Go for it

Grab it while you can! Love it or lose it! Take it to the limit! (I’m talking about life here, although, given my history, I can’t blame you if you assumed I meant something else.)

The life I enjoyed to the fullest yesterday included a great morning hike with the Wednesday Walkers and my usual quality time with my best friend, San Mig Zero, in the evening. Lots of photos from the trail at the end of this post.

Started my beer drinking at Hideaway and shared a pizza and some blueberry muffins with the gals. A customer had a muffin, too, and liked it so much that he bought me a beer. I’d call that a win!

My timing was off, so I missed the requisite shot of Joy sinking her teeth into her muffin. Hmm, that has kind of an untended lewd connotation, doesn’t it?

Manager Griff bought me a beer as well, so my night was off to a sodden start. After I departed Hideway, I popped into The Green Room, but it was packed with a pool tournament. Luckily, there were plenty of seats next door at Wet Spot, so I settled in there for a while.

Lydell from Snackbar sent me a message requesting my presence there, so I made my way up the highway for a visit before calling it a night. Some fucker passing on the righthand shoulder where I was walking almost clipped me. The most dangerous part of my day is walking that pavement, and I fear someday it may kill my dream of dying while making love to a beautiful Filipina.

As usual, I wound up buying drinks for several of the Snackbar girls in addition to Lydell. I guess that’s the price you pay when you are a barroom hero! I’m not complaining; just saying. My belly full of beer and my wallet running on empty, I called it a night.

Now for the hike. It was a beautiful day, and we had a record turnout of fifteen fellow travelers. We hiked some paths we hadn’t done for quite a while, so that added to the sense of adventure. And we finished with lunch at a barbeque place that’s a bit off the beaten track, so it was the first time I’d actually sat down for a meal there. I wasn’t disappointed!

Our route was 6K or so with a couple of short climbs.
The ladies gathering at our 7/11 meet-up location.
And we’re off!
Regrouping in Alta Vista. Left or right? Ok, left it is.
A lovely day in the neighborhood.
You can see all the way to Easter mountain from here.
A crappy shot of my future home…
Where the pavement ends, the fun begins!
Through the thick of it.
Walking the plank.
Crossing the bridge.
Hello, San Isidro.
Walking up through the shanties.
Making our way up the first hill of the day.
Up top, the grass was higher than we were.
A valley view
And on the other side, a bay view.
And still, we marched on.
Our path took us up past my mountain friend MJ’s place.
I didn’t think she was home, but we took a rest in her nipa hut area.
And enjoyed the view from her front yard.
I was surprised and a little embarrassed for making myself at home without her permission when she came outside to greet us.
Moving on again.
The view from this side of the mountain.
We took a break at Olivia’s, my other mountain friend’s place.
Lydell sure is a cutie.
Heading back down to Barretto.
Between the fences.
Washing off the trail dust at the local well.
A bunch of hungry hikers!
We arrived right when they opened.
I think we might have overwhelmed the solitary waitress.
What’s on the menu?
Since I was feeding myself and three Snackbar gals, I ordered one of the platters. It was all good, and we even had some leftovers.

And so ended another hike.

Today was full of surprises, and I’ll share those with you tomorrow (that’s what we call foreshadowing). In fact, I envision TWO posts are going to be required. See you here again soon!

2 thoughts on “Go for it

  1. I sense a disturbance in your schedule: today’s post was almost two hours later than usual!

    Anyway, it looks to have been a very nice hike, and that BBQ place has a beautiful menu—the kind that makes you want to come back repeatedly and work your way through the whole thing. That one BBQ platter looked awesome, too.

    I look forward to whatever’s being foreshadowed.

  2. Yes, we had a power outage all day while repairs were made to the transmission lines. Scott and I decided that rather than suffer the inconvenience, we’d catch a bus to San Marcelino and take a hike out there. By the time we got back, I was two hours behind my normal schedule.

    I definitely want to go back to Pugon Corner again soon. It’s about a 15-minute walk from the area I normally hang out in, but I reckon it’s worth it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *