chapter one:  saturday – "sun, sun, sun!"

i found myself waking up with a slight headache, a direct after-effect of what i consumed the night before.  it was still early, probably around 5:30am.  i remained laid down on the bed, with eyes closed, but trying to recall what transpired last night.  slowly, the events all came back, like playing a video recorder on my head.  i felt my mobile phone was beside me, so i got it and saw that there were around three messages, all from work.  i didn't even bother replying to them since i was in no mood for any work-related stuff.  i tried to go back to sleep, but all i can manage was being half-asleep with the ambient noise from outside the room going back and forth.  the next thing i remember was nikki and chuchay were knocking on the door.  i opened it and saw them all dressed up, ready for day two.  but first things first:  breakfast.  we woke up edon and chris (and had quite difficulty doing so) and asked them to have breakfast with us.  it took around 20 minutes to fix themselves up for they were still feeling the after-effects of being the most wasted last night.  we then went to dream wave restaurant for breakfast.  chris and edon kept asking about the events last night since they claimed that they can't recall the latter part of the drinking session.  we told them all that they did, including edon almost falling asleep while taking a leak on the beach and chris slumped on the beach where the waves come in.  after having breakfast, we went back to our rooms to get ready to, well, hit the beach!  chris, nikki and chuchay were already in their swim attire, so that leaves me and edon going back.  the three went ahead and informed us of where they will be.  at first, we had a hard time looking for them since we thought they will be just within where most of the people are.  i then called nikki up on her mobile to ask where exactly they were.  she told us that they were on the far right side of the beach from our rooms.  so we trekked the sand with the sun beating down on us.  although i had to admit, the heat wasn't as scorching as what was in the city, so it was still quite comfy, and perfect for sunbathing.  we then reached where the three were and nikki and chuchay were already taking in some sun, while chris was in the water.  the place was beautiful, far from "civilization" so to speak, and has a rock formation as backdrop.  edon and i went to the water as well, and oh was it sooo nice!!  it wasn't too cold and it was very clear.  i spent a good thirty minutes in the water, although not going to the deeper end.  i also found some nice rocks which i thought of taking home with me, but thought twice of not disturbing where nature placed them.  i went back to the sand to take in some more sun and after about 20 minutes, edon and chris also went ashore.  with the heat from the sun getting increasingly hot, we then decided to head back to get some rest.

'twas around 10:30am when we reached a bar and lo and behold, we started to have beers!!  we were still talking about stuff from last night while taking some pictures.  i had two bottles, while edon had four, i think.  chris had three and chuchay had a piña colada.  edon and nikki went back to the water not far from where we were to take another swim.  imagine consuming alcohol late in the morning!  what more later tonight?  we then decided to have lunch and went back to our rooms to take a nap.  most of our other colleagues will be arriving later in the afternoon so things should get pretty interesting later that night.  i didn't feel sleepy, so i just stayed up and watched tv.

chapter two:  saturday – "i'm not drunk!"

i realized that i had fallen asleep when i found myself waking up with the remote in my hand.  i saw edon and nikki both asleep on separate beds (we transferred to nikki and chuchay's room since the adjacent room will be occupied by our other colleagues arriving later that day).  i decided to explore the area by myself, so i fixed myself up and went outside.  i visited the different shops and saw the wares they were selling.  from shirts to shorts, bracelets to anklets, purses to necklaces, and everything in-between.  i decided to do my buying for my family back home the next day before i leave.  i soon found chuchay and chris on the place where we had dinner the day before.  i joined them and found out that they already had consumed two bottles of red horse beer.  they offered me to have one, but i declined, saying that i'll have my fair share later that night.  our other colleagues arrived from manila a couple of minutes later.  both groups were happy to see each other and i then accompanied them to where they will be staying.  most of them quickly changed to their swimwear, taking advantage of still having daylight and headed to the water.  some went back to where chuchay and chris were and joined in their drinking session.  i, on the other hand, stayed in the room, continued to watch tv while psyching myself up for a longer drinking session later on.

we gathered at around 7:30pm where majority of the group was.  some are taking dinner, while some are just talking.  i wasn't hungry so the five of us (chuchay, nikki, chris, edon, and myself) decided to go ahead to the place where we drank last night.  we told the group where to find us.  it's not far from where they were at, so it was easy to find.  upon arriving, of course, comes the first pitcher of mindoro sling.  i ordered an additional beer as chaser, and we were off.  being a saturday night, there were more people than last night.  there was even a concert involving sugarfree and brownman revival on the other side of the beach where there was an entrance of 50 bucks.  yet we decided to stay right where we were and continued on.  the other group then arrived and we started to have fun together with the music being played on the background.  r&b, hip-hop, and trance tunes filled the air as we consumed pitcher after pitcher of the dreaded mindoro sling.  i again started to light cigarette after cigarette while slowly but surely getting wasted.  i then noticed some of the people on our table frequently going out and back to the table again.  i don't know if some of them wanted to have a private conversation, but the main point why we were there was to have fun as a group.  the comings and goings became quite irritating so i decided to do a leave of my own.  carrying a bottle of beer on one hand and a lighted cigarette on the other, i went outside beside the bar and drank and smoke by myself.  i occasionally took a walk back and forth around the area near the bar, and in my drunken state, started contemplating on my personal life.  i then remembered donna texting me a couple of days before i left (see entry titled, come and go).  i decided to give her a call right there and then.  her mobile phone was ringing, but she wasn't picking up.  i tried it again with the same result.  i continued to drink my beer and went back inside the bar where i drank some more.  i ran out of smokes so i went out again, bought another half-pack, and went back.  after what seems to be endless shots of mindoro sling and bottles (i lost count) of beer, i was dead drunk so i excused myself from the group, told them that i'm through and went back to the room.  to give you an idea how hammered i was, i bumped into not less than 15 people on the way back to the room.  yet my mind was lucid, and i know what i was doing.  i just couldn't
focus walking straight.

upon reaching the room, i crashed to the bed.  my mind was still up and about, yet i cannot move too much.  my mobile phone alerted me with a message.  it was from donna.  she asked why i called and that she was at work that's why she couldn't answer the phone.  i replied, to the best of my knowledge, saying that i just wanted to say hi.  after a couple of minutes, she replied back, saying that she was taking her lunch break.  i decided to call her up again.  this time she answered.  i tried to talk as normal as possible but she then noticed that i was slurring.  "where are you?" she asked.  i told her where i was and added that i was already drunk.  she then asked me why i didn't even invite her to go with me and i told her that it was with colleagues.  turns out that she hasn't also been to puerto galera.  she then asked me why i called and i told her that i just wanted to say hi and because i received her message a couple of days ago and added, "is it bad to call someone who i miss?"  while we're in the middle of our conversation, some of our colleagues came in the room, wasted as well.  but one of them, luanne, kept shouting, "i'm not drunk!  i'm not drunk!  i'm just tipsy, and i'm going back out with you guys."  she would fall on the floor several times while going to the bathroom and kept doing the same after coming out.  she kept slurring and saying things about how she could hack it, etc, etc.  i then asked donna if she would like to go with me back to galera before summer ends, since i'll be having another long vacation towards the latter part of may.  she agreed, but knowing her, this could end up nothing.  so i just played as if we're gonna push through.  there were some stuff i told her about thinking about her everyday and she refused to believe that and i said, "you know what, i'm drunk and drunk people end up telling the truth, right?"  after a couple of minutes, we ended our conversation and noticing that some of my colleagues were in the room already asleep, decided to do the same.  i remember saying before falling asleep, "why is the room spinning?"  one colleague just blurted out, "it's because you're drunk, that's why."  i replied, "me, drunk?  nah, no i'm not…"  that's when i blacked out.