BOYBOY's and Hope's Birthday at Isla Verde Tropical Friendly Resort - Pt 1 (by Nanay Jo)

Isla Verde is a great place to celebrate a special occasion.

On May 14th I went over to Tabangao to meet Boyboy, who planned to celebrate his 22nd birthday at our resort.  He brought his few closes friends with him.  Krissy and her friend, Edmund, and Cy.  It was fiesta here in Sampalukan, so the boat was fully packed for the trip across.  Happily, the boat dropped us off right in front of the resort where we enjoyed a lunch of sinaing na tulingan before they  took an afternoon nap.

At 3pm I woke them for a snack of stir fried noodles, fresh egg noodles  which they enjoyed eating with gusto.  Then they went swimming and snorkelling.  After they returned from snorkelling they relaxed with some brandy and videoke, and while they were singing I prepared dinner of porkchop steak, meat cooked in tomato, pork sinigang and veggie salad and crabs.

At 6pm I served dinner for them.  They loved the food, especially the crabs.  When they finished their dinner, they
had an evening drink and when I wished them good night I left them watching the stars in the clear night sky.

The following day ws Boyboy's birthday, and I was not well.  But with the help of JoJo in the kitchen we served a birthday meal of kare-kare, crispy pata, menudo, dinuguan, steamed crabs and grilled fish.  They ate, sing along and drink.

For their evening entertainment they went to court for fiesta disco, where they hung out with the local people.  They had fun drinking with them and dancing.

(...  continued next post)

Isla Verde - Edith Returns to the Island (by Nanay Jo)

Two years after she first visited Isla Verde, Edith returned with her kids Jewel and Yuri. With her, came our high school pals, Cherry and Raquel. They had a long trip and when they arrived I welcomed them with lunch. Edith brought with her, some dinuguan, pork and liver adobo. I cooked for her, our famous fish, sinang na tulingan with brown rice.

They all enjoyed their meal, then after lunch they decided to take siesta. I took some cans of beer to the gazebo bear the sea where Cherry, Edith and I chatted until they fell asleep. 

They woke refreshed and we decided to entertain ourselves with some videoke. Edith is a good singer, but we could not beat Cherry, who scored 98.. It was Cherry's first time to hold the mike and sing along, so we all kept laughing and teasing her. After a while the kids woke up and joined us. Yuri really enjoyed singing and we couldn't get the microphone away from him. So we just enjoyed drinking some beers and chatting while we listened to him.

As it began to get dark we had dinner, then went to bed because we planned an early boat tour of the island next day. We decided to sleep in the gazebo by the sea. Jewel, Raquel and I had a long chat until we fell asleep. They loved the sea breeze, which makes the night cooler and with the gentle breeze and the soft sound of the waves, sleep comes easily.

 

My helper, Daisy and I woke at 4am and began preparing food for breakfast and for our boat tour. We had to begin early as we were leaving at 8am. Raquel joined us in the kitchen and cooked pansit bihon (a type of stir fried noodles). At 7am we enjoyed breakfast of pansit bihon, hotdog, longganisa, fried tinapa, smoked milk fish with white rice. After our breakfast, we started to packed up our stuff, for our boat tour.

We left the resort at 8am, and our first stop was at San Agapito, where Sawang and Surfing Interval are located. It's a good swimming area, so we all enjoyed swimming and played in the water. Whenever a boat passed by, waves pushed us to the shore, and all of us laughed, and enjoyed the feeling of the sand against our skin. We stayed there for a few hours, then decided to sail to Cueva for our lunch. In Cueva, Cherry and I collected some shells which she wanted to bring home. We enjoyed sitting in the water, eating mangoes.

 About 1pm, we decided to go back to the resort, since Jewel felt sleepy and the sea current changes. On our way home, we passed in the Globe area, took some pictures of the rock formations. We stayed there awhile then sailed back to the resort.

 

Everyone, enjoyed the boat tour. Yuri said that in June he'll bring his classmates from Taiwan. And Jewel will be back with her friends too. As Edith loves the island, she didn't take her medicine for maintenance for 2 days. A relief for her, as she found our place so stress free!

 

Isla Verde - a place to share with Old Friends and Good Friends (by Nanay Jo)

On April 23, some friends I have known since about 1985 came to visit me at our
resort.  I took the boat trip across to Tabangao to meet them and we returned to Isla verde together.  My friend Malou wanted to see me before she be back for in Bahrain the next week.  With her, were Cora, Rosanna and Rosanna's cousin, Mikel.

Rosanna has wanted to visit me at the

resort for a long time, but she is being treated for cancer and is often too tired to travel.  Luckily the resort is not too distant from Manila and once she saw it she promised to send me a wall hanging, a picture she found in a second hand store, of a fish. It will look great on in the cafe because it reminds us of the reef just near the resort.

We had a lot of fun times just playing in the clear waters of the sea.  How we enjoyed the breaking waves throwing us away while  Mikel was patiently taking pics for us.  Mikel enjoyed snorkling.  And after my 2 years staying here, I tried shorkelling for the first time, with Malou. It was so amazing to see all those living things underwater,  corals with different colors,  and moving like they are breathing and different  fishes swimming with bright colors.  I don't think I have ever seen anything so beautiful.

While my visitors were here,  it rained, and they  weren't able to see the whole island.

















But when it was raining we stayed in the kubo and played cards. A Filipino poker game called 'Tong its'.  As we were playing, we joked and laughed and teased  each other and at the end I won the games.

Cora, who is the wackiest among is, did a lot of silly things and made us laugh. She would climb the trees and pose for a picture.  She would imitate the statue of lady carrying the jug of water.  She really is a funny woman and is the life of the party!

The few days they stayed with me here in isla, left me with good memories to keep.  Next year I will see them again, and we are good friends who stay friends forever!