8 Surprises of Galera

At last, I was able to go to Puerto Galera, one of Philippines' popular beach getaways.

Puerto Galera is a municipality in the province of Oriental Mindoro. It is popular for having many nice beaches and beautiful diving spots plus the fact that it is near and very accessible from Metro Manila. From Metro Manila, you just take a bus going to the pier of Batangas province which will just take about 2 hours and from there you take a ferry going to Puerto Galera which will take about an hour. We chose to go to perhaps the most popular beach in Puerto Galera -- White beach, where they say is "where the happenings are".

This trip was an after effect of the Bohol trip. We cousins enjoyed it so much that we had to go do another pictorial, hence, we planned and organized this Puerto Galera escapade, in time also to celebrate cousin Aldrin's birthday on the 29th. But the fun thing about this organized trip is that the only thing certain was our room reservation in one of the lodges in White beach. So indeed this trip was full of unexpected surprises.

Surprise # 1 - Going from Manila to Batangas Pier

At around 4am on Saturday, we went to the bus station. There were no advance purchase of bus tickets since buses depart for Batangas every hour. When we arrived we saw many young backpacker people like us and yes, everyone seemed to be waiting for the next bus going to Batangas pier. By 7am we were at the pier as we targetted to be since the ferry trips start at 7am. I was taken aback by the number of people in the pier though. There were A LOT of people getting tickets to go to Puerto Galera. I have to emphasize that many "fixers" at the entrance to the pier will offer you boat rides, guaranteeing you a tempting immediate departure to White beach but be warned that these are not legitimate and officially registered in the Pier. So be very careful. Being most of us first timers and having too many people can be disorienting but thankfully we were able to get tickets to a legitimate ferry operator.

Surprise # 2 - The "ferry" going to White Beach?

We got tickets for the 8:10am departure but the boat was 1 hour late. There were around 50 people with us on queue waiting for our "ferry". By the word ferry, I had the notion of the usual ferry boat made of steel. But ferries going to White beach are actually wooden boats a little bigger than the usual native fishing boats in the Philippines. I am not normally a nervous person but I felt that I just had to ask one of the boat personnel if all of us would fit in the boat that seemed like could accomodate only 10 people. The boat personnel assured me that they do not overload boats and to our surprise, all 50 of us did fit in that seemingly petite fishing boat.

At least this "ferry" has a CR, hehehe (Comfort room is the common name in the Philippines for toilet)

Surprise # 3 - The splash! of our lives

The boat ride normally should take only an hour, right? But after an hour it seemed like we were still nowhere near the island of Mindoro. It was because the waves were big which made it difficult for our boat to traverse the waters. Cousin Jay and I were the (un)lucky passengers who sat at the perfect seats -- to get wet! After another half hour and with the big waves still splashing at our boat, I started to think what I would do in case the boat sinks. For your information, I do not like the idea of death by water, I would prefer to die from a plane crash than from drowning. Why? Because first, drowning is a slow death, and second, if I drown, my face and body will all be bloated, and that is not at all becoming, right? hehehe. =P

Anyways, finally after almost 2 hours, we saw hope when we had the glimpse of the promised shore of White beach. It is quite a promising sight to see a beach at the foot of a mountain.

Surprise # 4 - We're...er...everyone's here!

Finally, we docked on the shore but boy, I was not prepared to see sooooooo many people in the beach. Really, it was like there was one big fiesta. There would always be someone literally within your arm's reach. But I think that crowded state is just because we were there at the peakest peak of Philippines' summer this year (37 degrees celcius!) so everyone was going to the nearest beach. It was also noticeable that most of the people in White Beach are adolescents to young adults. Sexy girls paraded the beach in their bikinis with their boyfriends walking behind them. Suddenly, I felt so old, so unattached and so fat. =(

Surprise # 5 - Peak is a boo food prices

Yes, the food there was expensive (well, of course, for non-peso earning foreigners it would still be cheap). Food and drink sell more than double their standard retail price. But of course, that didn't stop us from enjoying grilled pork, chicken, hotdogs, taho, balut, and getting some dosage of alcohol. =P

Balut by the beachside =P

Surprise # 6 - The Mindoro sling that sings a lullaby
After lunch we decided to check out the merchandise sold around. At least the prices for these items are reasonable.

Lil sis then suggested we get a Mindoro sling. So we got one pitcher

Mindoro Sling = pineapple juice + tanduay rhum +orange juice + lime juice + cherry juice (i think) + sprite + apples + bamboo stirring rod

We went back to our room to drink it and an hour after, most of us, including yours truly, went to dreamland for a couple of hours. hehehe =P We were awakened by the arrival of my only bro and GF, Andrea, who followed since the only bro had an exam in the morning.

Surprise # 7 - Step aside Pussycat Dolls

White beach in the evening is even more alive than the day. The whole stretch of the beach was like transformed into one big bar. Music is playing in the different restaurant-bars fronting the beach. Another thing noticeable about the restaurants in White Beach is that there is always at least one ladyboy (if you know what I mean) waitressing who are friendly and who indeed cheered up the mood around. As people sat on the sand in groups, we were entertained and amused by the performance of two ladyboys in one bar who danced to the Pussycat Doll's Buttons song. Their performance was impressive I must say.

For that night I chose to stick with my Coke light. Being the eldest among us cousins who were there, I felt I had to act as Big sister so I left the drinking to my cousins. At midnight though, I felt the call of sleep so together with Ayeen and Len, we called it a night while lil sis, only bro, Andrea, Aldrin and Jay stayed on. I don't know what time they finished, all I know was that there was a bottle of tequila that night, hehehe...


Suprise # 8 - What's on the menu?

The following morning, the cousins decided to go for a quick swim in the beach. But I didn't feel like swimming so instead went to have some coffee (and a henna tattoo later, hehehe).

My cousins joined me later and then we decided to have brunch to make it in time for our ferry ride going back to Batangas pier. We checked out what to have...

Porkshop, anyone? Or how about Checken breast? =P

Finally, at midday, we took the ferry back to Batangas pier and fortunately, the boat ride was faster since the waters were relatively calm. By late afternoon, we were back in the Manila. The Galera surpises concludes (amazing how so many surprises can happen in an overnight trip) but the cousin escapades has just started. Where's next?

Luv ya cuzins! :o)