Spending Holy week with the family is one of the most anticipated vacation schedule every year. Ours will be in Camarines Norte which by the way our kids first visit of the province. Just the thought of giving our children a taste of "probinsyano" life really excites me a lot. By the way, I did asked my mom to take care of our itinerary and budget.
Here we are in a bus to Paracale, a municipality of CamNorte.
It will take us about 8hours to get there so we stop by at Atimonan, Quezon around 2am in the morning.
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| Superlines Terminal in Atimonan, Quezon |
We arrived around 6 o'clock in the morning and checked in at Linobel Resort.
Just a few minutes after settling down we left the resort to fill our tummies and found a nearby "karinderia" which offers "nilagang baka" for breakfast!
Our first destination is Calaguas Island and to get there you have to ride a tricycle to a near wharf, secure a boat and pay the environmental fee (registration of names is also required)
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| Bakasyunistas! |
Travel from wharf to the island will take an hour and a half and even just before we took off, our kids were really excited with sand under their feet.
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| Hooray for today! |
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| Boat ride to Calaguas |
Just when we felt the travel was taking forever, we saw a glimpse of hope... a paradise just within our grasp.
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| Island approach |
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| White sand of Calaguas Island |
We rented a small hut and prep our lunch and they even offered free grilling services since they had fresh catch just before we arrived.
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| Lunch time |
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| Family pic |
Fortunately, we bump into one of the "good guys"... a small world after all!
Accommodation here was limited so we opted to do a day tour since we brought our kids. So around 4pm we headed back to Linobel Resort.
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| A well spent day in Calaguas |
Everyone was quite tired and decided to have late dinner but that was really a big mistake we've made. Commercial establishment here closes earlier than expected and since they are limited, it is a must to dine early. We've waited for more than an hour before our orders were served. Talk about testing our patience...
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| Resto Avenue |
A new day to celebrate life and our morning view was relaxing since the resort has an overview of the surrounding forest. We've decided to spend our morning just to check out another beach resort called "Pulang Daga". We asked townfolks how it got its name and they told us that it was a former mining area and there were times, during rain, that the water turns red due to mixture of minerals. We thought it's just "red rat". We will definitely be back here since we wanted to try their accommodation.
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| view atop the resort |
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| shoreline of pulang daga |
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| elevated "bahay kubo" accommodation |
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| shorline of pulang daga |
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| just a dip! |
Since we needed to be in Daet before lunch, we spent just more than an hour here before we went back to our hotel and along the way we found people doing penance which was natural during this season. While the rest of the gang was packing our bags, I've decided to enjoy just a bit the resort pool with our kids.
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| mini slide |
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| Ms. Independent |
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| say Wacky? |
We took off from Paracale just an hour before noon and arrived in Daet around 1pm. We checked in at Jocelle's Garden and Tourst Inn and left our things there. Everyone was really hungry so we went right away to a recommended restaurant by my mom... meet Graceland!
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| Jocelles' Garden & Tourist Inn |
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| value meal "Laing" is available |
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| the legendary "halo-halo" |
We ended the day by visiting Bagasbas beach, a well known surfing area in CamNorte, and then after went to a famous restaurant "Ksarap".
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| Bagasbas beach |
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| Ksarap facade |
On our last day in Daet another experience that our kids had was swimming on a well known river called "Mampurog". You'll have to ride a jeep for almost an hour and walk for 30min to get here. The place also offers view of the river atop a bridge.
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| a walk to remember |
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| Jollibee breakfast by the river |
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| "salbabida" moments |
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| view atop the bridge |
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| models |
We left the Inn and went to Superlines Daet bus terminal and had lunch there while waiting for our trip to Sta. Elena. The rest of the day was spent on land travel and rest, hoping we regain strength for the next morning.
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| Goodbye Daet |
We're again here in Sta. Elena where I grew up and had my "probinsyano" life. It's now time for my kids to discover there father's origin. We spent the day doing house choirs in the morning and exploring Sta Elena from noon until evening.
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| morning walk |
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| groupie |
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| Ella as "Poso" operator |
My visit in Sta. Elena will never be complete without a taste of young coconut from my mom's farm and our kids were having that same experience.
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| buko po kayo! |
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| got some ripe guava around the corner |
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| incidentally bump into one of my grand father's companion |
Our next destination was Imee Irene water falls and our means to get there was riding a tricycle and a few meters walk.
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| Ella back ride |
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| Lunch @ Imee Irene falls |
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| Cold shower |
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| Never missed family pic |
We went home early afternoon and rested a bit then went to visit my Grandmother. This will be my kids first meeting with there "lola sa tuhod" and it really brings me joy to know that although my Grandfather wasn't able see his legacy through me, we still have "lola" to celebrate God's goodness in our family.
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| excited much walk to Mama Luv |
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| Basti 1st kiss! |
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| 3 generation of De Leon |
Mama Love decided to treat us in a nearby restaurant that offers "Ginumis" and although I grew up here in Sta. Elena, ginumis is something new to me.
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| Ginumis for snack |
and because "walang forever", it's time for us to bid farewell to my old town. Early the next day we had our last family picture and went to Superlines bus terminal. Along the way we saw the place where I spent 3 yrs of primary schooling before we ended up in my mom's small seafood business store.
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| Thank you Mama for the accommodation |
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| Sta Elena Elementary School |
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| Mr. crabby patty |
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| Jeannette & Jewelyn Seafood Store |
We will definitely be back here...
