Coco Beach - Garden Fiesta Party

Dinner started at exactly 7:30pm. The Coco Beach staff showed us to our reserved table whom we'd share with a mother and her pretty daughter hailed from Denmark. It's their first time in the Philippines, make that in Asia and they were staying at the resort for two weeks. The only time they'd been to Manila was when their plane landed at the airport and then they went straight to Coco Beach. It was prearranged by the resort and their travel agent in Denmark. Based from our conversation with them they were quite pleased with the way Coco Beach took care of everything. We also sensed they were having fun and enjoying themselves in the resort. Imagine staying at Coco Beach for two weeks? I'm envious. Sana kami rin :-) We noticed that most of the guests were foreigners, specifically Europeans. We've never felt so outnumbered in our very own country. *shocking*

. . .The Coco Band 

The band opened the dinner party with some Jamaican-vibed song called Puerto Galera. The mother and daughter had high praises for this band. The Coco Band had a pretty extensive repertoire as they played both international and local songs, from the oldies but goodies to the latest songs playing on the airwaves.

cocktails in paper cups . . .

While waiting for dinner to be served, we were given this cocktail served in paper cups. As usual, it had this very strong alcohol flavor. Though the good thing was it had bits of fresh fruits you can nibbled. Next came the appetizers . . .

 

. . . salad 

Lettuce, onion, bell pepper, black olives, mango balls, chicken and shrimp bits with vinaigrette.

tanigue fillet with capers and papaya in lemon butter sauce . . .

This was good except I didn't think the papaya complemented the fish and the lemon butter sauce. I tried squirting some calamansi juice on it and surprisingly, it saved the dish.

. . . Thai-style chicken in coconut milk with warm bread on the side

When this was serve on the table, I checked out Tapioca and see if he will eat it. He didn't like coconut milk as it gives him upset stomach.  Before I knew it he was slurping the soup with gusto and polished off his bowl. In fairness, they knew how to make good coconut milk-base dishes. I kinda wish it was more spicy para mas ganahan kami for the next dish which we're really looking forward to . . .

Mr. Porky Pig . . .

Actually, di na kelangan ng pampagana.

. . . eat-all-you-can lechon!!!

my first plate . . .

Salad, baked potatoes and lechon galore! On my second plate, I ditched the carbs and went for more more salad and more more lechon. We were in luck as most of the foreigners prolly didn't know the best part of the lechon - the crispy skin. Nagfiesta talaga kami ni Tapioca sa lechon skin. Yum!

While enjoying the feast, high school students from Puerto Galera entertained us with some folk dances.

At this point mejo low-bat na our camera's battery. They danced those popular folk dance like tinikling and pandanggo sa ilaw. We were amaze at how these kids balanced the candles on their head. And afterwards they also asked the guests to try the basic steps of tinikling. The foreigner kids had fun with it. Too bad I didn't have any pictures or videos.

. . . the dessert

Dinner will not be complete without dessert. They served some kakanin and fresh fruits but my favorites were biko (the best!), fresh watermelon and mangoes. I had two rounds of these sweets. We were satisfied and happy with dinner but didn't have the energy to party so we called it a night. All we wanted now was a hot shower and a good night sleep.

I thought everything went well for our first day at Coco Beach. We loved everything the place has to offer except for some boo boos we encountered that night. As we hiked up to our cottage, I was happily counting each step we're taking when suddenly there was this stupid, ugly and slimy frog sitting smugly in one of the steps. I was almost about to step on it. It was dark but the pathway was well lit so I knew what I saw was a frog. I screamed from the top of my lungs and gosh my scream echoed. I started to run back down but I realized they might be more frogs in the area or maybe something more scary I didn't want to over think so I just went behind Tapioca and begged him to do something. I would like for him to carry me to the cottage but that's so not going to happen considering it was 170+ step and both of us we're full from the dinner buffet not to mention exhausted. Tapioca tried to shoo the frog away but the darn thing won't move so he had to kicked it out of the way. I swear I was so restless and afraid of another frog encounter. I really wanted Tapioca to give me a piggy back ride LOL.

Aside from the frog incident, we also got lost so it took more time and more steps to get to our room. We went up and down the hill, left and right, and me getting all paranoid thinking about the big chance of seeing another frog or creatures with all these walking. Until finally we found the right pathway. Thank God!

our bed at night - very romantic noh? 

When we got to our room and saw the bed all made-up (thanks to the service family), I totally forgot about my anxieties. But only for a few minutes. From our room we also heard someone screaming. Hah, I'm not alone. Siguro nakakita rin ng palaka or something hehehe.

Tapioca and I decided to take a shower so we can sleep na. While taking a shower, I heard this *tu-ko, tu-ko* sound coming from the outside. I haven't heard that sound for a long time. Back then when I was a little girl my family would go on vacation to the province. My cousins would scare the heck out of me telling stories about mumu and the tiktik and how that tuko sound was somewhat associated with aswang. I was like O-M-G. I was enjoying pa naman my hot shower but no choice, I hurriedly dry myself and went to bed.

I was so stressed out talaga. I do know that tuko is just an ordinary lizard and the aswang thingy was just some mythical creature created to scare people like me. I also didn't like the idea of sharing our room with lizards or any nocturnal creatures for that matter.  I wanted to close all the windows including the balcony but I realized we didn't have aircon. If I did that it's going to be hot inside the room and we might suffocate. For peace of mind, I made sure na naka-tuck in ng mabuti yung mosquito net sa bed so if there would be any creatures na maligaw sa room they won't be able to get onto the bed. And cyempre pa I prayed. I prayed nothing bad would happen to us. You know while all these was happening Tapioca made some remark that somehow lighten up my super tensed nerves. He was like "Babe, the bird was trying to say something." And I was like "What bird?" He said "Listen . . . There. . . It says 'f**k you, f**k you' ". Natawa naman ako ng bongga. Oist, wag green minded ha (effect ng pagbabasa ng Fifty Shades of Grey ^__^). He thought the lizard (tuko) was a bird and it was saying the f word instead of the tuko sound. During our stay in the afternoon we mostly heard birds chirping away and each bird had a different sound from another so ayun akala nya bird pa rin yon LOL.

Basically, eto lang inaman nagpa-stress out sakin during our entire stay. But if I'm going to sum up everything, mas nangibababaw ang magaganda at happy moments namin sa resort. I guess sa sobrang saya namin, we totally forgot we're staying in a different environment. And I did not anticipate any of these. Well, I knew better now and I didn't regret we chose this kind of adventure. This just made our vacation more memorable because of this experience.

My Coco Beach kwento will not end here. There are still  more to come. Just bear with me, okay.