LAYAG-LAYAG Beach Papaya Cove Batangas #BitchCamp2016 #TeamLayagLayag

"It's not about the place but the people you are with"

Our Layag-layag Beach retreat in Batangas was theperfect illustration of this realization thus far. To start with, the beach is not that good. It's sand not smooth, swimming area full of big rocks, waves not very friendly and the beach is littered with garbage all over.

 Not just that, you can even encounter all kinds of debris floating on water swimming with you that you feel thankful you are not a fish or you might have already dies eating plastic mistaking it for food. At one point, I was swimming next to a wrapper of laundry detergent I thought, "okay to ah, nagsiswimming ako at nilalabhan narin at the same time." lol

But we were here not expecting too much. A beach this close to Metro Manila if very good would have been very popular on social media but it's not. Only a few dared to write about it. But we were here to have fun, to have a quick escape from the daily grind and fun we did achieve. So much fun that all the minor annoyances of the place didn't matter at all.

For me, it was my first after a long time to travel with complete strangers. All six who I haven't met before and I barely know on Facebook. T'was my first time to meet even the organizer of this particular trip, Michael Angelo, who has been a friend on Fb for years!

But all of us instantly clicked as if we have known each other for a long time. It helped that some of the members of the group were really super funny. It helped set the good mood and the chill atmosphere. We were here laughing our hearts out, over alcohol, over swimming, over cooking, over eating meals. Every minute of it was fun. Layag-layag beach therefore, though not even bordering to the description of a beautiful beach, definitely became a memorable place.

This was the closest we could get to Pico de Loro, not the mountain but the high-end resort owned by SM tycoon Henry Sy. We were facing the clubhouse of the resort and it looked goo even from afar. Such proximity that there are rumors Henry Sy already bought Layag-layag beach. If so, we were lucky to have experienced staying there before it will be transformed to a private beach.

Layag-layag Beach in its rawness. Vulnerable to nature's elements and human scum. There are no amenities here, not even a shower or a makeshift toilet. I can't imagine how we survived overnight on tent accommodation with not unlimited supply of fresh water.

Well we did bring lots of stuff with us. We dropped by a supermarket in downtown Nasugbu and got all our supplies. Food for dinner and breakfast, drinking water, lots of snacks and lots of whisky. We carried so much goods with us as if we were to camp a few days. We also had two big gallons of freshwater courtesy of our boatman. Those two gallons were enough to assure us that things will somewhat be less sticky sleeping at night.

We arrived right after lunch and the sun was scorching hot. We took refuge under the shade of a few trees by the beach. Set up our tents immediately and went on drinking. We drank so much in this particular trip, upon arrival, after early dinner and again before calling it a night but I was surprised I managed not to vomit. Perhaps because all the drinking were accompanied by funny talks and lot of physical activities in between, swimming, strolling around and swimming again and more swimming.

One of the most memorable night swim was when our drinking was briefly interrupted by a strong thunderstorm which poured lot of rain in the area. We initially retreated to our tents for cover but even our tents were not enough to make us we so we decided to go for a swim while the rain was pouring hard. That was super fun. From afar, we could see lightning making patterns on the dark sky. We made sure we were off the water before the rain completely stopped so us to clean our bodies from saltwater for a more fresh sleep.

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