Elyu Classic: Accidentally Stayed Drunk

Chill days, good friends and good vibes.

I’ve been to this surf town a couple of times before and the dilemma until now is that, I never got drunk during the stay. I don’t know. What the hell, correct? So it was somewhere from those many inuman sesh with 2 of my (probably) strongest friends in terms of alcohol tolerance, that we decided to have this trip.

And after just a couple of weeks, there we were, drinking beers already as a “pre-game.” Haha, remember when they tell us to be careful what we wish for?

Jeremiah and I had one bucket of pale pilsen as we wait for our fucker friend, Kean. Who also got drunk and got wasted somewhere. When he arrived, I asked him “On a scale of 1-10 how drunk are you right now?” he said 8. So holy shit, I told myself, it’s gonna be a walwal trip.

It was like 3:10 in the morning when we left the inuman in Fairview to catch the 4:00 a.m. bus going to La Union. Risky, but whatever.

Then we slept away the whole six hours trip. Hella Peaceful.

Upon arriving at San Juan, we made reservations in the uber famous hostel Flotsam and Jetsam. Finally, man. Been wanting to stay there but it was always fully booked! But now we are having it. So anyway, check in time was still 2 p.m. so we killed the time by having coffee at Clean Beach as I fearlessly read Battle Royale. Ehh?

Clean Beach was soooo good. I have a hidden jealousy to all their baristas for having to come to work with slippers and board shorts, for having to savour the balance of the coffee’s aroma and the sea breeze, and for having the West Philippine Sea as your everyday view.

And after we checked in, we headed immediately to the falls. Not to mention I just had two fricking spartan races three days before this trip and now I am trail running with these two. Thanked goodness I ran 5KM as a recovery run after race day. I coped up!

Read: My preparation for my first Spartan  Race

So reaching the falls was satisfying. Nothing like having a dip after a long bus ride + a little trek.

And then we head back for dinner and OF COURSE, some beers. I learned that almost all establishments in the San Juan Surf Town are closed during Tuesdays because of the hustles of the weekend extending to Monday. So it was indeed a super peaceful and laid back kind of night.

San Juan became a sleepy surf town.

We drank away the first night with 4 buckets of red horse stallion (super cold beers btw!) Although Jeremiah ended up fucking sleepy, drunk Kean on the other hand still managed to have our 5th bucket of beer as “for the road” drink. Lol was I wasted already?

That whole time under the wide night skies, near the sea and the crashing waves, was a shitty but quality conversation. I can’t think of how to perfectly write that evening but all I can say is that, we felt really alive in there.

Against being tipsy.

Sadly, we weren’t able to finish all them ‘for the road’ beers, but we had 2 of them on the road with us as we walk back to the hostel. Hehe!

AND THAT WAS SUCH A SATISFYING SLEEP.

Holy fuck, not until Jeremiah slapped me with his blanket as a ‘good morning, time to get wasted again’ so, okay.

And the breakfast at Flotsam & Jetsam was pretty! I had cereals and some toasts and a juice which I cannot tell if mango or orange which was by the way, perfect to cure away all the alcohol in my body.

Recharging continued as we went again for some pour over coffee at clean beach. I had Ethiopia. And Miah had Costa Rica.

Kean was super fucked up he doesn’t even like to drink coffee at all!

They say that saltwater is a medicine to whatever it is that’s causing you troubles. And the only trouble by the time, was hangover.

Well at least for Kean. Fuck naman.

But heavy thanks for the B-Complex!

So after some quality time with Elyu waves, we had our lunch at Surf Shack. And nothing’s like having a burger the day after walwalan night, right! That’s when Jeremiah suggested to have one bottle of beer 🙁 I’m so disappointed I can’t say no to friends, so I agreed anyway. Nyayks.

And for the highlight, I booked at Pagdamilian Red Clay Pottery for a Pottery Class.

Daaaaamn been wanting to do this in forever! I used to dream running away to Vigan and staying there indefinitely to learn pottery. But there’s one in La Union! And it was a very very simple and friendly place. And it’s nice to do something different every once in a while.

I enjoyed it very much.

I found out it will take 2-3 weeks for our made pots to be completely dry. Wow! So it’s another reason to go back to Elyu again, to come back for our pots. When they are ready.

We went straight to the beach to catch up with the sunset, roughly a pretty good 15 minutes walk on the beach until we found a little spot somewhere near Sebay. And there were no other people except us.

So that became our little spot.

Sat there as we slowly watched the sun cross the horizon, and it was beautiful. Boy. It was very beautiful. The sound of the waves, the sea breeze, and old good music with friends. What else in the world can I ask for? I don’t want to go back to QC just yet. It was one Hakuna Matata moments that I was aware to savour.

Only because it is rare, because I am aware it’ll last soon. And oh, when was the last time I watched a sunset? Or even sunrise? Can’t remember. But watching it was freaking peaceful it hurts. Well at least for me, though. No idea with Kean and Miah. But I’m just happy I was able to ‘be in that moment’, witnessing something strikingly vast like that always reminds me of what’s rather important.

After that, we had a quick dinner at Tagpuan, had isaw and dugo somewhere along the main road and proceed to start drinking AGAIN. We happen to have Draft Beer before heading to Surfer’s Point Deck. And the bartender who happen to be Mars (not sure ha) was super nice she let us taste all the available beers from the tap. I had what they call “Vienna” which I find so crisp and wonderfully bitter, I liked it.

It wasn’t really early though, but it wasn’t so late either too. But it was our last night. And it was sad… the trip that I’ve been looking forward for so long was about to end. Man I could really use three drops of tears!

We only had three buckets of our favourite affordable beer, pale pilsen. Very tito, ha? I thought it was going to be hella super walwal night because we call ourselves ‘Main Walwal Team’, but it turned out to be a chill one. For a last night.

I think it’s nice to call out the truth, to be vulnerable sometimes. To be vulnerably honest to a small circle of people. Without judgement. And now I realized that I don’t need to show up my whole self to all the people. The few ones who get to see the real me are enough. And I want myself to be exclusive to these people.

So anyway, calling it an early night because we both agreed to wake up extra early for breakfast, and thus, catch the waves before we head back to our houses, bucket for the road did not happen.

The next morning after we grabbed our breakfast, we head straight to the beach and get our bodies punched by the waves of Elyu. I know, Poseidon made sure he kisses the knuckles of the waves before they punched us in the face.

Went back for check out and had our lunch in Flotsam and Jetsam. And of course, legit one for the road at 12 in the afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

So my take away from this Elyu Trip is, why the hell I didn’t practice the spiritual habit of unplugging any earlier? Or maybe I’m not just aware that I’m already doing it. Probably it was because of this Ted Blog that we read at Clean Beach (btw grateful to have Jeremiah for always sharing to me what he knows and discovers) where it says that we should find a half hour a day to waste time. Away from social media, away from everything. It is a liberating gift to our spirits. It is honoring that quiet whispering voice. It is freedom.

Well I guess this trip isn’t all about drinking beers and curing hangover. Maybe it’s all about staying drunk with the good times of what’s happening at the moment. With beers on the side too, maybe?

Now I can’t fucking wait to do it again: activate airplane mode, be gone somewhere far and plug back into life in its pure form. Not through the lens.

Tryna switch back my system now,

Marron