Cool times

Spent a few days with the girlfriends (and the gayfriend) in Tagaytay City, located a few hours south of Metro Manila. Tagaytay is famous for its lovely volcano and lake, though we didn't go anywhere near them. We just enjoyed the sight from afar.

What we did was laze around in the gayfriend's house

which had a nice view of a pineapple grove in front.

Went to market because certain people really needed to have fiber in their diets THAT DAY. Fruit is so cheap in Tagaytay.






We also made a quick trip to the mall because certain people just had to get their hands on the last installment in the Harry Potter series (which I thought was a good read, by the way, despite the mucho cheesy epilogue).

Here's Marnie enjoying her book.

And here's Irene enjoying hers.

And here's Rudy in dreamland. Our host, cook, and resident comedian -- who has no qualms at all about grossing us out with his farts. I think he takes perverse pleasure in it, actually.

Tagaytay during the day can be a bit warm but at night it's markedly different. Once the sun sets, the temperature drops, the winds start to blow, goosebumps appear, nipples harden, jackets come out. Conversation and laughter flow unabated with the beer and chips. One by one the company goes to bed until only two are left standing. By that time midnight is already a distant memory though dawn is still out of reach. We look beyond the gates and see a most amazing sight, something we don't see in Manila nowadays: the fog coming on little cat feet, though it doesn't seem to sit on silent haunches looking over harbor and city. The pale streetlights become an ethereal glow, transforming the streets into a cozy cocoon in spite of the chill. It's visual cotton candy, but without the sticky sweetness. Everything is silent save for the murmuring of the wind through the trees and the occasional ribbit ribbit of creatures that give me the heebie-jeebies. Communing with nature, it surely is a magical, timeless moment.

Until a certain someone, whom we'd kill if we didn't love him to bits already, lets out a rip-roaring fart, breaking the stillness of the night. Sigh.