Costa Aguada Resort and Silay, Bacolod

The day started with a very early flight. Even if we only slept for a few hours, we were still hyper and woke up 2 hours before the alarm went off. We rode the cab together with Kuya Emil and Ate Mars who were our company for this trip.

We arrived at NAIA 2 and had breakfast, chatted and waited and camwhoring began.

While killing time, I saw the latest issue of Imag and just can't help buying it.  Believe me, there are a lot of tips in these glossy papers which you couldn't get from the net. Personal tips from professional photographers, very cute cut-out cards with the different poses you can ask your model to do and a complete step by step procedure on different types of post processing techniques. The issue I got featured a quick tutorial about Lightroom which I wanted to try but haven't had the luxury of time yet. Until now, I'm still not finished reading every page. After a few more moments we finally boarded and this is my first time flying without the sun on my window. Here's a shot from where the boss and I sat.

There were a lot of passengers on that flight and everybody was sleeping. The flight was good. No bumps and no any disturbances whatsoever. I was amazed when I saw the sun creeping its way through the clouds.

When I was still a little kid, I really, really thought you can literally touch the clouds and lie on it like very soft pillows. But I was very wrong. It turned out that clouds are just a visibile mass of droplets or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the earth. Well that's how Wikipedia describes it. After a cup of coffee and some nuts (yes, coffee and nuts what a great combination), we finally arrived at the Bacolod City Airport.

We waited for our tour guide to arrive not knowing that they were already outside the airport.  Mind you, they didn't even approached any of us.  They have a banner and didn't even used it for us to see. What a useless piece of plastic.  The tour guide doesn't know the answers to my questions. I was beginning to get pissed because when I'm planning a trip I do research, read reviews and all that jazz to make sure I get the best for what I pay for.  But this tour guide must attend a seminar on how to do her job.  Don't get me wrong here. I know I should've known everything prior to this trip but since the boss and I just got tagged along this packaged tour, we were so confident that it will be a smooth one because of the itineraries and stuff.  What made it worse was, on the itinerary, they said that they will fetch us at the airport at 7:30 AM. So when we booked our flight, we got no choice but to get the earliest one which will arrive at 6 AM. Okay, so they fetched us at 7:30 AM and lo and behold. All the tourist spots that we were supposed to visit are all closed. WTF?! the guide said that it will open at 9 AM. Another WTF?! They required us to be there that early just to find out that everything is still closed?! It was the day of my birthday then and I don't wanna ruin my mood. So we just asked if we can have breakfast first. We got acquainted with Ate Mean and Kuya Ian, who were Ate Mar's friends from college. We went to the area near SM and all the manukan's are there.  But it's clear that they aren't ready to open yet because there were no smoke and barbecued chicken fronting their stores.  Good thing that we spotted one store with chicken inasal in the glass shelf.  We decided to stop and eat. While waiting for our orders to be ready I got the chance to shoot some kids there. They were funny because they called me "manang" and they just kept on smiling.

Mask Rider Black of Bacolod

They call pictures as kodak. Funny! Like "Manang, kodakan mo ako" hahahah! after a few more shots our orders are finally ready.

authentic chicken inasal

We took our time eating and didn't mind the guide and the driver waiting at the van. (sweet revenge *evil smile*).

Fact: Silay City is dubbed as "little Paris" of Negros Occidental for its rich culture and history and ancestral houses in the city which preserve great Filipino culture and the past. 

After stuffing ourselves, we proceeded with the tour. First stop was Jalandoni Bernardino Museum which was built in 1908. Owned by Don Jalandoni and wife Ysabel Ledesma - Jalandoni.  It is located along the busy street of Rizal near the city market. The house was very well kept and preserved. The wooden staircase is original and almost everything inside the house marks how rich the people there lived in. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

Mr. Curator

Our next stop was the Balay Negrense but pictures are prohibited at the 2nd floor so this is the only one we got. A very old motorcycle. We Filipinos are way too cool to even think of this one!

Finally, after insisting that we go to The Ruins (the guide said that she hasn't even seen the place herself. PFFFT!) we made our way down the bumpy and muddy road.  I'm not really a fan of old structures but just for the heck of it we just want to get the most out of what we paid for anyway and the guide said that it will be our last stop since we needed to to the port muy pronto because the waves going to the island will get rough after lunch. A big whatevs.

The Ruins

We didn't stayed long for it was very hot even if the sun wasn't shining. It was another 45-minute ride to the port so we moved on. When we asked the guide about how much are the rates for the island hopping and snorkeling she said that it was P1800 per hour. I was dumbfounded. I asked her if we're gonna be using a speedboat or a yacht or even a boat with a glass floor for the rates to go that high and she said that she didn't know. Poor little thing. When we did our island hopping which deserves another entry, we only paid P1850 for the whole day. Can you imagine how this tour guide ruined my day?

Anyway, I was so delighted when we found out that she's not gonna come with us to the island. We hopped on the boat that will take us to the resort but I wasn't able to take pictures since its not worth it. The water was brown from all the oil in the nearby port for passenger boats. When we arrived at the island, a tram was waiting for us with the manager who greeted us with a very warm smile. I forced myself not tell him about heir lousy guide because I just want to get over it and the boss might get mad. Hahaha! It was an uphill drive to the resort and you will be able to see the panoramic view of the sea. We were welcomed with necklaces made of buko leaves and the freshest and sweetest buko juice I ever tried that the one I had in Bohol really sucked. While I was filling out forms, the staff sang happy birthday with a guitar. Wasn't able to take pictures again and I guess the boss was too ecstatic (or tired) of what was happening that he didn't grabbed Eva from me or maybe he's too comfortable sitting in the sofa. We were finally led to our rooms and unpacked our bags. I forgot to say that we stayed in Costa Aguada Resort. They don't have a website that I could find so if you stumble upon one, please let me know so I can update this.

restaurant next to the lobby

rooms

it houses 2 rooms w/ 1 queen sized bed and a single bed it  has a bathroom too

Everything inside the room was made with bamboo. There's no air conditioning but you won't need it anyway since it is cool enough to give you a deep sleep. The screened windows has curtains which you can use for privacy. The comfort room is superb! The sink is made of stones in mosaic-like style. It has everything you need: 6 towels, soaps and bathroom tissues. There's also a thermos of cold water and 2 glasses on the table. I really like the room because it was very earth friendly and so "pinoy". I really felt like I was in a province away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. There are no TV's though and the resort has a power schedule but that's okay. You are here to relax anyway, just bring a good book and you're all set.

We all took a nap, rested and took a dip into their pools which is a few meters away from our rooms. The resort itself is very big, with a mini zoo, a basketball court, a playground and picnic areas. Unfortunately because of the oil spill tourists were discouraged to visit the island. But they are trying their best to bring it back to life. :)

We had dinner at around 8pm and the staff at the restaurant surprised me with their special bibingka in lieu of a birthday cake. How sweet! :D They even apologized because they don't have a cake for me. The bibingka was moist, soft and very cheesy! It was so good that we ordered in advance for us to take home. We had 3 kinds of dishes that night: Chicken Binakol, which is like chicken tinola except the soup is made from coconut water, grilled fish and chopsuey.

made from roots of coconut tree

Bibingka ala Costa Aguada

Our second day is for island hopping. But seeing how rough the waters were, I knew that we won't really be able to "hop".  We had breakfast first and prepared. The boat we rented amounted to P1850 for the next 6 hours of the day. Cheap! Included is our very own, cook and waiter. They brought us a bag of towels, beach mats, fresh water and all their kitchen utensils and even condiments! We were all surprised to see all of the necessary things that they knew we're gonna need. So after the preps, we headed on.

After braving the angry waves, we finally reached the island. I'm telling if you are the type who goes to Boracay every year, this is not the place for you. The island doesn't have the fine white sand and its not that clean. An old lady and three dogs lives in a small hut with no electricity and a source of fresh water. So we opted to walk to the other side and found a deserted area where we can swim and relax. We played charades and had fun guessing kinky words. :)

The boatman advised us to go back at around 2 o' clock in the afternoon because the waters are getting rougher. It rained in the middle of our trip back to the resort. We separated from the 2 couples and roamed around the other parts of the resort. The resort's receptionist provided us a map and we first went to the mini zoo but was disappointed to see only one bird. So we decided to just proceed to the turtle farm but we also didn't see the huge turtle they were boasting about. Ugh! We just saw the remnants of the oil spill that happened a few years back. The resort manager said that after that oil spill, a number of guests canceled their reservations but they are trying to remove everything and put it back to life.

oil spill victims

 

:)

The trip was fun even if the beach wasn't really nice. Being with people that you love cannot ruin any trip or place as long as you enjoy each others company. One of happiest birthdays I had. I think we'll be going back to Costa Aguada, but not after the next 5-10 years.