Dumaguete Trip 2011: My Birthday!

Hey hey hey, finally making my post about my trip to Dumaguete last week. A quick background, my cousin Diwa and I have been planning this trip since last year so we decided to book our tickets to Dumaguete last December so that the seats wouldn't be that expensive ;) We spent my birthday weekend there, and I am so happy about it. This travel entry will be a bit different, as I'll be starting from the last day (well, second to the last since we didn't take any pictures on our last day because our flight to Manila was so early). Why? Because I want to share with you guys how special my birthday was this year :)

For 2011, I decided to spend my birthday with the girls of Casa Esperanza. Casa Esperanza is a shelter for abused women and children (all girls) in Dumaguete--mostly from the remote areas. Apologies if you can't see their faces clearly as I had to blur their eyes for security reasons.

the Casa Esperanza girls during their activity

I brought cake and goodies for the girls :) Diwa and I also met my aunt's YATTA girls. YATTA is my aunt's youth theatre group in Dumaguete. Her YATTA girls were the ones who conducted the fun activities for the Casa Esperanza girls. Kudos to these young ladies!

I was fighting back tears in this shot. The girls suddenly sang happy birthday to me. They even offered a prayer for me, so touched. Truly truly blessed to have met these girls and to have seen how much they're really trying to recover from the unimaginable things they've gone through. You wouldn't think that they've experienced so much, especially when you see them laugh and smile.

I've decided to try helping out Casa Esperanza since the shelter's not getting much from the city. I asked my aunt to send me the list of housekeeping items the shelter needs so that I'll send a box every month or every other month. Not a lot, but it's my way of giving back. We have so much and we often don't realize that there are so many people out there who need our help, most of them not so far from where we are.

April 11, 2011 truly was a happy birthday for me :)

An English Tea Party in Manila

To make my birthday memorable not just for me but also for my closest girlfriends, I decided to host an English Tea Party for my 23rd bash. Honestly, I've never had a birthday party since my 18th. My birthday oftentimes conveniently falls on Holy Week so I can't really have a party during that time, can I? Anyway, I had the tea party a week after my birthday since I was at Sagada on my birthday weekend. I asked my friend Gab to design my invitations. Can I just say, she did a great job! Thanks again, dear!

Back to the party--I asked Portia, the owner/chef of Isabelo Garden Restaurant, if she could accommodate the tea party on an afternoon. Isabelo's open just for dinner so of course I had to ask permission. I couldn't think of a better place to have my tea party than in Isabelo. It's quaint, quiet, and the food's great as well. I love it that Portia customized the menu for my tea party since her current menu doesn't really have food for that kind of a celebration. She really sat me down and asked what I wanted, how I envisioned the place to look like, if I wanted flowers on the table, etc. This is why I love Isabelo--the service is great and Portia really takes the time to get to know her clients. That's why I'm a loyal customer of Isabelo...which reminds me, I have to take some of my girlfriends there soon!

Going back (again), I had a fun time hosting my English Tea Birthday Party. The food was good, my girlfriends were all dressed for the occasion, great conversations--what more could I have asked for? The party even extended until 9 in the evening! What can I say... I am a very content, happy 23 yr old lady :)

just...lazy

Hallooo everyone, I'm still not quite up to writing all my backlog entries because I'm lazy like that--haha! Please understand, this is a process. I can't just spew out articles like invectives to ___ (which can come out quite easily). But I do hope that this weekend will prove to be inspiring/motivating so that I can finally post those entries. What I'll do now is share with you guys a few pictures from my Holy Week weekend in Bukidnon, my English Tea Birthday Party, and my recent Pahiyas Festival day trip. Enjoy!

HOLY WEEK 2010, BUKIDNON

MY ENGLISH TEA BIRTHDAY PARTY

PAHIYAS FESTIVAL 2010

Best Birthday...so far :) Day 2

Finally posting about Day 2 of my Sagada trip. As I mentioned in my previous entry, I sprained my ankle while inside the Lumiang Cave. Stupid accident, really. It would've been more understandable if I sprained it while spelunking or while going down into the deep holes in the cave. But no! I stepped on an unstable rock and ended up breaking my fall and twisting my right ankle. Hurt like hell, good thing the guides were quick to respond and twisted it back in place and bandaged it. So basically, what we did on the second day was spend the entire morning until mid-afternoon INSIDE the cave no thanks to human traffic. It was a long holiday weekend so there were really a lot of people in Sagada. It was okay, considering there were just a few tour groups that actually did the difficult cave connection. Can't help but be proud :)

Basically, I'll be posting pictures of our trek to the cave, inside the cave, and my birthday "salubong", which is sort a party/get-together to wait for one's birthday and everyone will just shout "Happy Birthday!" at the strike of 12, although we weren't able to make it. We were all just so tired we drank a bit and decided to sleep...at 11:30!

I have more group pictures on the third day so watch out for that :) And lots of food pictures from that day as well, haha!

Our jeep

Coffins in the cave...the locals believe that people can choose where they are to be buried. Usually, women who've died giving birth are buried in caves' entrances. I forgot the complete explanation..

On our way to Lumiang Cave's entrance...

At the cave's entrance

Our group's "before" picture. We were still all clean and guano-free.

The coffins up-close

This is it! We're starting our spelunking deep into the cave

I have no idea where we were in this part of the cave, but I think we were already about...umm...less than 1/4 of the way. Haha! Keep in mind we were inside the cave for 6 1/2 hours!

Group shot again

We were in the "dance hall" of the cave. It's a huge flat area overlooking this deep drop (scary, I tell you!). But we could also see the bats above us. The cave's ceiling was so high and we could only see the bats' shadows from our flashlights. And we could hear them, so creepy.

After I tripped. Aaargh! And this happened before our 30 ft. rappel down. Bad timing.

...so instead of tying a rope around me and harnessing me down, the guide had a better idea. He carried me on his back and he rappelled down with me. Hahaha! I was so scared because if I accidentally let go, I'd either be dead or I would've suffered even more serious injuries. I think I almost choked him with how tight I was holding on, hahaha! And yes, someone was kind enough to take this very dignified picture of me, hahaha!

Although my ankle was really killing me, I tried to smile for the camera

For my birthday "salubong". Our travel consultant bought a bit of booze and snacks. Alas, we lasted only until 11:30 and had to go to sleep.

Tired, a bit buzzed, but I was very, very, very happy :)

Day 3 will be posted soon (hopefully). I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!