It is the divine’s way of saying Goodnight and Sweet dreams. But here in Anilao, the sunset seems particularly beautiful in my eyes. Maybe because this is my first. Maybe because I am with my family. Or maybe it’s the place. I can have many maybes, I will never know for sure. All I know is that I have been given a gift .A wonderful gift of experience.

Like any gift, there is a surprise yet to be unraveled… I did not quite take it seriously what little knowledge I know of Anilao. That this place is a diving haven, but what do I know of diving? Right at this point in my life, I couldn't even swim. All that I do is make postcard poses by the water, in the beach, in my branded swimsuit. So when we took off for the water, I am surprised not seeing any shoreline nearest. You know, the usual sand spread along the beach line? Where is the sand to make sandcastles? Where do I spread my beach towel and park my beach parasol and get a sun tan? This cannot be! All I have here is a non-stop mass of boulder stones, slippery and mossy, I couldn’t even land my slippery feet without slipping off balance. The resort guy says they could rent us the diving gears if we forgot ours. What gears are we talking about other than my sunglasses and my goggles to spare my eyes from salty water? This is troubling my senses, though I tried to appear calm in the face of my daughters’ bewildered look. Calmly, I told the couple, I have yet to hone my diving skills and I am far from interested to do so right that moment. All I wanted is to be able celebrate my daughters’ birthday in a sandy beach.

Lesson number two. Say what you mean and mean what you say … Maybe our host-couple laughed at me. But the woman is particularly graceful not to show it, while the man, I must say, is particularly generous and charitable. They sought their privately owned sailboat and offered to bring us to a nearby place where I could have my sun and water and sand experience. Indeed, what a beautiful experience! We sailed in a boat that looks like a yacht, or so I realized. We sailed along with bigger yachts side by side ours. A regatta happening… Right before my eyes! I grabbed by polka dotted bandanna and waived at the suntanned women dressed in their summer best. Before my eyes I also saw this adventure called diving. Men and women in gray colored fish-like garbs called diving suits, jump from the boats, into the deep part of the blue water of Anilao. I looked to where they jumped off, and surprises after surprises, I realized how pristine clear the water is. I saw the divers merge with the cathedral of fishes in different shapes and sizes; I must admit I have never seen a sight as lovely as this.

Literally, from out and in the middle of the blue, suddenly there was an island. Our boat pulled away from the pack and headed towards the Island named Sombrero, according to our gracious hosts. I agree in amazement, because it really does look like a hat, a sombrero. I mumbled my thank yous, to them and to the spirits around and above me. By human measure, I am speechless, though in my mind, words of praise and awe are racing side by side.

Sand spread, as fine and as white as a grade-A sugar, I thought this must be a piece of heaven. The water is sparkling, white and clear. It seems that it has a life of its own; I must have heard the water breathing. Or was it my happy heart that I heard? There were about two more families there, I could guess they set tent and had their bonfire lit the night before. We frolicked like there was no evening coming, with the sun, the sand and the water, to fill my daughter’s birthday celebration and to mark my most memorable summer, by far. I lay down in the sand and worship the sun. I immersed myself in the beautiful waters of Anilao. My daughters climbed some big rock that formed like a mini-mountain and yelled and sang at the top of their voices. I forgot to click my camera and do my practiced poses. What the heck, I say; I cannot waste time in a moment like this. But my birthday girl found a way to capture all these. What I declared to be a waste of time is a time to be treasured after all. With her small camera, she clicked her way to pictures as proof of these happy moments. In fact, she caught the most beautiful scenes and vowed to start an affair with photography from thereon.

There was no cake with thirteen candles on it, for Pia to blow. There was no traditional spaghetti in each plate to fill our tummy. There were only sandwiches and sodas to get us by. But there was so much laughter and fun for the whole family. And as for my Realization? The whole tapestry is magical. I became a happy child somewhere in between the experience, but I am a mother, first and foremost, and the glee that I saw in their eyes is priceless and what I will call, Eternity.