When I was little, we lived about 45 minutes away from the
beach. This beach we frequent especially during summer has dark, coarse sand.
It didn’t matter back then. What mattered was that we can frolic in the water
for as long as we can (which is often about 8 hours non-stop).
Every summer, going to the beach has been something that my
brother and I look forward to. The beach is synonymous with escape.
As I grew up, the thought
of going to the beach conjured this image of freedom – an image of escape. When
I say I want to go to the beach, what I really meant is going to a place of
escape even for a short while so that I can stop thinking about the worries and
troubles of life and just be young, be a child again frolicking under the sun
for as long as I can.
The beach of my childhood is an unfrequented place. There
are but a few families living in the area. There had been summers that the only
people on that beach were our family and our companions. We had the beach all
to ourselves.
A lot had change within two decades. It has become harder
and harder to find a beach where perverts and exhibitionists don’t frequent. At
present, going to the beach is nothing different than going to a bar in the
middle of a busy city like Makati. It’s not only about the noise, but people had
found ways to transport their technologies with them in the farthest and the
most beautiful of beaches turning those places into their own whore camps. So
those few of us who wanted escape from the noise of the city have to scour for
places yet untouched by economics, politics and trouble-seeking youth.
It is with this yearning to find a peaceful beach that we
found Calaguas. A ten-hour bus ride from Manila and about two-hour boat ride
from Paracale, Camarines Norte had taken us to this beautiful stretch of white
sand meeting one of the most amazing crystal-clear waters.
Unlike Boracay, Puerto Galera and other overrated beaches,
Calaguas’ silent beauty is astounding. The fact that it is yet to be raped and
abused by investors made it even more charming. There are no noisy bars; there
are no despicable hotels with blinding light s, just plain white sand, blue and
greenish water, some coconuts and tents.
It wouldn’t take long for Calaguas to suffer what had
happened to Boracay. As confided by one of the homeowners in the island, a lot
of the beach areas are being disputed because some are pushing for their
developments which included putting up hotels, resorts and bars.
Others would not see anything wrong with it but I do. You
see, the people of Calaguas are one of the friendliest and warmest people I’ve
met for a long time. They have a certain naivety and they trust easily. I think
it is the typical charm of a provincial place hidden from the rest of the
world.
The advent of development would bring a lot of new things to
them. It would open their eyes to selfishness and greed. It would open doors to
a better life, yes, but because they are a vulnerable people, their natural
warmth and kindness and the beauty of the island that they love so much would eventually
fade replaced by the saddening fact that wherever development goes, there
follow trouble, destruction and corruption.
Just like what happened to the beach of my childhood.
So for now, my go to place is Calaguas. It is a wonderful
place housing very wonderful people. It is my place of escape, a place where I
can run away far from the noise of the city.
Soon enough I would
have to look for a new one until one day, I would have to share the same beach
with the perverts and the exhibitionists, the noisy and the loud, the
thrill-seekers and the troublesome and eventually, become one of them. Because,
someone’s got to give, right?
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