How To Get to Candelaria Zambales

(Prequel to the Amazing Potipot Island Adventure)

by Kti Alibanban

A week passed but I don't want to forget the memories, so here I am at an attempt of capturing what made my summer getaway this year so special.

I can't explain why I was so excited about this trip to Zambales, when the truth is, I've been there back in 2006. I remember few days before the actual date, I was counting the days religiously. I'm so looking forward to going to the beach. Maybe it's because it's been ages since I last went to the beach. And that I'm going to be in the company of really great people (in case my officemates will be reading). And the best thing about it is that it's free! (Duh, company outing.)

 

I'm a self-confessed beach person. I love it there. There's something about it that mesmerizes me, not that I was a mermaid or something in my past life but I have always been at awe with vast/endless waters and spectacular sunsets. I have always enjoyed the sand playing under my feet and the waves entertaining my eyes with its every movement. And Zambales, in all fairness, is a good place for my guilty pleasure.

So anyway, the day finally came! Of Re-routes and Stopovers

It was on a Friday. Right after work, the long wait of everyone, (okay, yes, let's keep it real - MY long wait) came to an end. Off to Zambales. From Makati, it's going to be a solid five hours of travel time to Candelaria. Candelaria is like a few towns before you reach another province -that is Pangasinan. Simply put, it's located at the far end stretch of Zambales!

Stop over number 1

We left Makati before 7PM and reached Quezon Ave at around 8:30 (don't be surprised, it was a Friday, traffic jam - at its finest) to fetch Miss Mylein and go get some snacks to eat along the way and other IMPORTANT beverages for the trip. After dinner, which was around 9:30 PM we hit the long road ahead.

Stop over number 2 At around 10 PM, we stopped at a gas station to pick up some more officemates. Stop over number 3/Re-route number 1

To cut the long travel story short, we were in Olongapo around 12AM. Oh did I mention, our van driver DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO GET TO CANDELARIA, ZAMBALES (good lord). So we were traveling along the high way with this instruction in mind: Once you're in Gapo Plaza, look for the Blue Jeepney and follow its route. That should lead you to the exact way to Candelaria.

 

For some weird reasons (like it's late in the night and this is a province, for crying out loud), we didn't see blue jeepneys anymore. We saw yellow and brown, but not blue. We just followed our instincts, an officemate's memory of being in Zambales for a couple of times already, and (we just found out) the ever-reliable GPS. We didn't rely on GPS initially. We went for human instincts but it brought us to a way leading back to Manila! Yup, after a long zig-zaggy road, we decided to ask for directions to Candelaria, only to find out we were cruising through the road heading back to Manila. Not good, I thought to myself, "There goes an hour of travel time."

We drove back to Olongapo, still weren't lucky to see any Blue Jeepneys, but now smarter to see the turn that we missed awhile back. And that the GPS was telling the truth after all, that we should have made our turn there. The thing is, we know that once you get that road, you'll just drive straight from there to go to Candelaria. No more turns, no more following blue jeepneys.

 

When we made that turn, we knew we were SAFE and that it only be a couple of hours more of turn-less drive and we'll GET to our destination. At least, we didn't have to go for Option B - that is, to just go back to Manila and wait till the morning for the other van that was suppose to bring batch 2 of our office mates (the one with the driver who knows the way) to Candelaria.

Stop over number 4/Re-route number 2

Moving on, we went through smooth driving, this time, the goal is to reach Iba, Zambales. Apparently, Iba would mean that we are 45 minutes - 1 hour away from the beach house that we rented in Isla Vista.

After a couple of signs saying "This way to Iba" (as far as I can remember, none of it said how far exactly is Iba, so our driver just kept on steering the wheel), we got to a town and learned from a random townsfolk that we are actually entering Iba. But instead of going straight, we have to take a different route because coincidentally, the highway's closed for the night. So we took that road thinking we're ALMOST there. But then, not!

 

Okay, if you've seen the movie "Wrong Turn", the dirt road we took looks a lot like that road in the movie. I don't recall any street lamps (no offense, city government). So it was all darkness and dirt. The only difference is that we didn't end up getting slaughtered or anything by some mutated humans. Instead, at the end of that dirt road is the other side of the highway. We drove for another 30 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, most people in the van were quite exhausted by the long journey, re-routes, and stopovers because by that time, we should have been in our resort already. When I say "most people were exhausted", it also included our driver. (Time check, around 2AM and we're still on the road trying to get to Candelaria.) When we noticed this, we decided to stop at a local 24-hours convenient store for coffee and some cigarettes.

Stop over number 5 (The Final One)

Yeah, you read it right! The last stopover and that is the end point of the long roads (and dirt road). It's true when our resort contact person said that it's going to be 45 minutes to 1 hour from Iba. After stopover number 4, our very young driver got rejuvenated and drove as if he was in the movie "Fast and the Furious" - super fast! We made it to La Vista in like 25-30 minutes.

 

I can't explain how ecstatic I was to see that signage pointing to turn left to Isla Vista Beach Resort. Another short dirt road and boom! It's there, dimly lit lobby-like place. Since the people from the resort were expecting us to arrive at around 11 or 12, they were already sleeping when we got there at 2:40 AM.

The beach house we rented is amazingly big. Its six air-conditioned bedrooms housed 11 of us that night (I mean, morning.)

Around 250 kilometers, 7 hours and 30 minutes, surprise closed road, suspense-thriller movie location, and most importantly, darkness. Don't you think we deserve a good night sleep?

----------------------------------- Kti loves the beach so much that she really takes time to travel and explore as many of them as she can in this lifetime. She hopes that one day, she'll have her own house by the beach.