Let me write on the spot clairealgarme.multiply.com

I always make it a point that my last trip of the year would be spent going to my hometown, Bacolod City.  So, after listing down my choices of the 12 fun travels I’ve done this year, I was already looking forward to a trip back home.  It totally slipped my mind that I have one more trip to make (or was having doubts if it would ever push through but it did).  It was our office planning for next year.  Why we did it during the busiest season of the year is not what I will dwell on in this write-up.

From a three-hour road trip to Batangas Port and two hours at sea, we docked at Calapan, Oriental Mindoro for a sumptuous lunch at Hungry King’s Diner.  Since the trip was strictly business, we had some orientation and discussions on the environment and volunteerism.

But enough of the “serious” stuff.

Mindoro was like any of the provinces in the country.  The islands and scenic rice fields were very much like the ones I saw in Negros, Cebu, Iloilo and Mindanao.  What makes Mindoro extra special were the rich natural minerals found in this island.  Calapan was a small city that is almost comparable to Puerto Princesa, Tagbilaran or Vigan.

We stayed at Amor Beach Resort in San Teodoro, a northern town just some minutes away from Calapan.  Although the resort has facilities like air-conditioned cottages, a restaurant, computer shop, billiard hall and videoke bars, I must say that it was not as well-developed as the tourist resorts in the Visayas and Mindanao.

What caught my frenzy there was the communal fishing method of their little barrio.  Everyone helps out in getting a catch.  The locals were happy and satisfied with the meager catch as long as they have something to sell and something to eat on their table.

Without television, the form of entertainment we had were videoke and talking about anything under the sun over a few bottles of beer.  But being cooped in the resort, I never got to see the other faces of Mindoro.  Probably, in time, I’d be back in this island down Luzon.   Oh, and endure almost six hours of travel.

That’ll be the last for this year and I’m rearing to be Bacolod-bound where I will welcome the year 2008 with a bang.