Beach in January: notes from Galera.

(1)
We spent the night at the beach seated in a circle, jerking off. Ha-ha, I kid. In between shots of Kel's cocktails, we were sharing life stories. One guy was asked when exactly did he realize he was gay.

"I knew it since the day I was born," he answered. "I was born on April first. When I came out, I told my mom: Mom, you have a boy. Then I said, April Fools!"

(2)
We were drinking alcohol almost as soon as the ferry left Batangas. Kel (the guy who organized the trip) made a cocktail of banana and strawberry fruit juice and tequila and was already passing drinks to everyone during the boat ride. We ended up renting a house two minutes away from the beach on foot. I spent the first afternoon of my first stay in Galera sleeping.

(3)
A friend whom I invited to the Galera trip but declined asked me how the trip went. This being a trip that included a dozen gay men, we were joking about how there would be a lot of faggoty drama, prima donna attitudes, and possibly a gay orgy.

I told that friend that the trip was like a pajama party.

(4)
People kept asking the boyfriend and me if we know of a good place to stay, or a good restaurant where we could eat. We answered with a blank look and replied, "We're Galera virgins."

(5)
Since I bought a couple a bottles of tequila, I figured I'd bring a bottle of Mountain Dew. I'd use to mix vodka with Royal Tru Orange before for a cheap version of screwdriver, so I thought mixing tequila and lemon soda could give me cheap margarita.

Kel saw my drinks and decided to mix them: the resulting drink looked like early morning piss and tasted like cough medicine. Kel liked the name 'early morning piss' and decided to call the drink that. Early morning piss is probably the unsexiest cocktail name anybody ever came up with.

(6)
Somebody asked Daryl if he was using a certain username in a well known gay site. Turned out his boyfriend (let's call him the Avatar - he was also with us) and Daryl had a discussion before in one of the gaming threads, where Daryl brusquely posted a reply to a thread that the Avatar started.

It was an awkward moment, especially considering the incident obviously merited a discussion between the couple. The good thing was Daryl and the Avatar was already bonding over video games at that point, which prolly diffused any possible animosity the thread could have started.

There was another guy there whom Dar have had a minor thread war with. We recognized his username, but he hasn't realized Dar's username yet. Or he prolly didn't care. All the time on the bus ride home, we were waiting for the other havaiana to drop.

(7)
Kel wanted to watch the sunset by the beach. I told him the beaches of Galera faced East.

(8)
Late New Year's resolution: Learn how to swim.

(9)
An obvious choice would be to have my hair braided. I refused to have my hair done, though. Dar wanted to have his hair done so I could study how it's done. That didn't push through, though; and I doubt Daryl's hair was long enough to be braided. Henna tattoos were also out of the question.

I don't like getting tourist souvenirs when I travel, unless it's a small statuette or something make of porcelain and is totally unique to the place. On the ferry ride back to Batangas, there were two other guys who had their hair braided. Sure, it looked nice but it was just predictable.

I got a mild tan, a slight sunburn, and maybe three dozen photos (half a dozen of which turned out good, I'm pleased to see). The boyfriend also told me that he really enjoyed the trip -- that made me even happier.