Bolinao, Baby!

I have not seen my hometown, Bolinao, in a couple of years. I spent some really good years there; back in high school, the place had a pristine aura to it.

People are generally nice and they go out of their way to help you, the beaches are wicked unspoiled and downright beautiful, and at any given point, you could watch a beauty pageant involving a contestant who would - and this was her talent number - bite off parts of a chicken, feather and all.

That is the place I remember, and those memories are good.

Enter 2008. The place itself has not changed much. The buildings in town were as dilapidated as ever, the beaches were as picture perfect as they had ever been, and an antediluvian feel to the place still resonated. There were facilities that improved here and there, but overall, you’d get the feeling looking at the place that you’d kept it in a time capsule; you can visit any time and it’d still be there to greet you, a haven no one can take away.

But then you’d hear the bus operator say “Wake up, Bolinao station na tayo,” and your world falls apart.

A bus ride to Bolinao takes about four and a half hours from Manila if you leave around midnight; I left with four friends and we were asleep by the time we got there. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m used to getting this warning “Nasa (wherever the heck you are) na tayo,” or even “Gising, nasa (wherever the heck you are) na tayo.”

“Wake up, Bolinao station na tayo.”

The place has changed. Between visiting the falls, lighthouse, and a couple of beaches, our contact for the ride told us, as we coordinated what time he’d get to us,

“K.”

“K,” for crying out loud. You’d get water to wash that down, but then the water bottles there say- and I wouldn’t show this without proof - “Buy Mo Water Ko.”

Something tells me my time capsule went all coñotic on me.

That having been said, it was phenomenal. Getting drunk near bodies of water, always cool. WARNING: Pictures here, if you don’t like seeing geeks go shirtless, do not click the links.