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Poler: Camp Vibes and Outdoor Adventures in Baler

Wednesday, October 29, 2014


In traveling, we often seek for a number of "comfort zones", lalo na when going to a place that is new to us. First, most of the time we want to be with our closest friends and family members. If not, dapat may fully charged phones to feel "connected" with people or Google (pag may kailangang isearch!;p). And of course, a comfortable place to stay.

But what if wala lahat nito, will you still say yes to a trip? Oh yes I did. ;p

Feeling adventurous, I went to a camping / "glamping" trip to Baler last week even after my friend Pax backed out coz she's sick. I was ready for an adventure, to see new things, and meet new friends! The meet up was early 5:30am in a still-empty High Street area near R.O.X., where the group rode this private bus and spent hours just sleeping and eating while on our way to far-north.


It was a comfortable 6-hour road trip, and when I woke up, it was all greens and blues from my window view. Nakaka postcards and paintings!

Baler-Bound tag! My goal talaga for every trip is to be simple and pack-light na, so I fit EVERYTHING that I needed for the next 3 days in this durable and spacious Poler Daypack burnt orange backpack!

Finally, we went to the campsite which is also a Costa Pacifica Baler property. The area was clear and super beautiful, with just the mountains and the sea, where we will spend 1 night...

...Under the stars! < 3

Primer Team! Clang, Ean, and Ms. Rhoda gathered us for the first challenge - to find a loot with our names containing our camp essentials such as a Poler Napsack (also served as a sleeping bag), Nalgene water bottle, and an Eagle Creek water proof bag.

The group, busy with photo ops and the search for their survival bags:

Found mine last, kainis! Haha! Anyway, I was excited to settle in my tent and arrange my things.

Cute! My neighbor David got a terno camo 2-man Poler tent and rucksack:

For experience lang, ako naman I chose the tent na asa dulong dulo, nearest the waters...
Sun was fast setting... I saw Ean, David, Clang, and some of the media people playing frisbee by the seashore:

Meanwhile, ako naman asa chill lang tayo section, lol. Chichirya and kwentuhan with Manila Bulletin ladies Ms. Marie and my friend Eds:

When night fell, they set-up the bonfire and taught us how to make smores! It was actually my first time to taste burnt mallows, haha! Ang sarap nya!



Nawili ako mashado, hehe:

Ang bidang bidang Poler Napsack ni David, lol:


With good music, starry starry night, random games, a good vibes group, drinks and junk food...the rest, as they say, is history!

Slept like this in my Poler Napsack, haha!

I actually slept like a baby that night! Briefly woke up at around 5am at the nice sound of drizzle softly hitting my tent, which sent a nice feeling. :) Camp vibes na camp vibes! Survived the camp with just these:
When I unzipped my tent, I saw THIS! Napa grabe nalang ako, ang cheesy pero I am so thankful for this beauty and once in a lifetime experience!

7am na nung nagising na talaga ako, and the camp was already empty! Haha! It was early pa nga pag nasa Manila, but in Baler sobrang tirik na ang araw. They were already having breakfast so I got up at nahiya naman ako! ;p

After breakfast, we had an optional trekking activity. The others went to check out the lighthouse, which entails climbing according to the guides. I wished to stay in camp but wala palang matitira (haha), so I opted instead to join the lagoon group coz less effort daw ang pag punta, hehe. There's another harder group trekking session in the afternoon, so naisip ko dapat medyo chill lang ako haha.


Crossroad, hehe:

Team Lagoon, haha!

We swam inside this cave, which was challenging din pala because of the sea urchins hiding in rocks. It was an adventure though, and buti nalang may simple floating skills ako that I was able to put to use (mas gugustuhin mo nalang lumutang kesa tumapak sa stones na baka may urchins, hehe).


Seriously--The view always makes things worth it.

No filter photo:

The 2 groups met in the lagoon, and I learned that de-hagdan naman pala yung lighthouse, haha! We all went back to campsite together, and packed up to move to Costa Pacifica Hotel na for our 2nd night. I wonder if I can spend another night or 2 pa here in camp? 

The second trekking was held also that afternoon, after having our lunch in the hotel. We were pre-asked na the night before if what level kami when it comes to climbing with 10 as highest, and I shamelessly wrote "2". Haha! Ako na ang suki ng "holding hands" with the kuyas! ;D
  
It was one of the shortest treks I had, but it was still challenging ha! But after going through the pasakit at buwis buhay Sagada hike and cave spelunking a year ago, this was a sort of relief coz it lasted around 1 hour lang (papunta and pabalik na). It rained when we reached the top part, which is another cool experience and a story to tell!

Level 2 Girls reprezent! Haha! Eds and I survived a rain forest! :D 

The view from top:

To be continued...


Poler Outdoor Stuff is available in all Bratpack stores nationwide. Special thanks to Primer Group, Costa Pacifica, Great Escapes by Dispatch, R.O.X, and Bratpack. Follow @PolerPhilippines on Instagram.

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