Punta de Fabian

Punta de Fabian, Barras Rizal
July 26-27 2008

We were suppose to go on August 2 for the celebration of Kuya and my birthday, but we had to reschedule it a week before so that we can attend the first Saturday mass where the whole family is suppose to sing. We were all sick that week. It all started with mama, she got a flu that lasted 4 days, on the 5th day mama doesn’t have fever anymore but still suffering with cough. I got the virus and got fever that night. I fought and took all the meds rest and with my will power I conquered and lost the fever the next day. That night, Kuya got the virus, when he went home with papa he felt awful that he didn’t bother going home and stayed the night with us. He stayed till next day and didn’t go to work, his nurse wife jus came to take care of him. Later that night Papa got it and so as Ate Luz, our house help. So on the day of our trip to Barras Papa is still sick but he went with us because of the persuasion of my Tito who also came with us together with his wife Tita Tess.

Nong nong Gudo came in late at around 2:30pm acting the “primadonna” he always is. Tito Jun and Tita Tess also arrive that time, and we still have to talk to Papa into coming with us. We left home at 3:00 pm. That’s just the start of the stressful adventure. Traffic Jam awaits us on our way to Barras, we were stuck on traffic for about 5 hours.

It was as if we were to go to Pangasinan. Later on, the owner of the resort told us that he should have taken the Sumulong route, it turns out he already told my mom to do that even before we left which my mom didn’t bother telling us at long. The reason why we got stuck for 5 hours in traffic.
Miraculously, no body was difficult, even though, we are stuck in traffic and we are getting hungrier every minute, nobody got angry, irritated or anything like that. We just joke about it and laughed our way through the traffic. We had a lot of stop overs, stopped for mercury to buy Jea’s milk then we stopped at every litson manok stand, bought 1 from San Pedro, then stopped again for Andoks, bought another chicken and liempo, stopped again for mercury to by some medicine.

We finally got in the resort by around 8pm, its pitch dark already and the route that we took was very long. Jea is getting bored in the car, that she kept on asking for milk, for this and that. So we just told her we are very near na, then shed ask for something else, we just kept on entertaining her as she entertained us with her singing. All five hours in the car she kept on singing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday…. Two days of the week (it should be “this are the days of the week”). When asked why we are going to the resort her answer was “ To eat, to sleep and then eat again, and then sleep again.” These all made us break into laughter.


The place was beautiful; we didn’t see it at first when we arrived that night. We have reservations for two rooms. But when we took a look, 1 is already good enough for all 8 of us. We even have an extra bed. There were 3 bedrooms with 2 beds each, one even have a queen size bed. There is also a living area, this where we spent most of the time while in the resort, second only to the swimming pool. The bathroom was huge, infact it can fit 3 standard size bathrooms in it. The only down side is that to go up the room, we had to climb a spiral staircase, the oldies where bothered about it at first, but we all managed. Jea loved it, she took every step like it’s an obstacle in the playroom. We had a balcony that has a great view of Lake Calaraya and the Sierra Madre Mountains. We also took a look at the other room allotted for us, it’s also huge, but an attic style, actually we can all fit in it too. With 3 queen beds, and big living area, its also very inviting, but we opt to take the “family room” because there are actually separate rooms for the bedrooms, against the attic style where its just 1 big area sort of loft style. The good thing about it though is that there is no spiral stair case to go up to.

The landscaping is also beautiful. There are Zen type kiosks in some corners which I really liked. It really looks Japanese. There’s a multipurpose area where parties can be held, its structure is made to look floating above a pond, which unfortunately when we where not yet developed, as it still doesn’t have water in it. But I recognize the intention. There is aviary which Nang nang Pau tried her best not to go near to (Pau is really scared of birds). The pool is really inviting, there’s the adult pool which is shaped in irregular curves which is connected to the kiddie pool and the Jacuzzi. It’s surrounded with a break out areas that has magnificent view of the Sierra Madre Mountains. There is a covered al fresco area that can comfortably sit 50 to 60, with a separate bar and powder room. There are several, sort of gazebo with 2 level decks that gives a good impression of contemporary minimalist architecture. Very nicely done, Simple, functional and aesthetically appealing, With just a little touch of some mood lights or simple candle it would really look elegant. I like the architecture, although you can see that it’s not professionally done with the way it was designed and constructed, maybe with the budget constraints I can still the intention of how they would like it to look like. It’s a mix of Japanese Zen and American Cottage look with contemporary “pilit” Filipino architecture. Sure its no 5 star hotel accommodation, it’s not perfect, but it’s very homey, very inviting. Makes you feel really comfortable.

The next morning we had breakfast in the restaurant by the pool side. There were also some merchandise that they offer, sort of “tiange” . We all had a filling breakfast, the waiters are very hospitable, and In fact all the staff is. Right after the breakfast, mama, nong nang me and jea took accepted the pool’s invitation. Their shower area is underneath the al fresco dining, which is finished nicely with stones. While the oldies papa, tita Tess & tito Jun, bought a lot of merchandise, shirt, shorts, slippers, bags. Then it started to rain really hard, which makes it more fun to swim. We had a lot of fun, we get to swim and played in the rain at the same time. Jea didn’t even bother to play in the playground, we just stayed in the pool all morning. We went back to the room to shower and ate snacks. Then off we go outside again for photo-op. They are in bit of hurry because we plan to go to Antipolo church after that. It didn’t take that long, or was only asleep, so when we get there said a little prayer. They we had the innova blessed, and we all got wet not just from the rain but also because of the holy water that the ministered poured “literally” unto us. We bought suman, kasuy then we went off to have lunch in Padi’s point or so we thought. The rain poured really hard, that we can barely see the road down Sumulong highway so Padi’s point and all the other resto are wet some are even flooded. We opted to wait a little more to eat at Dampa Libis. We had crabs, prawns chili buttered style, Sinigang na Lapu-lapu for soup, baked tahong . We had a really filling meal. The waiting is worth-it. We got home at around 5pm, then we went to Sm San Lazaro, there is really no stopping for the lakawatseros feet. Only Papa, nong, me and Jea went. Mama and Pau opted to rest at home. Papa went to get his glasses nong nong went to see his dentist and Jea and waited for them. We only went with them because I had to go to the ATM. When we got home, I prepared dinner, mostly left overs from our baon and the crabs from dampa. Jea and I opted to bond and play “pop-pop” instead of eating dinner. In a few minutes we finally rest our very tired body and went off to sleep.