Baler is a Beauty (even if photographed on an iphone, on an overcast day. sorry.)

View from Ermita Hill.  Obviously, my iphone didn't do it any justice.

 There have been numerous trips and travel opportunities that have not pushed through in my quarter-life-- trips that are so well-planned, detailed and dreamed on for days but then something happens and then one thing leads to another and then, the trip ended before it even started.  I believe this happens to most of us, and it doesn't even have to be out of town travel.  It could be simple trips or quick get-together with friends that goes awry after you have exhausted time (and sometimes money) to plan it out.  And then there are things that you don't plan for, things that are just of the moment and then it all falls into place.  Is careful planning a jinx in itself? But before I further discuss this and bore you to death, let me just say that our summer trips here at QLT for this year are rather unplanned and yet they turned out to be the most fun we've had.  But then again most of our trips are unplanned AND fun.  What am I even saying? Yeah this is just regular stuff.  I might actually bore you to death.

Or not.  Because we went to Baler.  You cannot be bored at Baler.  You just can't. 


Though we've been there before, as saplings wanting to learn to surf a little, we can't say no to a quick text from Istokewa surf tours asking P if we want to join another Baler surf trip (STILL as saplings wanting to surf a little). I mean, if you were stuck in a quicksand and Ryan Gosling appeared near that pool and offered you to grab his hand, wouldn't you take it? (Or if you're a guy, Miranda Kerr is applicable or whoever Victoria's Secret Angel or Sports Illustrated swimsuit hotness you can think of. Pfft...) In this analogy, the quicksand would be your proverbial "stress" and Ryan Gosling would be Baler.  It can be any other person of course but well, we are talking about Baler here and Baler, my good friends, is a beauty.

Bagasbas Beach: A Summer Surfing Diary

(Note: This is a much delayed post.  I've started writing it last May, 2012 and never actually gotten around to publishing it because I thought back then that it read like a chatty blabber.  Then reading it now, I realized it's not so bad-- kind of like a comprehensible diary, if you will.  Also there are no proper entries in the blogosphere about surfing in Bagasbas Beach so I thought I might do a little public service and tell about my amazing time there.  xo-- K)

April 29,2012-- After an overnight stay at Tinaga Island in Calaguas, we are headed back home to Manila but not until we dropped by and checked out the surf at Bagasbas, also in Camarines Norte.  I was actually a bit wary that the waters might be flat, as what is expected during summer.  Oh, before I go on, I am in no way a surfer-- professionally or even an inch near amateur, I suppose, but I love to surf once in a while (the long board kind) and get wiped out most of these times.  So maybe I am in no position to be saying that the water is flat blah, blah, blah but really, what fun is there in surfing on calm waters?  And is that still called surfing?  But before I consume you with my thoughts, I was quite happy to see as our van parked along the beach avenue, that the waves were there.  One local surfer the I got to talk to told me that the waves in Bagasbas never actually goes flat even during summer months wherein some other surf spots become calm.  I don't know if this is actually true but if I can compare with my trip to San Juan, La Union a week before, I would agree-- the waves in Bagasbas are much more surfable (there is actually no "surfable" word, I just made it up but you would agree it sounds right, no?).  I also noticed that the beach is alive: people are everywhere and you can just tell that energy is pulsating in the whole area.

Summer Inspiration: The Surfer Girl

Image via tumblr.com

On this entry for our "Summer Inspiration" series, we are turning the spot sunlight on the Surfer Girl.  Fearless yet fun-loving and ultimately cooler than anyone else, the Surfer Girl exudes a free-spirited vibe with a sunshine-y attitude in life. We can all learn a thing or two from these girls-- riding the waves can't be easy with surfing as is with real life but Surfer Girls know how to just enjoy the whole ride... and to  get back on board when you wipe-out sometimes. 

Surf trip to Baler

I badly need sunlight. And while I believe there is an app for that, nothing still beats the real feeling of the heat warming up your skin and the slight breeze of the ocean cooling you out at the same time. Alright I do not just miss the sun's heat, I miss it particularly in the beach.  Fine, I miss the beach and being able to surf the smaller, pretty waves that summer brings on the waters of Sabang Beach at Baler, Aurora.  Since I am on an honest streak here, I am also going to tell you that when I just said the word "pretty" to describe the waters at Baler by no means do I mean absolutely.  It is a surfer's paradise for a reason and that reason does not include my penchant for the smaller, boring, beach breaks to surf on (its the girl in me).  Surfers come out here most especially during September, October when the monsoon winds bring in the larger, testy waves that can only mean great for them and can just mean plain scary for any other non-surfing person or even to those less-experienced surfer-types (i.e. me).  So as a way to muster up my guts (and the skintight rashguard tells me I do have lots of those) in surfing on a non-summer day, I am going to tell the tales of what went on during a surfing trip I had with friends on last year's summer.