A Sweet Escape (my longest blog)

Catalina Island.

A sweet escape.

Awesome birthday.
I was awaken by the sound of my phone ringing. I thought at first it was just an alarm so I didn't mind it and buried my head under my pillow. It freakin rang again. So with my eyes still shut, I pressed the side of my phone to put the alarm off or so I thought... It rang again, and again and again. I sat up, looked out of my window, sighed at the sight of darkness and reached for my phone. Damn, 12 missed calls and 3 voice msgs. Missed calls were from my best girls, Uding and Bading. Still clueless on what's up, I listened to the voice msgs. When I heard Uding's voice on the first msg, my eyes widen and looked at my clock, 6:15 am was blaring right back at me. I came to my senses that we are going to Catalina Island today. And in order to get to the island, we have to ride an express boat for about an hour. The ticket reservation we have is at 8:30am. It's an approximate 1 hr and 30 minutes (with traffic flowing) drive to get to the boat terminal. I'm still in bed. I'm screwed.

It was traffic bumper to bumper. My bad! So we decided to take the 10am boat trip instead. My friends are already used to my being late all the time. Actually it's an improvement today because I was only 45minutes late from our actually meeting time which was supposed to be at 6:30am to the usual arrival I've been doing for the past 4yrs of our friendship, 2hrs max. Due to my severe insomnia, I can't get up earlier than 10am. I have a very abnormal sleeping pattern it sucks.

So anyway, at the ticketing area, Uding muttered, "Tinatamad ako magduty bukas" and Bading quickly said as well, "Me too." We all looked at each other and the two of them said, "Overnight tayo dali!" It was sooooo random, just like that, we got our tickets for the 10am trip and the first trip back tomorrow at 11am. I can't believe we just decided right on the spot to stay in the island for a night. We were all excited! We thought it would be best to formulate just one reason to tell our parents and workplace why we are staying overnight just in case. OMG my dad will be so pissed!

Catalina Island is one of the places I've been wherein you can mutter a big "Wow" (esp. when you're a first timer like me). The island is not overcrowded and you can really feel that you're in some island getaway or something. The houses were colorful and the main city, Avalon, was like a little old town with little shops and stores on the side of a narrow street. But we are not going to stay in the main city, Uding suggested that it's best to stay somewhere where there's less people and more scenic views. So we decided to go to another city called Two Harbors. It's called Two Harbors because this city is in between two harbors, it's like surrounded by two main bodies of water (according to the information packet I was holding). And in order to get there we are taking the Safari Bus. I joked at first at the sound of Safari, I pictured there will be lions, snakes and some wild animals on the way, you know how a real safari would look like in movies... Well guess what, I wasn't half wrong. We passed by unpaved bumpy roads that go around and in the mountains. It was more like a desert out there man! We passed by hilly parts, narrow dangerous turns overlooking the sea below and when you happen to have some engine trouble there's a tendency to get stuck on the road and starve to death because there are alot of celfone signal dead spots.

I knew from that point on, when we were literally bumping our heads on the bus ceiling because of the bumpy ride we're having, that all of us are rethinking if we made a good decision of choosing to stay at another city other than the main city where we can still see some civilization around. But still we stuck it out. We just amused ourselves on how we just randomly decided to stay. Uding called the lodge in Two Harbors if there's still room available, they said no but they have an available cabin. So we reserved for that cabin, anyway it's only for a night. We had to stop at Catalina Airport Bus Terminal to get some more passengers and there's a switch of bus drivers. I thought it was going to be a nice little airport since it was an island and all but I was stunned to see that it was like an old airport in somewhere Mexico, so major creepy!!! To make it more interesting than it already was, there was no other passengers other than the 3 of us and the next driver was also creepy, he's a guy in his mid-40's, caucasian male, dressed poorly, has untidy long dirty blond hair pulled back in an untidy manner, untrimmed mustache and brittled teeth and fingernails -- those type of guys you see on scary horror films where he pose as a miner or a hiker and then in the middle of the night he attacks and eats you if you make a wrong move. Hahaha...me and my imagination, fabulous!

At last, we saw the bodies of water again, the only matchpoint where we can tell that we are nearing a city already. We passed by some old bungalow houses and mini cabins, and then the driver pulled over in an old village. He said we've arrived at Two Harbors. Uding, Bading and I looked at each other and in unison said, "Nandito na tayo?" We went down the bus, took our stuff and walked at the first cemented pavement we saw. There was no one around at all as we were walking down this little path to those bungalow houses which were actually offices. A sudden rush of creepiness surged inside of me, goosebumps, it's like walking on a completely abandoned city and then suddenly zombies will jump at us and eat us whole. "Wala bang tao dito? Asan na ba tayo? Kakatakot naman dito." Bading said. Then I saw an open office and we rushed to check if someone was there so we can ask questions. There was this old plump guy who greeted us, "Yes ladies how may I help you?" And so we asked were the lodge was. He pointed to another same looking office at the far end.

There was really no one around even at the beachside, we felt like we were the only tourists around there.. but do you know how I really feel? I feel that zombies are lurking around and watching our every move. hehe! After getting our cabin key, the guy said to follow a little trail at the back of a general store and the cabins are there. So we did. As we were walking, there was a kayak rental store and a vacant little park. I was famished so I glanced around if there are any restaurant in this quiet creepy place. I saw a general store, peeped inside but there was no one there, but it was open, and I saw a restaurant beside it but it's closed. It's like this movie, "Blairwitch Project" where the teenagers carry a videocam and recorded a series of scary random deaths (but we don't have a videocam sucks hehe) We followed the trail and came out to an open road and saw little resident houses. As we were going to the direction of the cabins, we passed by several black cats. OMG this is not very good. I have this ability to sense the other world unseen by our naked eye and seeing black cats is a major superstitious no-no to me. My friends know I can sense and they both looked at me, "Moi, pag may nakikita ka wag mo na lang sabihin ha." I laughed at the remark (more like a nervous chuckle).

We arrived at our cabin number 6 and opened the lock. Damn, the room was like a box no bigger than our bathroom at home with bunk beds and no pillows. Great! All of us were already wishing we didn't come here in this city.. in this island. This is too weird for our comfort. We are cowgirls but this is too uninviting. But since we were there already, we didn't have a lot of choice but to enjoy what's there and all. We went out and looked for food. It was already 2pm and all of us were about to eat each other if we can't find food to eat hehe. Thank heavens we saw this diner that sells burgers and fries. They were about to close but the lady still gladly accommodated us. She said the diner serves from 5am-2pm and the restaurant beside it opens at 5pm and there's a pool table and darts and they serve beers too if we want to chill later. Our ears widen at the sound of it. Maybe it wasn't that bad as we thought it would be.

After eating we headed to the beach. It was completely deserted, it's like a private beach and we were like the owners or something. That's why we call it a bittersweet escape because if you were in a honeymoon then that atmosphere right there would be so perfect; quiet and peaceful away from everything else. I loved it, I needed it. The water was icy cold so we just ran around, played a bit and just sat by the beachside talking about mostly LOVE of course, they both have special someones na and just listening to them blurt out experiences made me think about what's missing in my life.

As I was listening to them rant about life and love and how they constantly tell me, "Kaw mOieee, ang daming gustong pumasok sa buhay mo pero hanggang ngayon ala parin, kaw talaga pinakakawalan mo kasi ang mga prospective special people kapag it's getting serious na pano ba yan.." I was going to answer back but then I saw a familiar looking boat docked at the port. Bading and Uding saw it too and we were all silent for a couple of minutes.

"Catalina Express Boat!"

"Kala ko ba wala ng trip pabalik til tomorrow morning?" ang tanong ni Bading.

We hurriedly went to the ticketing office but it was closed. So we asked those people hanging around the dock. A guy told us that there's a last trip back to the city of San Pedro at 7:15pm. The three of us were relieved at the news! We asked if we could change our trip schedule instead of going back tomorrow we're going back that night. He said it won't be a problem but we have to talk to the office when it opens again later at 6:30pm. The three of us looked like we won the lottery or something. We hurriedly went back to our cabin, showered and packed up. We waited at the front of the office till it opened eventhough our butts freezing cold because we were so anxious to go home already. We did enjoy our creepy trip but we can't last for a night here, "baka ano pa ang mangyari mahirap na hehe."

We boarded on the last trip around 7:30pm. Yes we got it changed. Inside the boat. We were all exhausted, the three of us slept the whole entire trip back to civilization. When we stepped out of the terminal of San Pedro an hour after, I never realized how much I loved and missed the city. hehe! But it was helluv a trip indeed. A very different kind of birthday celebration. An adventure for a change! I love it! Even the creepiness. Actually I was quite sad I didn't get to see any zombies. haha.

Thanks to my two best ghals....Uding and Bading! You know who you are.. I love you. And no matter where I'll be, near or far, I'll always be here for you two. We are the only ones left standing and even though things are rough, I will always be thankful that you two have been so patient and understanding to me and my insanity. Many more to come my homies! Mwaahhh.