We finally went to the beach! After weeks of badgering, I convinced my children to go and visit the beach overnight. My favorite beach lately is Laiya Batangas with the Balakbakan fishing village fishermen and their provincial hut accommodations. Complete with deep well pump and bamboo tables and bamboo bed.
Wife was sick, she stayed home. I brought 3 children, 1 teenage nephew and a nannie. We had a blast! They were just at that right age: 10, 8 and 7. A mini road trip. We stopped and tasted food all over, we even bought a Batangas switch blade. We tasted lots of great food. It was a cheat day for my boy… he appreciated the cheats, but I don’t let him go overboard. Just for this trip:
– cooked white corn
– ube halaya
– lanzones
– roasted pig lechon
– balut / duck fetus
– dried coconut sweetened
– pico mangoes
– raw cow’s milk from Vander Gaditano’s farm
– raw squid
– grilled squid
– raw beef
– cooked beef
– durian
– yakult
– chicharon, pork rinds
– turo turo pork caldereta
– grilled fish ( banac )
– lacto bacilli probiotics
– and after so many months, a cup of white rice
Remember this is cheat day vacation. Just for this day. Tomorrow he is back to raw.
Balakbakan fishing village, Laiya Batangas
His skin, been itching problems. Seems like a drying up itch. Seems to be relieved with vitamen E capsules or Moroccan Argan Oil. I theorize it is part of the healing process, but he may lack certain minerals or nutrition to finish the job. Maybe.
So I’ve wanted him to take a dip in the ocean and absorb the minerals a clean beach had to offer. The taste of salt water is salty… must have tons of nutrition in it, it feeds the fishes of the ocean. So they went on a swim.
We also took a boat ride to go fishing in the corral reefs. Tremendous fun. We shared 3 fishing rods. We caught 4 pakol fish. For me it wasn’t much. But for the children it was immense fun.
The ocean air was just great, blowing clean and non stop. It was overcast the 2 days so we didn’t have problems with heat. In fact my 10 year old boy, the one with eczema was cold. He didn’t dress right for the ocean going trip, he felt too cold, I asked the fishermen to call it quits by 10:30 am.
Lucky break! On the boat trip to home we come across a whale shark, a butanding. We circled around twice to get a good look at it. Bigger than the boat. You could see his fins and white spots. The fishermen were spooked and felt we didn’t need a 3rd round. That fish is bigger than the boat so it’s something to be cautious about. These waters are not whale shark breeding grounds, they just happen to be here at times and our fishermen are not whale shark experts.
This trip got their juices flowing. Much appreciation for the beach and ocean fishing versus just driving up the mountain. The air is cooler, it blows non stop, and the water is just great, and fishing is exciting.
Maybe this will get my boy started for more ocean water exposure in the future. Hopefully absorb nutrients his body needs.
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