Secretly yours, Cala Perdida

OMIGOSH!  I am so ridiculously awesome at planning family outings, I can just hug myself.  Lol!

Introducing a new player sitting comfortably at the top of my Family Adventures file folder --the ultra-amazing Cala Perdida in Calatagan, Batangas!  *fanfare*

Our front yard

Our backyard

Uh, never heard of it?  Of course, you haven't!  THAT is where my brilliant family outing planning prowess comes into play.  I had wanted a no-technology, nature trip for the tail end of summer and so I googled 'Swanky secluded private beach house in Calatagan'.  And voila!  Cala Perdida appeared.

Our house

Ok, ok, Googling isn't really impressive.  But Cala Perdida is.  It's a finely-chiseled diamond nestled in the bosom of the pristine beach and the wild forest, with the nearest neighbor located far, far away.  It's your own nature enclave.  The authentic 'your home away from home, get away from it all' reality.

Our very own private beach

Our garden

We spent the weekend here and the experience was just beyond beautiful.  It's teeming with multi-colored birds diving into the pool every few minutes.  Interesting-looking bugs fluttering about in the foliage.  Fish flying alongside of us in the ocean.  And don't get me started on the surrealistic beauty of the rest of the marine life.  The colors in this place are just severely amped, you wouldn't believe it.

Our very own mountain

Cala at night is equally mesmerizing with the sounds of nature --whistling winds, soothing waves, interspersed with wild calls from the woods.  Having no TV and no internet gave our weekend a completely adventurous spin.  And discovery!  Like when we found 2 to 3-foot long salamanders living down the beach, and a bird's nest right in our porch.  My boys have learned so much about animals, rock formations, and the ecosystem in just a span of 2 days!

To be honest, I had wanted to be selfish and make Cala Perdida our little secret.  But, to my dismay, a secret this astounding just can't be contained.
Spend your next summer here.  It's all yours.  Just as someday, it will be all ours again.

Banak House. Almost.

There's a lot of reasons why I had chosen Banak House to be our summer's last hoorah.

It's a secluded structure in the sandy/rocky stretch of Calatagan.

When you book here, you have the place, garden, and beach all to yourself.

It is fabulously architectured and interior designed.  It was built by artists from old galleon wood.

It is quaint, cozy.

It has absolutely nil technology.

I think it's the last part that totally got me sold.  Lord knows we need a break from the wii, the wi-fi, the mac, the Telpad, the PSPs, the cellphones.  Even for just a little bit, we need to sever ties with technology, embrace nature, and bond.  Like, seriously bond.

When I pitched this idea to the family, you can actually smell the fear that thickly filled the air.  I can understand that.  I mean, a day without Facebook might just cause major chest pains, but this was something I was pretty sure we had to do.

My boys, although reluctant, finally agreed to a No-Technology Weekend.  After all, Banak House looks like a place that would never bore us.  It doesn't have the usual jetski amenities and such, but it had ambiance, relaxation, discovery.  The time-stood-still factor it offered was just invigorating.

So I called up Banak House, got a warm reception, set a date, and got confirmation.  We were giddy with utter glee!
But as you would have it, when I called up the next day for the property's bank details, I was suddenly told that someone else was going to use Banak House on the exact date I had the place reserved for us.  Sure, we haven't paid yet, but we had email confirmation just the day before.  You can imagine how that got me riled up.  There were no apologies either.  Just a crisp, "Someone else is going to use it this weekend.  It's next availability is the weekend after that."  It was quite a turn off.

Lots of reasons to stay, but I needed only one to look the other way.
Not that I'm totally deleting Banak House from my list of Awesome Places To Go To Before I Kick The Bucket.  We will definitely come here one day.  When I've cooled down --which shouldn't take too long.  I'm all for second chances.

In the meantime, I'll resume the hunt for a beach before school starts.
Oh, and welcome back, technology!