December 1, 2006 -- my friend Poppo and fiance Jhackie invited me to go to Bataan for some R&R in the former's home in Bataan. Though I've been to their place several times now, it is always an exciting adventure when I am invited. We arrived in Bataan under overcast skies brought about by tphoon "Reming". It was very windy and gloomy when we first arrived. We rested a bit and went to Balanga and Orani to find some fish and talaba, only to find out that no fishermen went out to fish due to the storm. So we ended up buying candies and imported corned beef instead.
As we were heading back to our host's place, rain started to pour and we were worried that Noel and Aubrey (who took the bus to the place) might not be able to make it. We were wrong. They left Manila at around 4 and arrived shortly before 6pm. Come dinner time, the weather was already clear and we were treated by our gracious host to a sumptuous dinner of roasted chicken, Adobong Talaba, Inihaw na Tilapia and steaming white rice. After the sumptuous feast we had a few bottles of San Mig Light to cap the night.
The next morning, we were taken by Poppo to their homestead in the mountains of Bataan. The trip was an adventure in itself. We took their APV to the farm and along the way we experienced adventure 1: Traversing the muddy and rocky road towards the farm. We got stuck in some mud but it was nothing we couldn't handle.
We arrived at the farm a couple of hours before lunch. Everyone was excited, especially the guys who were looking forward to doing some rifle firing. At the entrance to the farm, we could see the cows roaming freely in the grass. At the far end of the farm is the caretaker's cottage and to its left is a quaint little hut were we ate our lunch "army" style. 2 native chickens were prepared and we had a simple but delicious lunch of sinigang na labuyong manok, salted eggs and tomatoes and steamed salted shrimp-fry or bagoong alamang.
After lunch, the guys tried their hand at rifle shooting. A modified .22 rifle with silencer was used and the guys had a fun time taking turns shooting at an imaginary enemy (a tin can).
There were horses on the farm and we just couldn't resist asking poppo and the caretakers for a ride. Noel, Aubrey, Pooh and Jack had a grand time riding "Madonna", the name of the horse.
All in all it was a very exciting weekend.
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