Family, Friends and Feeling Good

Taking a trip to the Philippines is always a thrill. An important part of it is spending time with relatives, very special good friends and spending "alone" time with Tony. This trip was no different.

On Feb. 10, 2025, my brother Rico and sister-in-law, Peppy met me at Microtel Hotel to visit the David-Peczon Library in Mexico, Pampanga. I arranged to meet with my maternal aunt, Myrna Ronquillo-Gopez and her husband, Landing Gopez for lunch. Koya Rico was eager to catch up with Landing because he wanted to get information and contact numbers of their common friends. Unfortunately, Landing informed him that most of their friends have passed on. Still, we managed to have a great bonding time. It is always enjoyable to spend time with Myrna to catch up with the relatives on my mother's side of the family. We met at Lorenza's Kampampangan Buffet.

We had a brief meeting with Verne Reyes at Milky Way at the Rockwell Power Plant in Makati. She had another friend join us for a delicious lunch of Kapampangan fare. Verne always had animated stories to tell and she loves her lifestyle in the Philippines. She meets friends at a wineshop at the very same mall regularly where they order tapas and take turns buying the wine to share.

I can always rely on Jasmine Sarenas Bonifacio to gather the "Jocson troops". We gleefully met with Jasmine, Rey, Camille and Rob when they picked us up at Crowne Plaza Hotel. We met the rest at Mesa Restaurant on Greenbelt V in Makati. Pete Sarenas, Gina Mendoza and her husband George, Lito Jocson, Sitoy Sarenas and his lovely wife, Ching and their daughter, Joanne, were all waiting to be seated at a big table. The restaurant is well prepared for big groups and we were only one of many other groups. It was a competition as to who spoke the loudest. The Filipino fare was delicious and Tony and I both loved the "baby Squid in olive oil", a novel version. As is customary, we had coffee and dessert at a close by coffee shop after lunch. The meals were a treat from Jasmin and Gina.

On Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, Tony and I took a Grab car to drive to Alabang Country Club on Nancy Harel's invitation. The men were to play golf while the women, Nancy, Mareko and I had pampering at their beauty salon. It felt so good to have this wellness treatment after a hectic reunion and Nancy was more than generous to host us. After the golf game, Raffy Castro gave us a lift back to Metro Manila and the traffic was horrendous. We asked to be dropped off at BGC where Mareko and Mac live but Tony and I had a difficult time getting a Grab car back to Crowne Plaza due to it being Valentine's Day. Oh well, we eventually made it back.

I craved some good bibingka so we took a Grab car to go to Greenbelt in Makati and find Benny's Restaurant. We somehow remembered to find it and the bibingka with freshly grated coconut was most delicious. They also have puto bumbong but we declined since we also have it at the hotel's breakfast buffet. On another day, we craved the experience of choosing fresh seafood and cooked the way we wanted it so we headed to the Dampa. We chose a good time to come and it was not as busy as it usually is. On another occasion, I craved Razon's Halo-halo and most of the familiar branches of this halo-halo place closed. We visited Greenhills Mall where Gina's jewellery store is, went through the tiangge to buy pearls and souvenirs. Using Google, we walked around inside and outside the mall. Lo and behold, we found Razon's and ate the most delicious halo-halo.

We had the chance to have lunch with Jasmine's son, Rem Bonifacio with his wife, Jen, daughters Lila and Baby Clara. They picked us up at the hotel and we drove to the Podium Mall

We originally intended to visit Bacolod and Iloilo but time to go back to the US was getting close. We opted to rent a car and drive South to Laguna. We chose a resort called Sol Y Viento in Calamba Laguna, renowned for their natural hot springs from Mt. Makiling. After a circuitous drive where Tony and I stopped at Leslie's restaurant in Taal for lunch. The lunch of Bulalo while being serenaded by a singing group and enjoying the breeze of Taal lake was priceless. I even managed to get up and dance with the singers as they sang a catchy disco song.

We arrived at the resort in good time and were fortunate to get a cabana with an en-suite hot spring pool. What luxury. The resort itself had 5 outdoor spools with varying temperatures which we enjoyed on our last day. We managed to spend a day in Calamba with my paternal cousin Ben Peczon who retired in Calamba. He is an energetic 80+ retired scientist who still exudes such a joyous vibe. He blew kisses to other drivers when they let him drive through an intersection. We treated him for lunch at Kamayan sa Mt. Makiling where the bahay kubo dining tables were on stilts over water. We had a plethora of delicious seafood fare. After lunch, he took us to a restaurant with a funny name of IsKarGu, short for Isda, Karne at Gulay (fish, meat and vegetables) where we had coffee and dessert. He stopped by a popular bakery to gift me a freshly baked buko pie. What a fun time to spend with a cousin.

The drive back to Manila was uneventful, despite missing exits and taking wrong turns. We were so relaxed that little mishaps were taken nonchalantly.