Before driving to Houston, I went to the bank and got some money to exchange for Pesos with Marlyn. My car sputtered to
start so I suspected the battery was near the end of its life. I drove to Houston to stay the night at Lou's house. We then went out to eat at a seafood place. She chose Papa's Seafood House. I had the Naked Rainbow Trout. It was good, but I could only finish half of it. Brought the other half home for Aida to eat and she finished it. Lou had the naked Grouper and seemed to enjoy it all.
Dec 4-5th
Left early and drove to the Parking Spot. I wasn't able to pre-pay so it cost almost $7 per day instead of $6. They shuttled me to terminal D, but I had to walk to terminal C for my gate. The plane arrived on time, but they took an extra long time to clean it before loading us on, so we left about an hour late. The next leg needed to wait for us, but we were back on schedule for the last leg.
Jessica and Kim were waiting to meet me at the airport. I left the inside of the airport to the meeting area without realizing I was leaving the wi-fi area so our connection was a little confusing, but Jessica found me and they took me to MyStay BGC East Hotel in Makati. I lost a day on the trip, but would get it back on the return trip.
I booked MyStay Hotel because of it's proximity to the church where Remy's ashes are encrypted as well as close to the P. Victor home. I thought I was booking MyStay West which was a block closer than MyStay East, but booking.com was confusing as to which one was where.
Dec 6th
My reservation included breakfast which they delivered at 7:30. After eating that I walked to the church and bought a candle and some flowers to put in the crypt and said some prayers for their souls. I then went back to the room, but returned for the 12:00 Mass. The Mass and sermon were in both English and Tagalog so I was able to follow pretty well.
After the Mass I went by the P. Victor home. No one seemed to be there so I headed back to my room after taking a
picture of the outside. I also took a picture of the new condominium building that was constructed next door.
I returned to P. Victor for dinner that Jessica made. It included Salmon, eggplant, zucchini, and potato soup. All things I could chew easily at my request. Salmon is a little tougher of the seafood for me, but the rest was easy to swallow.
Dec 7th
Today got complicated because Hazel and Marilou both wanted me to lunch with them. So I went to the 6 am Mass and then Kim drove us to Hazel's place for breakfast. I had to wake them up to get us to Hazel's condo. I had my camera, but forgot to take pictures.
To return to MyStay we tried to schedule a Grab driver, but had no one respond for about an hour, so we ended up hailing a taxi.
Apparently, Marilou mixed up the address of the church with the hotel, but eventually Candy and she picked me up and brought us to her cousin Sheila's house for a sumptuous lunch. Later we continued eating for our dinner. Then Sheila was able to schedule me a Grab ride back to the hotel. Again, I forgot to take any pictures.
Dec 8th
I went to the noon mass, then started communicating with Marilyn about her cousin who was to complete the transaction by delivering me Pesos for the Dollars I gave Marilyn. She kept assuring me her cousin was on the way but she couldn't communicate with me. Apparently she doesn't actually have a phone number and they were communicating through Facebook.
They arrived around 2 pm and gave me the money. I told them Jollibee was block away and we could walk there for lunch. It was drizzling out so they insisted on taking a taxi. The taxi driver wasn't pleased when he pulled up to Jollibee less than a block to let us out.
Dec 9th
Today is our scheduled trip to hike Nagpatong rock formation with Tripinas Travel and
Tour Ventures. We had to be assembled at the P. Victor Address for 5 am. I left the hotel at 4 am and bought coffee and Sio Pao for breakfast at the 7-11 on the way. Kathy and her kids ate breakfast at Jollibee but the rest of them counted on talking the driver into stopping at a McDonalds on the way. They were successful at doing that.
ITINERARY
This itinerary can change depending on the mountain conditions, trail availability, and weather.
0500 Pick-up at 8908 P. Victor St. Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City
Meet our driver and pay your balance
0700 Arrival at the base camp, breakfast time and meet our guide
0800 Start of the hike
0900 Estimated arrival time at the top of Nagpatong rock formation (photo op)
1100 Back at the jump-off point, take tricycle back to the base camp (at client’s account)
1130 Back at the base camp, lunch time (meals are clients’ account)
1230 Side-trip to TungTong falls
1430 Departure from the base camp
1630 Estimated arrival time at 8908 P. Victor St. Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati City* (in case of traffic arrival could be delayed of a few hours)
*in case of heavy traffic expect delayed arrival of a few hours
Our group added Kyrie Buñag (10 yrs old) from last year's hike minus Julius Raphael Paor so it included:
Jerry Camacho Jr, his wife Mylene Camacho, Hazyl May C. Sevilla, Ferdinand F. Sevilla, Paul A. Camacho, Catherine C. Buñag,
Ezekiel Clyde C. Buñag, and Kyrie Buñag. Myself too.
It was drizzling at the start of the hike and rained off and on the rest of the way. It was a very muddy and slippery trip.
Part way up we got to stop at a rest stop that had a shelter from the rain and lots of blooming flowers for us to see.
When we reached the rock formation we had to climb some stick ladders. Three of them to the top. It was a little tricky because our shoes were covered in slippery clay, but there was a rope ladder with knots that we could hand on to, to assist us in the climb. Kyrie was quite afraid and screamed a few times, but the guide stayed with him and he made it to the top with the rest of us. Hazel and a few others might have decided not to make the final climb up the ladders.
We were gifted with a rainbow to go with the drizzle on top.
The trip was a little more difficult than the literature suggested, mostly because of the clay that stuck to our shoes. The clay made our steps heavy. When we got back to the lunch area and ate our lunch, only the Buñag family, Jr and his wife continued on the Tung Falls Walk while the rest recovered at the base camp. Where spent a lot of time washing mud from our clothes and shoes.
I took a picture of a crochet ornament in their window to show Marilou.
For today, Marilou planned for me to meet her family at her cousins for lunch, then return with her to Alabang so that we could go to the airport together the next day.
