Tugbungon-Otavi, Bulan, Sorsogon

My family loves to hang-out in the beach. We find time to do it. It is part of our unwinding and bonding moments. When we were young one of our awaited moments when the whole family of our father’s side would go family outing, which were usually held in the beach. We would prepare numbers for the program like singing and dancing. We had parlor games too. Everybody joined from young one to young once. Actually even up to now we still do hang-out not only in the beach but also in the bars or in of the houses of our aunties. We love to sing too. Every time we are together we always do videoke.

Last Nov. 2, after the All Soul’s day and the late birthday celebration of our niece, we went to Tugbungon Saday (little), Otavi, Bulan, Sorsogon. We had to walk more or less half-kilometer to reach the place; motorcycle can be used if you are lazy to walk. But we opted to walk and enjoy more the place, because of its fresh air plus the fun of walking and seeing local kids, smiling and playing. We reached the place before lunchtime; there were a group of teenagers there too.

This beach is private but open to the public; anyone can come but no cottage available. We were lucky because one of the owners of this beach is the nanny of my niece, who just celebrated her birthday. We were entertained and accommodated well. As usual we love Filipino hospitality. She let us used their private cottages and her brother helped in cooking our food. So we had instant helper. They gave us cultured crabs (alimango), and tuba, which is a Filipino wine made through a process of extracting the sap of an unopened coconut bud. It has a stinging sweet and bittersweet taste. The tip of the bud is lopped and the pale juice allowed to trickle into bamboo containers. A sturdy tree yields about a gallon of liquid daily tuba. The seashore is long filled with shells (mostly halaan), we enjoyed looking for them. We did canoeing and tour the fish pen while the sun was setting, very nice view. The kids are asking for another visit in this place, but this time they want to do overnight and camp in there.

I have a suggestion to the local government of Bulan, to please educate the residents of those who are living near the seashores on how to dispose waste properly and how to take care of the environment.