Sampaloc Cove is a lush, but forbidding, land. Located at the southernmost tip of Subic’s Redondo Peninsula where the tranquility of Subic Bay meets the turmoil of the open sea, Sampaloc Cove is at once a hidden paradise of sprawling white-gray beaches stroked by the foaming turquoise sea and a remote habitat that tests the very survival of the indigenous Ayta people.

Yesterday saw me make a return visit to the lovely Sampaloc Cove. I blogged about the trip last May here. It’s nice to change things up and get out of the normal routines now and then. But I wound up getting a bit more than I bargained for in that regard. That comes later in the story, let’s go to the pictures:

We had a very pleasant day at the beach. Most of the menfolk were enjoying some beers. And the women kept pouring Emperador shots. I had a couple to be polite, but I know better than to mix my alcohol. I was amazed at the capacity of these Filipinas to drink shot after shot. When they opened the FOURTH bottle, I admit to feeling a little concerned. Resa was doing the pouring and she was relentless.

I’m not exactly sure when things started going wrong, but I noticed Resa was out in the water being assisted, then carried back to shore. They laid her on a bench in the Nipa hut and someone told me she has been upset that she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. The implication I gathered was that she had either tried to drown herself or was being a drama queen. I was leaning to the latter, although clearly she wasn’t faking being drunk.

I went on about doing my thing and then noticed later that all the women-folk, including Resa, were gone. Apparently they went hiking to some nearby waterfalls. Given the amount of rum they had ingested I wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but who am I to say? A while later I see one of the boat crew carrying Resa back to the beach. I guess she never made it to the falls, but most of the other gals did. Anyway, once everyone had returned from the hike it was time to starting loading up and heading home.

Now, I was feeling no pain at this point, but I wasn’t drunk-drunk either. So I was really surprised when Steve fell down on the beach and couldn’t get back up. Hell, it took like three of us to get him back on his feet and help him board the boat. He must have had a lot more shots than I had noticed.

As the boat begins pulling out, Resa makes for the bow and from my perspective, it looked like she was fixing to jump off into the water. Someone grabbed her and pulled her back into the boat, then forced her to sit down on the floor. She struggled mightily to escape, so someone tackled her and held her down. Well, Hana is Resa’s best friend and she went nuts, attacking the person who was holding Resa. I guess Steve said something to Hana (his live-in girlfriend) because she went after him, actually punching him in the face and drawing blood.

While this was going on, Resa made another escape attempt and a female member of the group (a former cop I’m told) pinned her down again. Resa wound up biting her and the cop responded with some blows that also drew blood. They got separated, and Resa wound up sitting down on the floor near me. I put my arms around her, trying to comfort her and calm her down. She continued to struggle some and with my arms otherwise occupied, my hat blew off and into the water. I really liked that hat, had it for years.

Meanwhile, Hana has gone wild throwing shit at those she considered culprits in Resa’s abuse. Some of it went overboard, including that nice grill grate we used to cook my meat on a stick. I was really worried she was going to grab my backpack and throw it in the water. I would have been screwed if she had, it held my wallet and phone. It didn’t come to that, the crewmember not driving had seen enough and he gruffly barked in Tagalog and Hana backed down.

I was still holding Resa, stroking her head and telling her it would all be fine. I guess she didn’t agree because she pinched my finger so hard it broke the skin. I let her go at that point and was thinking “fine bitch, kill yourself if you want. I’m done with this shit”. Resa didn’t jump though, instead, she sat next to Hana and sulked for the remainder of our journey.

Suffice to say, once we docked at Arizona no one left the boat in a happy mood. It was a pretty fucked up way to end an otherwise nice day, that’s for sure.

Without a doubt, it was the most insane time I’ve experienced here in the Philippines. The most surprising thing was seeing how crazy Resa and Hana are. I’ve been acquainted with both for a while and never saw any behavior that would lead me to believe they were psychopaths. But then again, I never saw them drinking Emperador before either. The sad thing is I had been quite attracted to Resa in the past, but our timing was never in sync. And now I’m just thanking the Gods of Love for protecting me. Another reminder of just how bad I am at judging the true nature and character of the human female.

And life goes on!

*I’ve decided to not use actual names in this post. I don’t think anyone local reads my blog, but I don’t want to risk being called to the Barangay office or deported. The libel laws in the Philippines are not foreigner friendly I’m told.