Weekend 2: UPLB-Lipa with Sargosticks

I have a feeling that you don't even know who Sargosticks is. Well, they are my musician friends from UPLB. The members are Herson, Dan, Russell, and Ian. How did I became friends with them, you may ask. Well, Herson is a Philosophy major and Ian is one of his profs. Kaye was a Philo major and together with her blockmates Jou and Yadz, we decided to live together. Yadz is super friends with Herson and that's the connection began. They would hang out in our house and play music. Sadly, Kaye did not become part of the group.

Each member had a girlfriend, but me and Yadz are what you can consider as groupies. Many times we hang out in college that's why the friendship grew stronger. After graduating from college, we only see each other once in a while, but always, the reunion is filled with laughter, chika, and of course booze.

Last weekend, the original plan was to get together in Lipa, but Ivee realized that it was also Febfair in UPLB so we decided that before we hit Lipa, might as well join the festivities in our old school. Russell, Ivee, Sheena and Biboy left Manila in the afternoon, but I decided to finish my shift before I go.

So, on February 13, I went to Los Banos. It was a coincidence that Marvin, my officemate, is also going with his girlfriend. We only found out that we are going to the same venue when we saw each other at our office's gate early this day. Akalain mo yun! I left Manila around 8PM and anticipated a 2 hour ride. I was right! I arrived in LB around 10:30 and man, a lot of things changed! There were a lot of new establishments, and big ones, I tell you! There was a mall already in Grove. My god! Consumerism at its finest! Gone are the cafes and restaurants that we used to eat at or hang out in. It was a little overwhelming, really.

Anyway, I went to the field around 11 PM because I freshened up first in a cafe. To tell you honestly, I was a little scared to walk the gate-field distance because of the rape news that happened in that area. But I figured, there would be a lot of people tonight and I was right. Thank god I made it to the field safe.

When I was on the field, there was not a lot of people and frankly, the booths are not at par from what I've seen before. What's sad pa is that alcohol is banned so it was all clean fun. Too clean, in fact. I saw Sheena and the rest of the gang almost immediately and we chatted for a while.

Left to right: Ivan, Sheena, Ivee and Biboy at the background. Of course we need to have a photo. Actually, this one was taken after I already passed by Hortsoc's booth. It was two booths away from Alpha Omega's. Alpha Omega is Herson, Ian, and Russell's frat. We communed in their booth, but not for long because after 20 minutes after this photo was taken, we all decided to go home. OMG. We are growing old na talaga. It was just 12 midnight and we are already calling it quits! 

Sheena and Biboy decided to check out Jacque's, a bar along Grove because she made a promise to the owner that she'd drop by. The owner is her brod from the Eastern Star (I forgot the male version). Me, Russ, and Ivee went to the dorm and the two lovebirds slept and I unintentionally waited for Sheena and Biboy to come home. Thank god the two brought beer, but just six bottles. We drank and chatted until 3 AM--you know, getting to know Biboy and deciding that the beer that we were drinking were piss. FYI, Biboy is brewing his own beer so he had a lot to say about the beers that we are used to. 

So, we woke up at 10 AM on Saturday and had breakfast. Just before lunch, we hit the road, but not before stopping at Animal Science to buy and reminisce the taste of the good ol' chocomilk. 

Ain't it funny that 5 years ago, we would be toasting to beer or tequila, but not today. Instead, we toasted to the weekend adventure to chocolate milk. Haha.. we are so thundercats! 

G, in September, I'll drive you to Elbi so that you can try this, okay? This is so delicious and fresh. The milk from Ansci comes directly from the Philippine Carabao Center in Putho. I've been there before for one of my classes. It's a 15-minute drive from this compound. That's how fresh the milk is in Ansci. I just hope that you are not lactose intolerant. 

Photo from Sheena's Instagram

So, after toasting, we decided to go to Batangas and OMG, Waze is incredible. We took a back road in UP that I never knew existed, but Waze did. How amazeballs is that? Throughout the 30-minute ride, I felt like we were in Texas Chainsaw Massacre because it is literally in the side of a mountain and very few cars are using that way. We also discovered that it was a power plant. There were big tubes along the way. It was crazy! That road (I don't know what it's called) led to Maharlika Highway. 

Finally, kabihasnan. We are just glad that we made our way through that Texas Chainsaw Massacre road. By this time, we are already on our way to Lipa in a more familiar road. Photo from Ivee's Instagram

It's the first time that I tried gotong Batangas so I was pretty amazed that it looked like papaitan when it was served.  In Manila, goto is lugaw, but in Batangas, it looks like this minus the bitter after-taste. It's considered a viand so you have to order rice with it and make a separate sawsawan with lots of patis, sili and onions. OMG G.. have you tried this? If not, I suggest that you do. It's amazing! It's the perfect lunch because it was kinda cold and raining on Saturday. 

After lunch, we went to Robinson's to buy food for dinner and inuman. At the parking lot, we saw a familiar figure and tada, it was really Dan. Dan is now based in Batangas, but originally from Laguna. He lives with his family in Batangas now. We made chika and thank god that we bumped into him because we coerced him to come along for the inuman that evening. 

Oh, by the way, before we went to Benjie's house, Sheena and Biboy were so sweet. They gave us (the girls) a cupcake as Valentine's Day gift. Hay nako G, ikaw walang gift. Tsk.. but no complains here. I love you still. 

This is pretty much the only photo I have while we were drinking. Honestly, I was too lazy to take photos. Here we are from left to right: Sheena, Ivee, Russell, Dan, and Benjie. Benjie's place is so cold as in! That's a tarp behind us to protect us from the wind. Benjie is also engaged. Dan brought his long-time girlfriend Dane and their baby Daenarys to the inuman. Both are also from UPLB.

Here's a semi-complete photo of us. From left: Dane, Sheena, Dany, me and Ivee. Dany is the first kid in the group. Missing is Kae (Herson's girlfriend, Ace's girlfriend whom we haven't met, Zeus's girlfriend, if he has one and Yadz). Dane and Dany did not finish the inuman, duh. But Dan drove them home around 2 AM, but Dan came back and went on with the drinking until 6 AM. I slept at 3 AM. Sheena, Benjie and Dan were the last three people outside. Ang tindi!

Breakfast is hotdog, eggs, and fried rice. Here's a fun fact: I don't really eat hotdogs. As much as possible, I try to not eat it, but this occasion is an exception. Thank god for Ivee for cooking all of these. Perfect hung over food! 

We didn't take a bath at Benjie's house because it was super cold and nakakahiya na. We decided that we should drive to Russell's house (which is 25 minutes away from Benjie's) and visit his family and take a bath there. However, before going there, we decided to drop by the palengke to buy pasalubong. I bought kapeng barako and ube for lola. 

At Russell's house, we tried kapeng barako. It's my first time again to try it and man, it is masarap pala talaga. Ivee also bought tikoy because it's Chinese New Year and lookie what came off it: 

Ang ganda ng pagkakuha no? This was taken by Sheena. Perfect combination: tikoy and kapeng barako.

We left Russell's house around 4 PM and it was a chill ride. Russell drove all the way to Manila and I got off in Kalayaan and just FX-ed. 

Overall, it was a fun weekend full of reminiscing, laughter and good times.  It was tiring, but it was worth it. 

PS: Lola said that the kapeng barako was not as fragrant as she hoped it would be and that the ube is not as pure as she's used to. Hayst.