A good reminder to enjoy it while you can. Here’s how I kicked things off in 2025:
Just before we departed San Narciso yesterday, we took a quick tour of a beachfront property for sale.
So, the price is 3.5 million pesos or around $60,000 USD. It is not currently up to my living standards, so more money would have to be invested to make it a possibility. We’d also want to construct a place where locals and tourists could sit and enjoy beachside beverages and food. At this point, we are still in the dreaming stages, but you never know. Foreigners can’t own property here, so the purchase would have to be in Swan’s name. (UPDATE: I just checked with Swan, and she says it is too expensive for an untitled property. She also prefers to find something closer to home.)
It was good to be back on familiar turf after being gone since last year. Having missed our Tuesday routine of visiting the Kokomo’s floating bar on Baloy Beach, we made up for lost time last evening.
One of my goals for the new year is to create a revised Wednesday routine that includes a seldom-visited bar during my night out. We kicked things off last night with a visit to Harley’s for our nightcap. And we killed a second bird by having some dinner while we were there.
Back home again and enjoying my pudding when a big dogfight broke out between Buddy and Lucky. Apparently, there is some jealousy over Swan’s female dog. It was hard to break them up, and both dogs had battle scars. That was my last straw with Lucky. He will live out his days in the yard downstairs as he is no longer welcome in my house. I considered having him put to sleep, but I can’t quite bring myself to take his life. Yet.
Speaking of starting things off right, I wanted to make my first solo walk of the year a good one, so this morning, I pushed myself to see how far I could go. I documented the effort with a photo every one thousand steps. Here’s what it looked like:
Fourteen kilometers is about twice the distance I usually walk. I don’t think I’ll be doing this on a regular basis, but I do want to up my game some. My fantasy of walking the 29K to Mope in San Narciso got a reality check this morning. I would have been only halfway there and out of gas. Maybe an hour or two of resting would have reinvigorated me, but I doubt it.
And that brings you up to date on how I’ve kicked off the newest year I’ve had the pleasure of living in.
Nine years ago, I was doing what folks do when in Itaewon:
And here’s a timely reminder as we begin a new year:
Alright, we’ll lighten things up with today’s YouTube video. We haven’t heard from Mikey Bustos for a while. Enjoy!
And some more of my so-called humor:
The rest of Day 2 awaits. We’ll be meeting the neighbors, Jeff and Vina, for dinner at Hops and Brews later. And I haven’t been to Barretto since 2024, so I’m looking forward to see if anything has changed. I’ll be back tomorrow with more of this goodness. You are welcome!
And the “first time hearing” reaction:
Off-topic trivia: here’s an example of a builder making a shelter in the wild.
Just before we departed San Narciso yesterday, we took a quick tour of a beachfront property for sale.
How do you protect the property from burglary, etc.? Or is that not a problem?
I considered having him put to sleep, but I can’t quite bring myself to take his life. Yet.
He still has his balls, yes? That’s probably a big part of the aggression. But it may be too late to do anything now. The habits have formed.
You can definitely do the 29K walk. Just don’t plan to do anything else that day, and don’t ruin things for yourself by eating a ton of carbs at the end of the walk. Grab a big salad instead. Or bring along healthy snacks (nuts, fresh fruit, low-sugar beef jerky) and eat those along the way, no dinner at the end.
Kev, Thanks for the YouTube link; I’ll check it out.
It had a wooden fence, as did most everywhere else we saw. It seems to me it could be easily breached, but not having it would make you a target for sure.
Lucky is the worst dog I’ve ever owned. Stupid and disobedient, with no sense of loyalty whatsoever. Buddy is the complete opposite, and he still has his balls, too. Buddy didn’t back down when attacked and gave every bit as much as he got. Lucky’s new life as the downstairs yard dog is still better than the one I rescued him from originally.
If I attempt that 29K San Narciso walk, I’ll likely walk home from there. If I need to wuss out halfway, I can grab a Jeepney on the highway. We’ll see. I’m a tad stiff and sore this morning from yesterday, but I plan to walk it off this morning.
You can do that distance however you please, but an easy way might be to do 10K chunks. Psychologically, I’ve always found that the first 15K are the easiest, and after that, the graph of my energy for the day starts to take a steep plunge. So you could also do 10K, break, 10K, break, 5K, break, and 5K. Three breaks. That’s easier to handle. And rest as long as you want between segments. Do be sure about your distances, though. Finding out, at the very end, that you’ve actually got another 3K to go can feel very demoralizing.
There’s also this bit of hiker’s “wisdom” that says you should never rest too long because your muscles will cramp up, and you’ll find it hard to move after that. While it’s technically true that resting a long time will indeed put you into “rest mode,” that’s not the whole story. The rest of the story is that, if you rest a long time (say, an hour), then get moving again, the stiffness goes away after you’ve walked a kilometer and have had a chance to warm up. My experience, anyway.
I agree with Kevin on trekking long distances and getting started again after a break. First few steps are painful but I do loosen up after a (relatively) short while. When I am home, there is a lake I walk around with a fair amount of ups and downs on the hills. Circumference is about 35km and like Kevin, the last 5k or so are the hardest.
Wow, Brian, I’m impressed. I didn’t know you were also a distance walker. A hilly 35K trek is quite the accomplishment.
I was sore yesterday after my 14K jaunt, but walked it off during the group hike. I think next time I do a long one, I’m going to try the rest break at 10K thing and see how that works out for me. Thanks for the advice!
Kev, on my comparatively short group hikes, I rarely sit down when others take a break to avoid stiffening up. I wake up every morning with stiffness in my legs, but I’m fine by the end of the dog walk. I’m going to try the rest break thing at 10K the next time I attempt a long trek.
I feel like my fantasy walk from San Narciso has become a challenge. I mentioned it to one of the group hikers yesterday, and he wants to join in if and when I do it.
Having a walk partner can be a good thing as long as it’s someone you like.
Waking up with stiffness in the legs is a rare thing for me, but on the rare days it happens, a few minutes of puttering around my apartment seems to be the cure.
I hope the San Narciso walk is something you do in 2025. Just be sure to build up to it with practice walks.