Back To The Past

          Last October 28, 2011, my family and I went on a vacation in Bataan. But first, we went to San Marcelino, Zambales to celebrate SuperLolo’s 99^th birthday.

           

            It was a long trip, starting when we left the house at 5:30 AM. It took a few hours to get there, and by the time we arrived at SuperLolo’s house, it was already late morning (around 10:00). We were greeted by Lola and Lola Alice. They even served us lemonade, which really quenched our thirst. We spent most of the time talking or watching TV. However, we weren’t able to stay long and had to leave early in the afternoon, since we still had to drive to Bataan. Before we left though, Lola Alice gave us some chocolates she brought from the US. After our good-byes, we hit the road once again.

               After a while, we got to Bataan. Our first stop was the Pawikan Conservation Center. There, we were able to see and take pictures with the pawikans they had.

            From there, we headed to the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, but we were not allowed to go in because there was nobody who could tour us. So we proceeded to our destination, Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar.

            This wasn’t like any other resort I’ve been to. They used old houses from the Spanish era and used them as hotel rooms. Once we were checked in, we went to our hotel room. Our room had a clean bed, a shining bathroom and a loft with a second bed.

Then, we went swimming in the pool that looked like a stream, complete with rocks of various sizes. 

When it got late, we dressed up and had dinner in their restaurant, where we were able to watch some performers dance to and sing Philippine music. After we had filled ourselves with adobo and leche flan, we went back to our room and slept.

            The next day, we had breakfast in Casa Unisan, their breakfast and lunch restaurant. 

Then we went on a tour of the resort and got to know each house’s history and origin.  

During the tour, we saw many different houses. Each house was named after its original location. We saw the Casa Unisan (which was also the restaurant), the Casa Hidalgo (which was the first campus of the UP School of Fine Arts) and the Casa Cagayan which was the simplest of the houses there. My favorite was the Casa Luna because instead of simply roaming around, we passed through the corridors used by the “alipin sagigilid”.

            After the tour around Las Casas, we went to Dambana ng Kagitingan, where we were able to go to the top of the cross. It was so high up because it was a 100-meter tall building on top of Mt. Samat. 

We also saw World War II weapons and battle maps of Bataan battles in the museum. 

Then we went back and just played ping-pong for a couple of minutes to unwind and relax, because we were busy the whole morning (not that I’m complaining). We also played at the beach, and we made an awesome sand wall and castle. 

When we got tired, we went to our room to clean up and refresh, then we ate dinner early because we had to leave early the following day. I felt sad at this because I really liked our hotel. However, I know that we will be able to come back someday. Maybe, it might even be more fun.