Whacky Adventures*: Bicol Express Day 3: One lazy afternoon in Caramoan

April 27, 2012. 12:45++ PM.

Caramoan Peninsula
...

Still strung up from the ~~killer~~ boat ride and hankering for decent food, we decided to postpone our island visit to Caramoan group of islands the next day. Besides, Mr Sun was too befuddled that he rarely come out to say hello. There were drizzles here and there.

So what did we do on that fine and lazy afternoon in Caramoan?

Lunch at Lutong Bahay

A 5-minute pedicab or tricycle ride from West Pen Villas, Lutong Bahay serves Filipino home-cooked meals. They serve regular Filipino dishes but has a Bicolano twist to it. There were no fastfood joints which you normally see in the city. This is the fastest fastfood you can get. It's not 5-star kind but it's worth every penny. The price range for each dish is about 40-70 pesos. The pictures will speak for themselves.

caught in the act.

evidence. bow.

Long walk along Centro

Centro is where the bustle is in the peninsula and where establishments connecting you to the outside world is situated. ATMs, Dry markets, Cellphone loading stations are among the establishments available. With a scope of ice cream on hand, we took a stroll and feasted our senses with how locals go about their day. Breathe in the calmness amidst the chaos off of market transactions while licking on slow melting ice cream. [Oops. Dirty-minded barred!] It wasn't like the city, of course. Their streets are has minimal clatter and the air doesn't smell like burnt gas. People are friendly and wouldn't hesitate to answer your queries if in case you got lost.

playground [slash] washing area

A candle and a wish at Parish Church of St. Michael the Archangel

It's an old belief that if it's your first time visiting a church, the angels grants you 1 wish. I don't know how to true it is but when I asked for a bright sun-shiny weather the next day, it came true. :] Founded by Franciscan Missionaries on early 1600, the reddish-brick-made church stands firm hiding on its pocket a hundred years worth of history. It has a well-stretched out and well-maintained lawn ready to accommodate your tired bums. The church is just along the way back to West Pen so we didn't wasted time having a courtesy call with Daddy Jess.

Parish Church of St. Michael the Archangel

Bring a piece of your Caramoan trip home.

We passed by a shop with a very catchy lour for tourist - the sea turtle. We stopped and decided to go window shopping as souvenirs are not yet part of our budget. I thought I wouldn't find anything that'd connect to me but boy, was I wrong. The store has a wide array of goodies and stuff that window shopping was no longer an option. I'm specially fond of sea turtles and it so happened that the store was full of it. You could imagine how big my eyes turned out when I saw the pieces. We were like kids on a candy store. We couldn't stop blabbering about the excitement and it was all in Cebuano! It just so happened that the co-owner, Ms Daisy of Island Wonders, was a Cebuano too! Imagine how relieved we were to finally talk in my home dialect. She nice enough to walk us through some Bicolano words. They even gave us discounts from all the turtles and stuff we bought. To finish it off, Ms Daisy helped us out with our return flight home, as her husband works at AirPhil. She was kind enough to arrange and remind us of our flight schedule.

the new endorsers with Manager, Ate Daisy.

Lazy pazy afternoon at West Pen Villas.

After our walk, we decided to spend the whole afternoon at the resort. Fruit shake+Pool+Sun+Food+music=bliss. It was nice to finally get away from all that corporate stress for a while. Ahhh..vacation mode.

Goto or some Caramoan street food overload

As if the lunch at Lutong Bahay wasn't heavy, we decided to gubble up some light chow after our swim. Goto [porridge] was the perfect remedy for the riot happening in our stomach. We weren't that hungry so we thought it'd be fun to get some appetizer first to get the tummy grinder going. Enkkk! I was wrong, again. Each one of us ordered a different flavor so we can get a taste of each. De-liiiii-cious!

The goto proved to be heavy in the tummy so for dinner, we decided to just get a quick bite at a stall for some streetfood - isaw, or Filipino street barbeque. In Cebu, street barbeque is best coupled with poso or hanging rice. I forgot that they don't have poso in Bicol. Learned it the hard way. Tsk.