Random Superstar Acts and Thoughts: Cast Away

That's Frankie, Eva and Mady. Eva and Mady are my college barkadas.

Tom Hanks was stranded in an island together with Wilson, his volleyball friend. He was cast away for 3 years. That sure is a long time to grow his beard and learn the tides. I got cast away for a day in Nagarao Island, Iloilo. Nagarao is located in Guimaras and we took 3 rides to get there in one piece. After the Cebu Pacific flight last Friday, we took a ride to Jordan (pronounced as Hor-dan) Port then we took a bangka for 20 minutes. After which, we took another 1 hour bumpy ride (I got all shaken up by a vibrating car) by land and finally, a bangka ride for 15 minutes. I was enjoying the fresh air and the breeze was relaxing. I even had my hand stretched to touch the waters while I was on the bangka. I have once again loved beaches since I started going on weekend getaways last year. Nagarao had no Globe signal and a generator kept the electricity running but not during the wee hours in the morning. I am one with my phone and it is a must that I have it with me at all times but what good does it do if I have no signal. Thank goodness I had a whole lot of stories to tell the whole time I was with my college friends. I think I blew them away with my laughter and never ending story of whatever came into my mind. We arrived around mid afternoon on the island and I was on the shore feeling the waters on my feet. I couldn't really swim as I wanted to. The shore was rocky and the sun was high up. I spent some time picking seashells on the seashore till I saw a funny looking shell that was moving forward. It was a hermit crab! Pardon my being juvenile about this but I was just amused at what I saw. It was cute. After a few hours of sitting by the beach front, the group decided to go on an island trekking. The whole place was 13 hectares and it was well taken care of before till the owners decided to divorce. Anyway, going back to the trekking, I was in my shorts all geared up to see the island. Well of course, you can say the mosquitoes were all geared up to feast on my legs too.

The island was so beautiful. I've never seen corals in my whole life till I came across one that I thought were giant mushrooms. I wanted to feel it with my hands and it felt soft and a bit slimy. According to Lilet (or Lelet as we couldn't figure out what her name really was), it was indeed a coral. Corals are known to grow if the waters are really clean. That was some kind of a nature tripping for me. The waters were clear though the shores were rocky, I enjoyed the whole experience. I wanted to concentrate on this whole new experience of being the only group of people on an island. We were the only guests - me, Eva, Mady, Frankie and Ritchie. There were 2 caretakers on the island and that's it. If some crazy terrorist wanted to kidnap us, we'd be doomed or should I say, they'll be doomed. They'd have to put up with my jokes. Knock knock. Who's there?

My cast away experience wouldn't have been complete had I not slept in a mosquito net covered bed. Armed with an Off Lotion, I smothered myself with lots of it and went to bed. I looked more like a caterpillar wanting to break free from the cocoon. It has been quite a while since I last slept inside one. That didn't stop me from cracking jokes and sharing silly experiences I had. I wanted to get as much as sleep as midnight neared and around 1:30 AM, the power went off. Uh oh. The girl scout in me prepared me for that big fanning moment. I had to fan myself to sleep in other words. Everything went well except for the fact that I was on the lookout for paranormal experiences. Awoo! That fear lulled me to sleep nevertheless. I was too tired to be a ghostbuster in some virgin island. By the time I woke up, it was time for breakfast. I guess what really kept me going through this cast away moment was the food. It was a feast of seafood and other Filipino dishes. Yummy! I can still taste the cucumber salad and steamed alimasag.

The overnight stay taught me so many things about island living:

1. That I can live without my phone even for a day.

2. Brownish colored water from the faucet for gargling and bathing doesn't hurt. The water was kind of salty but hey, I'm still alive.

3. I enjoyed swinging by the hammock and it needed some kind of push to keep it swinging.

4. I can sleep without air conditioning and my reliable pamaypay will do just fine.

5. All I needed was the company of good friends to keep me alive.

6. I will never think of transforming a coconut husk into some sort of a Wilson to keep me company. I think I'd go crazy.

7. Lastly, I love the sound of birds and the waves touching the shore. I dream of owning my own rest house by the beach. I can live with the silence. It's calming and peaceful.

If I had another opportunity to go island hopping, I definitely will. I was gone during the weekend for this Iloilo trip and I had so much fun. I do have some tick bites on my legs and I suspect, I got it from the hotel where we stayed in the city. When I say some, it's around 8 to 9 big reddish itchy bites on my legs that I'm so tempted to scratch.

Ok here are the quotable quotes from the trip which I think should be highlighted:

1. On the Cebu Pacific flight to Iloilo, there's the usual in flight game. The flight attendant gave out clues and the passengers had to guess what it was. The questions pertained to the Philippines.

Flight Attendant: I'm a big fish. I'm called a whale shark and can be found in Philippine seas.

I guess someone raised his hand and got the answer right.

Flight Attendant: Correct! The answer is Tambunting! (Huh? It's butanding! Tambunting is a pawnshop!)

2. This was from my college friend who wanted to eat sausage in Iloilo.

her: Ang hungarian sausage di ba galing sa Germany? (Ha? Ate, Hungary ang sagot. Gusto mo isama kita sa flight attendant ng Cebu Pacific?)

3. Another friend was trying to tell us about his friend who was sick.

him: Alam mo, yung isang friend namin, may kidney.

We were all waiting for him to finish his sentence but he never did. So we figured, this must be the end of it.(Kuya, lahat tayo may kidney. Baka kidney problem ang ibig mong sabihin.)

Here are the pictures! Enjoy!